I joined this party because I believe in the power of every individual to take power and use it – use it to shape their own lives and communities and to help change the world.
I joined this party because I’ve seen brave people face down threats from large powerful corporations, from their own governments, and from conformity – everything for which we stand.
And I joined this party because ours is the only political philosophy that believes in trusting, enabling and freeing people. We want to lift people out of poverty and ignorance. We want them to have a safety net so they have the confidence to take risks, to innovate and make bold decisions. And we want to create a system of governance that serves people and communities, from the grass-roots up.
We were right to adopt community politics as an ideology of social transformation in the 1970s, and we were right to re-state our commitment to it in 2011. But as I said then – to the nodding heads of Paddy Ashdown and Tim Farron – it must once again become the foundation of our identify and our approach. In 2011, Conference agreed “A renewed strategic emphasis on ‘community politics’: our role as political activists is to help organise people in communities to take and use power, to use our political skills to redress grievances, and to represent people at all levels of the political structure.”
We want every individual to take back power and use it. This is our distinctive message. And this should be the golden thread that runs through everything we do, say, and pledge to deliver. An unambiguous commitment to giving back power – for example, by raising the proportion of government spending and tax revenue that is managed through local government over a Parliament – should be the starting point of our 2015 manifesto.
I have huge ambitions for our party. I’m 32 and I’m prepared to spend the next 50 years of my life fighting for our political beliefs. The next few months will be critical but they also present an unrivalled opportunity for us to lay the foundations for a Liberal Revival.
Our councillors and grass roots campaigners are the forgotten army on which our future depends – in this party, our place is front and centre.
As President, I would:
1. FOCUS ON WINNING. We must use May 2015 as an opportunity for every member to experience winning, gain confidence to campaign on our messages, and develop their campaign skills. For me, every member counts. That’s how I believe we’ll motivate members to go out and win.
2. INSPIRE DONORS TO SCALE UP SUPPORT. Donors need confidence to invest knowing we’re a political force that’s here to stay. I would showcase the party’s finest campaigners and new talent to show we’re the future of British politics.
3. RE-BUILD & RE-LAUNCH. After May, we must launch an ambitious national scheme to recruit members in such numbers that we will within 20 years wipe out all ‘black-holes’, be as diverse as the UK, and re-build our local government base and membership from community level up.
If you share my vision and want to help it happen, please join my team today and help elect me as the next Liberal Democrat Party President.
For more information about me please see my website, email [email protected] and follow me on Twitter at @daisy4change.
* Daisy Cooper is the Liberal Democrat MP for St Albans.
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25 Comments
” I believe in the power of every individual to take power and use it – use it to shape their own lives and communities ”
Don’t need that cup of coffee to get me going now. THanks Daisy.
Hey Daisy,
Welcome to the race! What do you think makes you different from the other candidates? What do you offer that the others don’t? Much of what you’ve written is similar to the the other applicants LDV posts, so it’s hard to understand why you’ve thrown your hat into the ring at this stage, maybe you could clarify?
Another brilliant woman in the race. Can’t help but feel very inspired by this election!
@ChrisB
“Much of what you’ve written is similar to the the other applicants LDV posts”
To quote John Patrick MacEnroe: “You can not be serious”.
It ain’t what you say but the way that you say it. 🙂
At last! An All-Women Shortlist!
Daisy – how would you attempt to bring back to the party women who have left because they feel that “the inadvertent encroachment of personal space” has not been taken seriously?
I feel inspired by the campaigns of Liz and Daisy. I think Sal could also do a good job, but Linda Jack is not in consideration for me because she is a member of Liberal Left.
The focus on winning is important to me. Partly due to selfish reasons, but also selfless ones due to the damage on sections of society that I think the other parties cause. They are stuffed with prejudice.
It’s also about fairness – what’s the point in giving up valuable time if you know you are probably going to lose? Most will just become demoralised and give up.
The presidency is about operational duties such as dealing with the membership, but it is also about representing and leading the party. The president is awarded a powerful media role and their opinions become more important. Therefore, I would also like to know more about what each of the candidates believe.
On a smaller note: I think community politics is a good way of communicating values by showing the state isn’t the answer to everything, whilst showing it doesn’t mean that nothing should be done. Norman Lamb has communicated this very well in government, but it is important not to do it too much because we all have other time commitments.
Best regards
We can’t wait till next May to rebuild. We must do it now.
“Another brilliant woman in the race. Can’t help but feel very inspired by this election!”
That they are all women is, for me, a secondary concern to their competence and aptitude for the job. We have a good range of candidates now, representing different views and with different backgrounds and experience. That is excellent. I’m inspired by the fact we have people of substance who want to do this job and, in Daisy’s case, by the positive and enthusiastic way in which she has kicked off her campaign.
I am undecided how to vote, but I must say I love the ambitious positive tone of this article. Of course the questions have only just began but there will be plenty of time to answer those!
There is nothing in here that I disagree with, but it is all pretty meaningless. I don’ t you have said anything that most people involved in politics could not sign up to. Community activism is used by all the main political parties now. The SNP are using as part of the yes campaign, the green to oppose Fracking, the Tories have become good at using local issue in their campaign, even Labour have been know on occasion to allow local people a say in things.
What do you think about the economy, the NHS, public spending. How do you apply you views to these issues?
“Daisy – how would you attempt to bring back to the party women who have left because they feel that “the inadvertent encroachment of personal space” has not been taken seriously?”
I have very little sympathy for the allegedly inadvertent encroacher, but the idea that this is the most important issue in sight gives the impression of a party turning in on itself.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/womens-politics/10214326/One-to-watch-Why-political-campaigner-Daisy-Cooper-is-going-places.html
An interesting article on this very articulate candidate. This really is a tough presidency campaign, but I like the focus of this positive article on localism (the thing our party has which the others do not, even when they pretend they do).
However, a few points about campaigns and other specific things you would like to get involved would be interesting to hear. I notice you have a real interest in international affairs and law, so is that something you will utilise to help revive our party’s international outlook?
Community politics is NOT community activism. Please read the original pamphlet online.
A liberal revival needs to involve Lib Dems listening to each other and the public more. I don’t always succeed at this, but it is something that needs to happen more often. Lib Dems have been good at leading on issues in the past, but not so good at listening.
It’s easier for me to speak my mind because I am not standing for an internal election any time soon, but I think this is one thing that needs to change and it has been a factor in the presidential campaign. I’ll elaborate on the general principle in future.
Best wishes
Just to say thanks for all the comments everyone – I’ll respond to each one later today . Thanks!
At last a candidate who speaks my Language! I joined the Liberals when I was a little younger than you I a now 75.
I have arthritis in most joints from pounding pavements climbing stairs etc. I still believe in all the reasons I joined especially the freedoms of the individual. We need to get back to community politics and the bread and butter issues
that affect ordinary people every day.
You got my Vote Lady
Thanks for your positive attitude towards a Liberal Revival, Daisy. I like your style too – as well as those of other candidates and will study how the campaigns develop. My comments below are written in support of all candidates. I do believe our president needs a first-class communication network to all members, possibly with a website with some of LDV’s potential to communicate. However, LDV is not set up to do the job of president and I would suggest it is essential for this leader to have her own site which is supported by the party as a whole [without interference of course].
Slightly off topic but connected – one thing which has to be solved for the party is to have good communication via LDV itself [and with any presidential website] without the distracting negative comments of non-members. Most of us don’t have time and inclination to battle through these distractions and access should be for LDs only. Yes we know we have forum but it doesn’t work easily for many of us to contribute and debate and see how members are ‘voting’ or recommending in the manner of CiF on the Guardian. At present, any LD president would have difficulty working out, from a current website, what large groups of members believe. Generally, even better interactive websites *for members* are needed – which lead towards clearer and cumulative promoting of the issues which members believe in. I’m concerned that too many of our leaders promote issues *in the dark* – to which members have not been able to show any reaction *before* they hit the headlines. But our president should be able to draw together our majority views into beneficial directions for the party as a whole to pursue.
Sounds O.K. to me. It’s getting that message to the people that never hear what we have to say that is the hard bit!
“Yes we know we have forum but it doesn’t work easily for many of us to contribute and debate and see how members are ‘voting’ or recommending in the manner of CiF on the Guardian.”
Whyever not?
Hi Daisy, I’m not a member, so you don’t need to respond to me, I just like to provide guidance and see myself as a liberal voter.
I’ll try to leave these debates to members more from now on.
Regards
Hi Everyone,
Thanks so much for your positive comments, suggestions and questions! So, here goes –
Bill, Joshua, Tony, Stephen, Geoff, Angela and Tony – THANK YOU! If any of you would like to get involved in the campaign please let me know – I’m on [email protected]
Chris B – I’m free from the constraints of being either in Government or the Parliamentary Party, so I can be an informed AND independent voice for the members. I also have a strong record of getting our message out in the national media (please see the “about Daisy” section on my campaign website) – my campaign launch for President was covered in the Independent and the Sunday Times today. As for only declaring now, I had to get my personal ducks in a row – moving house, personal finances, work arrangements etc – boring but necessary!
Ruth Bright – this is a serious issue and one I’m prepared to tackle. I’ve worked with a number of activists and Cllrs who have found it difficult to navigate party bureaucracy. In my experience, some situations have been left to fester and have not been dealt with properly in the first instance at the local level. I’ve always thought that local Party Chairs have a very difficult role, and can play an incredibly important role in setting the culture of local parties. They are also invariably the first ‘go to’ point for members with questions or concerns about fellow party members. I’d be interested to explore whether there is any appetite for a Local Party Chairs Network, and/or offering an optional accreditation/qualification to go with the role so as to attract and incentive members who have an interest in management issues to see the position as an opportunity (rather than just another role that has to be managed along with everything else). In terms of the complaints process, there have been some useful reforms since the Morrissey report but I still think there are some processes that are unfit for purpose. Cllrs and activists who I’ve assisted to understand and navigate the party processes have often been perplexed by the number of people involved, the various party committees and bodies, and baffled by how different sets of rules for different processes work together. We need to simplify the processes and strengthen accountability for procedural decisions.
Eddie – I have a strong background in both operational and representational and leadership roles (please see the “About Daisy” section on my website). I’m happy to answer any questions you have about my beliefs.
Ian – I absolutely agree, we must start to re-build now. My priorities 1 and 3 are inter-linked. In the next 7 months, I’d love to see us transform our ‘targeting strategy’ – rather than just asking members from ‘satellite’ seats to help deliver leaflets etc in a held/strategic seat, I would like the regions to ensure that campaign sessions in target seats are ‘sold’ to the satellite seats as an opportunity for training. If a non-target seat only has a couple of people who know how to use Connect, then the regional party could organise Connect training in the Target seat for the non-target seat campaigners. That way, they learn valuable skills they can take back to their own areas to improve their campaigning and give them the confidence to do more. We should – and can – do this on a systematic and UK-wide basis. By coincidence, I learnt recently that OxWab (Oxford West and Abingdon) is already doing this, and they’ve told me that the numbers of members attending their campaign sessions, because training has been offered, is on the up – so in one seat, it’s already working.
Stephen – I see community politics as distinct from community activism. Community politics is an ideology, a system of governance for social transformation – believing that people should be enabled to take and use power, and able to influence the decisions that affect their lives. In policy terms, that means a massive decentralisation of power from central to local government. On public spending, that could mean increasing tax revenue powers for local government, and/or increasing the percentage of government spending through local authorities year on year in the next Parliament (an idea being floated amongst my ALDC colleagues at the moment). On the NHS, it means making sure that local people through their local representatives have greater decision-making powers on health service provision, location of services etc so they can respond to their particular communities.
Liberal Al – yes, absolutely. Personally, I’m concerned that there aren’t many active members of the people in the party who actually work in the area of intentional development. I was on the party’s 2009-10 International Development Policy Working Group, which developed the party’s international development policy for the 2010 manifesto (agreed by Conference of course!) and for a few months, was an advisor to the Party’s Parliamentary International Affairs Team. Martin Horwood was an excellent and incredibly knowledgeable Chair, having done lots of work on the international Arms Trade Treaty. Stephen Gilbert has also done lots on LGBT rights abroad, particularly decriminalising homosexuality in Commonwealth countries (something I’ve also campaigned on). The International Unit is doing great work brining members of sister parties to our Autumn Conferences. I hope that we could expand this work and would be open to ideas.
Eddie – I agree, and I think a key part of the President’s role is to listen. For example, on the Bedroom Tax, there were warning signals from both within and from outside the party about its potential impact on some vulnerable groups. For some reason, those warning signals weren’t heard or listened to. As President, I’d make strong representations to the leader and the leadership team on issues that really matter to the members. As you identify as a liberal, I’m happy to answer your questions 🙂
Thanks again, Daisy
Thanks Daisy. 🙂
Daisy, much of what you say I can agree with and, as others have said, it sounds similar to what the other candidates are saying. I’m not sure yet about increasing funding in local government, whether that involves more tax raising powers locally or not. I have been a local councillor and although I think my council was relatively well run, partly I think due to not having been continuously run by one party for decades, I have grave misgivings about local authorities in several areas. I think what is needed is to separate local government from service provision. I.e. licensing, planning and legislation through bylaws would be the role of local government. Education, social services, refuse collection, parks, amenities and basically everything that is currently funded locally should be looked at on the basis of how best it can be delivered. This could help to stop, for example, Labour councils unnecessarily implementing cuts in services in order to blame central government. Much of service provision is not party political. Why should the frequency of bin collection influence the make up of a council?
Hi Daisy, pleased to learn you are standing for president, locally I find your enthusiasm contagious and I am sure that will carry over to the rest of the party.
Over the years within the Liberal and later Liberal Democrat party I have always been impressed by our local campaigning because this is what is important to people. But now we are also a party of government regardless of the outcomes of next year’s elections. So now I think it vital to link the two, to address the common question what do LibDems stand for? With the right wing splitting and Labour seemingly unsure of itself I belive the electorate are looking for a vision, how do they as individuals exist within an ever more globalised world? How can it benefit them rather than be a threat?
Hi Daisy! AT LAST I’ve got someone to vote for! Thank you for standing – and for being positive, optimistic, straightforward and enthusiastic.
Send me a pic, some blurb for my website (address above) and some campaign material I can distribute for you.
Nick