Welcome to my new column, a humble bureaucrat’s contribution to internal Party debate and participation. When Mark Pack invited me to become a columnist for this august website, I was a mite surprised but, after some thought, realised that this might be an opportunity to help people to take a greater role in their Party. So here we go!
The Party’s internal workings are varied and strange. Indeed, so strange are they that when Ros Scott asked for an organogram before taking office as President two years ago, she was moved to remark, “Shouldn’t the boxes be joined to each other?”. Often, the relationships between key committees are based on individuals, rather than communication, and people find themselves serving one committee due to being elected to another. My task over the coming weeks and months is to tell you how to influence various bodies, and when.
So, where to start? Because it’s early in the year, there is little to report from the various Party bodies. However, there has been a major development over the past twenty-four hours…
Nick Clegg has announced that the Liberal Democrats will run a full slate of candidates at the next General Election, according to the London Evening Standard. There will be no electoral pact, no joint candidates. And whilst the media and the sceptics probably won’t believe it, given the barriers that such deals would have to get over, most Liberal Democrats should take some reassurance from what is almost certainly the first public utterance on the subject from the Party Leader. It’s a hare which should not have been allowed to run, but there you go.
Also, it will soon be time for President Farron’s first meeting of the Federal Executive. His predecessor, Ros Scott, notably managed to get through all of the business within the three hour time limit at every meeting, something her predecessor, Simon Hughes, wasn’t that great at. There are those who will suggest that this year’s Federal Executive will be pretty robust, and so expect more public debate of its activities.
Meanwhile, across the country, the English Regions are stirring. At the first Executive Committee meetings, most will be electing Committee Chairs and deciding on the membership of sub-committees. For example, most Regions have a Policy Committee, membership of which is open to ordinary members. There are also committees dealing with conferences and local party development. And, as these things are seldom well publicised, an e-mail to the Regional Secretary indicating your interest should give you every chance of getting involved. Your Regional Secretary’s contact details should be obtainable from the Regional Party’s website. If it isn’t, it should be…
Finally, the deadline for motions to the Spring Conference draws near. Yes, the deadline is next Wednesday, January 12th, at 1 p.m. and, whilst it’s probably too late now to start from scratch, it isn’t too early to start drafting something for the Autumn. Perhaps you could run it past your Region’s Spring Conference as a trial run, and as a means to gather support? Remember, Regional and State Parties can sponsor motions to a Federal Conference too…
In future columns, I’ll be looking at the roles of various committees and groups. If there’s anything you want me to look into, or any information that you might have that would interest readers of Liberal Democrat Voice, please feel free to get in touch.
Follow @libdemvoice.org on Bluesky
Like us on Facebook
Subscribe to our feed
Sign-up for our daily email digest
What happens after a party wins a landslide? - The Week in Polls
Today's Bells on Sunday
Divine Comedy: I've Been to a Marvellous Party
Lochee Park - 1973 #dundeewestend
Urgent action needed on Welsh rivers
Craig Levene
Mohammed Amin
Mike Peters
John Waller
Simon R
17 Comments
Thank you. A great idea for a column.
I am surprised that the report in the Evening Standard has not been picked up elsewhere.
Great idea for a column – didn’t realise there was a way I could get involved with the Policy Committee!
I saw the title and thought: ‘what? He thinks he’ll manage to do that all in ONE blog post?’
It’s good to see that this is the start of a series – and, having read this post with interest, I am looking forward to future entries.
I look forward to your future columns. As a member with some hopes of influencing policy it would be nice to know how to go about it! I also hope that these columns spur Regional Parties and federal committees to be more open with members and better advertise opportunities for getting involved.
How do these various bodies influence the parliamentary party?
Looking forward to the series, the parties workings are rather odd even to those who pay attention to them. Although more glad to see that link to the london evening standard in this article I have to admit. Welcome news.
Thank you for the kind welcome. Hopefully, the column will point people towards the areas of political activity that will give them most satisfaction and help the Party too.
Dave,
You ask a very complex question. And perhaps it’s worth looking at the relationship between the Party and the Parliamentary Parties in a future column…
Somehow I always get the feeling that the party’s org chart says “here be dragons” on it somewhere.
Ia it not the outcome of meetings, more important that sticking to a prescribed time limit!
@Mark Valladeres and Evening Standard story. I’m sure I heard Nick Clegg say ‘no electoral pact in 2015:LibDems will fight every seat as LibDems’ to loud cheers at the Autumn Conference in Liverpool…
Can we have an organogram, please?
Organogram? That involves design and stuff, correct? Not really my speciality, squire…
Gary,
No, not if by failing to get through the business, key decisions don’t get taken. And let’s be honest, whilst Simon has many skills, meeting organisation and time keeping are not amongst the most notable. You’d know that, after all…
Great idea.
I’m looking forward to the next posts already. 🙂
Gary,
The ability to keep to time means that you can get all of the business done rather than, as was often the case, deferring matters to the next meeting, which then overran, meaning that more things fell off the end, and so on. Simn has many skills, meeting organisation and time keeping aren’t necessarily amongst them, as you would know from experience…