Last night, Ethnic Minority Liberal Democrats held a hustings for the two leadership candidates, Tim Farron and Norman Lamb. They covered the event brilliantly on Twitter.
Covering an event like that is really challenging – things move on so quickly and you can easily make a mistake. I know that. I once tweeted that Vince Cable was in favour of low pay when he had very clearly said the opposite.
So it was good to see that they corrected a very similar error that they had made last night. They had tweeted that Tim had said that equality was immoral and stupid. Well done to them for sorting it out quickly.
ERROR – Tim Farron made it VERY clear that "Inequality is not just immoral, it is stupid" at the @EMLibDems hustings pic.twitter.com/lHePQtfvpC
— EMLD (@EMLibDems) July 1, 2015
But read the rest of their account of their event because they cover all the questions and have some really good photos. Find out what our two candidates had to say about positive action to tackle under-representation of specific groups of people, Israel and Palestine, tackling racism, housing and much more. It sounds like it was a fabulous event and for once, I wished I didn’t live 400 miles away so I could have gone along.
It’s great to see that so many people in the party have been really engaged in the leadership contest, with packed events all over the country.
* Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings. You can find her on Bluesky at caronmlindsay.bsky.social
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5 Comments
It’s a shame Farron couldn’t bring himself to vote for same sex marriage though isn’t it. Seems kinda hypocritical to run around chanting about equality after refusing to actually vote for it when push comes to shove. Had the vote on same sex marriage been tight, Farron’s vote could have been the difference between it passing or not passing. Large numbers of people would today be unable to marry because of that.
He can publish as many videos as he likes saying how much he supports same sex marriage, the fact is he’s shown he’s unwilling to actually support those words in action. I have no doubt that if abortion or right to die ever comes up in Parliament we’ll see old Tim’s true colours come out again.
But Sammy, Norman Lamb didn’t vote for equal marriage at the third reading either. He was also absent:
“On 21 May 2013:
Norman Lamb was absent for a vote on Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill — Third Reading Show full debate”
http://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/11032/norman_lamb/north_norfolk/divisions?policy=6686
Third readings are not “when push comes to shove”. That’s the second reading. Third readings are more or less a formality.
Do we want politicians who never alter their views ?
I’m certain that whichever candidate wins he will be decent and compassionate but, it is hoped, not be naïve in his dealings with other political parties.
Looking at the photographs, it appears that over half the “Ethnic Minority Lib Dems” are… white.
A small amendment. In a Focus being produced literally in-house we once just saved ourselves from stating “the police have a hand job” but failed to notice the article on armed police went on “but we do want gun law”. Probably almost everyone read in the missing “not”.