This is just a heads up that the survey of members’ views about the General Election campaign that Sal Brinton mentioned in her post the other day has now been sent out. If you are a member of the party and haven’t found it, it comes from “James Gurling – Liberal Democrats” and is entitled General Election Review. Check your spam if it hasn’t appeared.
James is a member of the Federal Executive and is Chair of the Party’s Campaigns and Communications Committee.
His email contains a unique link to a wide-ranging survey which asks you to give an assessment about what the party did well and badly – and for observations and comparisons with other parties’ campaigns.
This is what the email said:
After every major set of elections the party, as you would expect, conducts a review of what worked and what did not. The results of last week’s elections were obviously bitterly disappointing. But in the same week, we have welcomed over 11,000 new members to our party. The opportunity provided by these new members makes it all the more important that we understand what did and what did not work in our 2015 campaign.This review is going to be conducted by the party’s Campaigns and Communications Committee. In addition to myself and Sal Brinton, the CCC team currently includes Candy Piercy, Martin Tod, Neil Fawcett and Tim Razzall. We will take submissions from across the party, from members, volunteers, staff and candidates.Completing the survey will take approximately 15 minutes, and your answers will make a real contribution to our work. No matter how you were involved in the campaign, or even if you were not actively involved at all, we want to know what you think.
* 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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16 Comments
I do not know James Gurling from Adam. I do know Martin Tod who my cousin in Winchester woyld have been most happy to have as his MP. I do wonder, however, as to the wisdom of the party’s Campaigns and Communications Committee conducting this review. To put it bluntly, this Party does not do campaigns and has not communicated very well for an awfully long time. Who is responsible for this, I know not but it would seem that those who might be responsible are conducting an inquiry into everything except themselves.
I found it unhelpful that it didn’t differentiate between local (local government) and local (general election) campaigns. Maybe they aren’t interested in the local government campaigns?
I wonder why they don’t bother to contact ex-members like myself who left the Party in disgust under the charge of the Orange Bookers who have lost the party 49 seats? You never know we might just have some useful views as well especially as I was a member for 30 years and made so many financial contributions during that time. Surely our views should also count as any strategy should also try to win back those who left or at least find out why. It would be interesting to know how many people left the Party since 2010 as well as those who joined and whether there has been a right wing orchestrated influx to cause electoral damage?
Michael, in my response, I made sure that there was a reference to local government even though there weren’t any up here. This stuff is important.
David,
I just rejoined the party after resigning in 2010… I liked the look of what Tim Farron was saying and wanted to vote for him in the leadership contest.. I was a member for 23 years, had been a councillor and an election organiser… And my father stood for election as a Liberal in Ecclesall ward (Sheffield Hallam) when Nick Clegg was barely born. So the pain of separation was considerable…
But in the end for all the recent disasters the Lib Dems still represent my views better than any other party, and I hope for a bit more Liberalism and a bit less cynical expediency in the next few years
Tony
You’re five years out of date, Martin Tod didn’t stand in Winchester this time. And not sure what he has to do with this topic. Someone has to conduct a review. Who else would you suggest?
I find it difficult to conceive of a ‘where in the UK do you live’ question that thinks it is possible to do serious analysis based on all of southern England and London being one area.
This in a party that thought Labour’s regional divisions were too large…!
“Do you think the Party is on the right track? Think very, very carefully before answering.”
“On a scale of 1 to 56, just how resilient are the Liberal Democrats?”
tony dawson 17th May ’15 – 7:04pm
I think that sums it up pretty well Tony.
Elaine Woodard
“You’re five years out of date, Martin Tod didn’t stand in Winchester this time. And not sure what he has to do with this topic. Someone has to conduct a review. Who else would you suggest?”
Well, Elisabeth, I am not at all out of date and was in Winchester recently. My cousin would have voted for Martin but not the most recent choice of the Winchester Lib Dems. Individuals do make a difference in politics. As for what Martin has to do with this topic, I suggest you re- read it carefully.
As for the conduct of the review, I would suggest almost anyone should conduct it except the CCC. Do you remember the post-2010 review? What an appalling complacent and misdirected document which managed to pretty much avoid the underlying problems of the 2010 campaign which tipped through five years of coalition into the 2015 debacle.
It is so easy to criticise what others are doing. Have they done anything constructive themselves ?
@tony dawson
“has not communicated very well for an awfully long time”
What recommendations would you make to improve this?
It looks a good survey, well-drafted and not angling for certain responses.
Tony Dawson clearly didn’t take an interest in the Party’s consultation on party communications after last spring’s disastrous results, as James Gurling led on that. By contrast, that was a badly-devised consultation that asked for views on communications without setting any clear parameters. Many people with views on the leadership, for example, assumed this was outside the remit of the consultation and therefore said nothing on it, only to find James’ report highlighting how few respondents expressed views on this!
The Party does not do consultations well. It ought to study and sign up to the National Compact (between the voluntary sector and government) and make sure its consultation exercises meet Compact standards, which they rarely do. To pick out one point: those who respond (or if that’s difficult, all members) should get a fair, balanced and detailed summary of the results. Nowadays it’s easy to do that without boring people: you offer a link and if they’re not interested enough, they don’t click on it.
I rather hope Sal will take an interest in the replies as well as James.
I have sent my reply in and then realised I had not mentioned Miriam. I do think she was a positive force. Such an interesting woman.
I would like to ask what positive changes occurred due to the survey about the 2010 election
Hi Liberal Voice. I’m trying to find out a bit of information . Who is conduting a review into out general election result.