Paddy did a listening tour back in the early 1990s. Because it was Paddy, it was very sleeves-rolled-up, get-stuck-in. And, of course, typical Paddy as well, he wrote a book about it.
Well, it was good to see Ed Davey serving at Taylors’ fish and chippie in Stockport, to start his listening tour.
I haven’t used capitals for that, as “National Listening Tour” sounds rather Orwellian.
Here below is a video that Ed posted on Twitter after his lunchtime shift. He said that he wants the Liberal Democrats to be on the side of those people and business rebuilding their lives after Covid.
It is all very encouraging.
Today I worked the lunchtime shift at Taylor's Fish & Chips near Stockport. I spoke to owners Anne & Robert about the impact of COVID on their business.
My task as leader is to make people's concerns my own, and make Lib Dems the party fighting for them. #NationalFishAndChipDay pic.twitter.com/5mFI9OoVuv
— Ed Davey (@EdwardJDavey) September 4, 2020
* Paul Walter is a Liberal Democrat activist and member of the Liberal Democrat Voice team. He blogs at Liberal Burblings.
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11 Comments
What has Sir Edward to tell us at Virtual Conference about fish and chips I wonder ?
And took the opportunity to unilaterally abandon party policy. Not a great start.
Getting the shopkeeper/trades person’s vote has a nice Edwardian ring to it, though imagining Mr Asquith putting salt & vinegar on his chips is a stretch too far.
I strongly recommend a visit to Stockport Job Centre and the Citizens Advice Bureau next to get to grips with the realities of Universal Credit. There are four Trussell Trust four food bank outlets in the area of the Chippy visited by Sir Edward.
Aaron Burns of the local Withington Food bank was reported in the press earlier in the year, “Our primary concern is that people in crisis are helped. This has been a massive change – a lot of people went from very secure livelihoods very quickly. They will be feeling that insecurity even more.”
“With benefits applications at record high, the number of people expected to need food banks in the coming weeks is likely to surge. The five week wait for Universal Credit payments can be one factor that leads people to visit local foodbanks. Almost 950,000 claims for Universal Credit (UC) have been processed by the Department for Work and Pensions since March 16”.
Not sure which bit of the last Lib Dem Manifesto Ed’s Chippy visit chimes with though.
@ Kevin White & Steve Yolland
Take it all with a pinch of salt, chaps.
Voters, as we know come out with all sorts. The point of listening is to find where things Voters are saying align with our Values, not to look as though we are backing down. Voters dont appreciate flimflam, vacillation, triangulation or plain cowardice.
When the Express praises our Leader he has clearly made a mistake.
Fish and chips is our national dish and a shop is a small business which caters for a wide variety of customers. Two excellent reasons for choosing to start Ed’s listening tour there I think.
I voted for Layla and I hope Ed will visit food banks soon, but we have always stood up for small businesses because they too are often ignored in downturns and we need them to keep our economy running.
PS I’m sure Ed has visited his local food bank but seeing what’s happening in other parts of the country is vital.
You can’t really compare this with Paddy’s Beyond Westminster tour though. Paddy says in the foreword to the book that he spent 2 1/2 days a week both living and working with the people he was staying with – and there was no press:
“What made each of these visits so valuable and informative to me, however, was the fact that I was alone and without the press.
This was a photo op – not a Beyond Westminster style listening tour.
Not sure how well Ed will go down as a pint sized “Paddy” replica on his listening tour but obvious Layla 300 local party tour struck a chord with Ed so he has some catching up to do. We need to be concentrating on what a remarkable ,innovative , and challenging country we have and how we are only held back by small minded
politicians hung up on ideologies that are well past there sell by date .
Well done SirEd for getting this started. Now he has to spend a couple of days on a Cornish fishing trawler and a police no-go council estate. Perhaps Andrew George and Simon Hughes can arrange something.
What next, Ed in a high-viz jacket/hard hat or seated at a tiny desk in a primary school?
I believe that when people take on a new role they should be supported. Sometimes those I would not have chosen at interview grow into the role, sometimes they excel beyond all expectations.
For me, the question, is this a good use of time when there are so many actions by the government, the giving of contracts without going out to tender, the breaking of international law, amongst so many other disgraceful behaviours by this government.
As someone from a northern mining town, I cannot but believe that the working class people of my youth have changed much. As small c conservatives who voted Labour, they did not like being lied to, fraud, venality. In the hierarchy of wants, it was the dignity of a job that paid for a home, enough money to feed their family, a decent future for their children, preferably with less hardships than they had suffered.
Maybe Ed comes from a different background and now needs to listen.
Don’t spend too much time doling out mushy peas Ed. The country is in urgent need of an intelligent , competent opposition to Johnson’s government. Keir Starmer has made a brilliant start. Does he have to put all his energy into exposing this Johnson government alone?