About a year ago, Nick Clegg announced that the members of the post-election negotiating team would be Danny Alexander, Steve Webb, Sal Brinton, Lynne Featherstone and David Laws.
As Party President, Sal will be closely involved in any post-election moves so it is appropriate that she should be replaced on the negotiating team itself.
According to Michael Crick, Channel 4’s political correspondent:
Baroness (Kate) Parminter to replace Lib Dem president Sal Brinton in the party’s 5-person post-election Coalition negotiation team
— Michael Crick (@MichaelLCrick) March 15, 2015
Kate Parminter is perhaps not as well known as the other team members, but is a welcome addition. She has been involved in conservation issues throughout her life, having been Chief Executive of the Campaign to Protect Rural England, and most recently as an adviser to charities and companies on corporate social responsibility. She has served as a local councillor in Horsham.
* Mary Reid is a contributing editor on Lib Dem Voice. She was a councillor in Kingston upon Thames, where she is still very active with the local party, and is the Hon President of Kingston Lib Dems.
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Some kids just need more hugs and cuddles
Test post 6
The Joy of Six 1323
Could there be a Trump-style coup in the UK?
Mick Taylor
Steve Trevethan
Ricky Treadwell
Christopher Haigh
Katie Wilson-Downie
17 Comments
Another Clegg crony who has no experience of winning elections. Ho hum, as in probability Clegg won’t be leader and Alexander will have lost his seat and there won’t be any negotiations anyway …..
Shouldn’t they wait and see who has a seat before deciding on the team? Or are MPs who can’t even hold their own seat going to take part?
I very much approve of this appointment. I was very impressed with Kate when she came and spoke at my local party.
Will Danny & Lyne still be part of the team if they lose their seats ?
A great choice, and a strong supporter and expert on green issues. Good luck Kate!
Of course, if we get an outright majority we won’t be needing the team!
Another thread where the doomsayers and anti cleggites are running the party down.
Oh and by the way if we were to go back into government we wouldn’t automatically have a leadership election unless 75 local parties ask for it and they didn’t after the Euro Elections. A leadership election is only obligatory if we are NOT in government and then only within 12 months of the election.
Dr Michael Taylor 16th Mar ’15 – 6:53pm …Another thread where the doomsayers and anti cleggites are running the party down…..
Strange how the loss of 10 MEPs, hundreds of LCs, lost deposits, single figure poll ratings, etc. under Clegg’s leadership are considered of less importance than criticism of Clegg…
“Another thread where the doomsayers and anti cleggites are running the party down”
No its another article that shows Nick Clegg has learnt nothing from his mistakes and continues in his little bubble,
the polls are wrong, the critics are wrong, the voters are wrong, but Nick is right.
I suggest you look at the latest focus group finding on the Lib Dems: “None of our participants was seriously considering the Liberal Democrats, even in Northampton where the party had come a very close third in 2010. “They’re not in the running. I voted for them last time because I thought they were like Labour used to be – a social moral conscience with a bit of common sense. But now… they’ve lost their purpose.”
Dr Michael Taylor 16th Mar ’15 – 6:57pm
“Oh and by the way if we were to go back into government we wouldn’t automatically have a leadership election unless 75 local parties ask for it and they didn’t after the Euro Elections. A leadership election is only obligatory if we are NOT in government and then only within 12 months of the election.”
Demonstrates exactly the same lack of judgement as shown by Ashdown in his ill-fated attempt at putting down Tim Farron.
Clearly things are now getting desperate in the Orange Book Club.
The ordinary party membership will have that vote. And we will reclaim our party for the cause of Social Justice Liberal Democracy.
Back to the topic … although I am not personally aware of Kate Parminter’s qualities and qualifications for this role I am happy to follow Simon Oliver’s lead.
What I am distinctly unhappy with is the lack of transparency and democratic process in the selection of the team.
Clearly once the election is over, and having served our purpose, the foot soldiers can ‘return to their homes and prepare to be ignored’.
This announcement is hubristic in the extreme. By all means have a conversation about who might make up a negotiating team should need/opportunity arise but don’t talk about it in public. It is a complete hostage to fortune.
They could do that Robin. The people like me criticise the lack of preparation for negotiations in a hung Parliament situation 🙂
There probablity is a hung parliament, preparing for how you deal with that – and being open about what the process will be is a good thing
Dr Michael Taylor 16th Mar ’15 – 6:53pm
“Another thread where the doomsayers and anti cleggites are running the party down.”
Always a joy to read a happy, positive and encouraging comment from Michael Taylor.
I cannot wait for his congratulatory comment praising Paddy Ashdown for shooting the party in the foot or his comment praising Danny Alexander for his fund-raising skills.
It does not matter what the issue of the day is you can rely on Michael Taylor to blame the poor bl@@dy infantry.
So having had four MPs failing to get a half decent deal last time – Sorry Tim 3/10 from me for the coalition negotiations team’s deal in 2010 – we now have four MPs and a member of the HoL – at least three from Nick’s inner circle and the other two from the South East. Nice to see a good dose of diversity there then.
Why is Danny Alexander on the list? Was noone else interested? Are there any examples of him successfully negotiating with other parties?
It seems to me that it is a good thing to have the membership of the negotiating team settled in advance. It can be changed if needs be, but at least it signals to the electorate and to the other parties that we are serious about coalition negotiations, and thinking in terms of a responsible and stable coalition arrangement rather than a less stable “confidence and supply” arrangement.
That said, for now we need to get on with seeking as many seats and as many votes as possible.