The Sunday Times reports (£) that we are standing down in Beaconsfield to support Dominic Grieve’s run as an independent following his unceremonious ejection from the Conservative Party.
Normally you don’t believe these things – I mean, we were supposed to be standing down in favour of Rory Stewart a few weeks ago and that was never going to happen.
But we do have this one from the horse’s mouth – our PPC in Beaconsfield, Rob Castell.
https://twitter.com/_robcastell/status/1180572214602686471?s=20
Dominic Grieve has been a consistent supporter of a People’s Vote, so this makes sense.
Watch this space…
18 Comments
Good decision. However, similar arrangements should only be made with other MPs who are real Remainers (i.e. support a 2nd referendum) and not anyone who supports a Brexit “deal”.
I agree.
Only deals in seats we have no hope of winning (Heidi Allen needs to make a decision, soon), with real remainers (so not people like Tory Stewart), within real remain parties (so not parties like Labour), that are for the preservation of the United Kingdom as an individual member of the EU (so not parties like the SNP and Plaid). Basically Greens, Independent Conservatives, Change UK, or an independent
Yes,l remainers we should support. Brexit dealers we should not for they are like Labour,sitting on the fence
South Cambs is not a seat we have no hope of winning, it’s a top target seat.
And until the local party pulled off a “shock” victory in the 2018 elections and took control of the council Heidi Allen was not a proper remainer, instead perfectly happy to support May’s “will of the people” line.
Of the 21 rebel Tory MPs, Sam Gyimah has joined the Lib Dems, and Dominic Grieve is now given a free run by Lib Dems. Guto Bebb and Justine Greening have announced they are standing down (unfortunately). I think Margot James is a remainer, and could either join the Lib Dems or be given a free run. (Of course, there are some remainer ex-Tories, who left the Conservative party already earlier, like Sarah Wollaston and Phillip Lee, who joined the Lib Dems, and Heidi Allen and Anna Soubry, who are part of the Unite to Remain -alliance.)
Have I missed someone? Probably the rest of the ex-Tories are leavers with a deal, or is there more remainers among them?
Mary Regnier-wilson,
Yes exactly, South Cambs is very winnable for the Liberal Democrats, hence why Heidi Allen needs to make a decision as to whether to join the party or not. Since she is a very good fit for the party – especially when compared to some recent joiners – I can only guess there is a local party discussion issue, centred around any incumbant or hopeful Liberal Democrat PPC needing to stand aside. It’s likely to be a very difficult discussion
@Patrick – amongst the other ex-Tory “independents”, Antoinette Sandbach is now a declared supporter of the PV Campaign and I seem to recall that Ed Vaisey also voted for that option during the previous indicative votes process. There may well also be others who would now support a “confirmatory referendum” on a Brexit deal.
A good decision by the party. Parliament and the remain cause would be a lot weaker without the forensic legal brain of Dominic Grieve.
Heidi Allen however may be a good MP and may share Lib Dem values but she’s either on our team or not.
It seems as if James Pugh is ruling out any deal with the Greens in places like Bristol where we have hopes of winning and ruling out deals with Plaid which enabled us to win Brecon. This is shortsighted.
I’m surprised that James Pugh ties in the in or out of the EU issue with Scottish or Welsh independence within the EU. That seems like opportunism. To the vast majority of English people, the issue is in or out of the EU. For Welsh and Scottish people, the sensible line is, we decide on in or out of the EU now. Then we can argue about independence.
There are two seats where we risk giving easy victories to the Conservatives – South Cambs and Eastbourne, where as things stand we could see Heidi Allen (Ind) and Stephen Lloyd (Ind) running against an ‘official’ Lib Dem candidate. I imagine that there are intense local and national discussions taking place to resolve these situations – ideally both would be accepted to run as the Lib Dem candidates in these seats. Hopefully grace and common-sense will prevail over considerations of pride or ambition.
The Liberal democrats should only make deals with those that have consistently campaigned to remain in the EU and also believe that there is too much power and wealth in the centre: that is in London and south east England and they must believe in electoral reform to prefer STV.
Plaid Cymru also support the policy to remain in the EU, decentralisation and STV.
In Wales, most people that are basically liberal join Plaid Cymru, they want to see a Cymru that has equal status to England.
Why cannot Wales decide to be a member of the EU as an independent nation, if it so wishes? Same for Scotland.
Why is the LD still committed to a broken UK system, is that what you as liberals want?
Why are e in Wales expected to conform to a UK state – LD are against conformity for other nations and people?
Plaid Cymru is much like Fianna Fáil which sits in the ALDE group in the EU parliament.
@John B, Heidi Allen is heading the Unite to Remain -alliance, the purpose of which is to forma an electoral pact between parties (including Liberal Democrats) and independents who support remaining in EU, so that there would only one Remain candidate in each key constituency. I’d believe the electoral pacts include herself, I also believe that the reason why she’s staying as an independent prior to general election, instead of joining the Liberal Democrats, is that in that way she’s better positioned to lead the Unite to Remain -alliance.
I’m not sure where that leaves Stephen Lloyd, since I have the understanding, that he left the Liberal Democrats in order to vote for Theresa May’s deal to leave the European Union. Does that make him a Remain candidate?
Patrick: I am aware of Heidi Allen’s position in the Unite to Remain campaign, and that may be the reason why she is still an Independent, though there was confident speculation a few weeks ago that she was about to declare as a Lib Dem. I believe that there is a Lib Dem PPC currently in place in South Cambs, hence my point.
As for Eastbourne, during the leadership hustings Ed Davey stated that the first thing he would do if he was elected leader would be to telephone Stephen Lloyd and invite him to rejoin the LibDems in the HofC. Of course, Ed didn’t become leader, and presumably Jo didn’t share his enthusiasm for making this call.
James Pugh 6th Oct ’19 – 10:25am……………….Only deals in seats we have no hope of winning (Heidi Allen needs to make a decision, soon), with real remainers (so not people like Tory Stewart), within real remain parties (so not parties like Labour), that are for the preservation of the United Kingdom as an individual member of the EU (so not parties like the SNP and Plaid). Basically Greens, Independent Conservatives, Change UK, or an independent…………………………..
So only deals ‘where LibDems have no hope of winning’ (and even then not Labour, plaid and the SNP); that sounds like a great offer to other parties (sorry, not parties just the Greens and a few ‘rag-tag and bobtail rebel MPs’).
And this party criticised Boris Johnson’s ‘cake and eat it’ proposal for Brexit.
From Heidi Allen’s interview in July:
“Asked why she didn’t just join the Lib Dems, she explained that the Unite to Remain initiative needs to be led by an independent – “someone without skin in the game” – to be fair to all parties involved.”
https://www.theneweuropean.co.uk/top-stories/heidi-allen-announced-unite-to-remain-1-6152145
As for the constituencies with multiple Remain candidates, here’s an interesting tweet from Unite to Remain in September:
“The #RemainAlliance Parties are sensibly selecting candidates pending conclusion of #unitetoremain discussions and local consultation. Selections do not necessarily mean a final position. Watch this space !”
https://twitter.com/unitetoremain/status/1174305873117831168
BTW, Unite to Remain doesn’t tweet often, but it might be worth to follow in Twitter.
From what I can see, in Hills Road Cambridge, South Cambs LDs are currently delivering a leaflet a month. A delivery rate which I am sure Dr Mark Pack would approve of in a target seat but possibly a waste of resources if Heidi Allen does not join the party.
Heidi Allen did join the party and will be a major asset.
Where I live we have had two leaflets delivered by the postman with the unsolicited business direct mail. The Lib Dem PPC has told the local free newspaper, available from railway stations and some supermarkets, that we are a target seat.