Luton Liberal Democrat offices vandalised by fundamentalist supporters

From a party news release:

Luton Liberal Democrats arrived to start their days campaigning to discover the frontage of their offices being vandalised. The offices had been sprayed with ‘Voting Shirk’ and plastered with postcards advertising the fundamentalist group’s website and message.

Qurban Hussain, Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate, commented on the incident: ‘I have always said that extremists and fundamentalists have no place in politics or religion. We are disappointed that our offices have been targeted but this is just another indicator that things are going well for us here in Luton South. We are very clearly rattling cages.’

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LibLink: Joan Ruddock isn’t telling the whole truth

Here on The Voice, Mark Pack previously wrote about how Labour MP Joan Ruddock is claiming to have been more opposed to the Iraq war than she actually was. Now one of the Lib Dem local council candidates, Max Calo, has returned to the story on Comment is Free:

Questions have to be asked about what has moved Joan Ruddock to write a letter to voters trumpeting her record on the Iraq war. In a personally addressed letter to electors, she wrote:

“I have always acted with integrity and stuck to my principles – voting against the government going to war

…

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Dear Ian Cowie…

Dear Ian,

I’m a bit confused by your article about hung Parliaments in the Telegraph, where you wrote:

The last time a British election failed to produce a decisive result, in February, 1974, the FTSE All Share Index – a broad measure of the stock market – fell nearly 15pc in a month and ended the year more than 50pc below where it began.

The piece even has a graph starting in January 1974 and going through to late 1974.

Why does this leave me confused? Well, I’m sure on most financial matters you know far more than me. But even I know …

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Conservative splits as two stand against John Redwood

Not a happy time for the Conservatives in Wokingham where not one but two party members are standing as independent candidates against John Redwood.

I’d already highlighted how (ex) Conservative Town Councillor Robin Smith was standing against John Redwood (see more details in the Reading Chronicle).

As pointed out in the comments, there is in fact a second Conservative running against John Redwood – Mark Ashwell, who has criticised John Redwood for being too right wing.

The Lib Dem candidate is Prue Bray.

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Opinion: View from the sidelines

For many years I’ve been a quiet Lib Dem, helping out where I have time but not going to any major effort. Watching the last week to ten days has been very interesting for me.

First came the launch of the Lib Dem manifesto, better organised and easier to watch than the previous Labour or Conservative launches and full of policies that are have been honed and developed of a long cycle of policy refinement. The only thing missing was a serious commitment to investing (or find a way to invest) in the telecoms infrastructure but one omission (admittedly one close …

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Opinion: A Diminished Clarke – a picture of electoral calculation and desperation

What Ken Clarke has been sent out to do (FT.com – requires registration) – and has been willing to do – diminishes him. It can hardly diminish his party.

Ken Clarke is a fervent European but he has been willing to return to the frontline of Tory politics. No doubt he believes he has done a deal…and he has calculated that he can hold back the forces of Euro-scepticism in the Tory party. The gag he is now prepared to wear, on European matters, is a measure of how unsound his judgement has become.

He has a point when he complains …

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A message for candidates from They Work For You

Are you a Parliamentary candidate? Do you know one? If so here’s a handy reminder:

TheyWorkForYou.com has sent online surveys to nearly 3000 candidates  across the UK, including most of your party’s candidates. If you don’t know it, TheyWorkForYou is probably the largest politician transparency website in the UK, with about 3m visitors last year.

The survey we’ve sent is a rigorously neutral attempt to clarify candidates positions on many of the biggest national and local issues at the election. It is also a long-term document – the data that comes from candidate responses will be viewed millions of times between now  and the general …

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Thirsk & Malton election delayed after candidate dies

Sad news from Yorkshire: John Boakes, UKIP candidate for Thirsk & Malton, has died. This means the election will be delayed with polling now taking place on 27 May. During to the change in law following a similar tragedy in 2005, existing nominations roll forward but UKIP is permitted to nominate a new candidate.

Posted in Election law | Tagged | 17 Comments

The technological impact no-one was expecting

I’ve often written about my scepticism of excited comments about 2010 being the first internet general election both because they miss how much at the organisational level has already been altered by the internet over the last two general elections and also because people looking at the internet’s impact on the external side of politics spend far too much time looking at the national scene when instead they should be looking at the local scene.

After the first TV debate you could already imagine the election post mortems headlined, “First internet election? Or first TV election?” Old-fashioned TV has …

Posted in News and Online politics | Tagged and | 11 Comments

“Crash landing” for Luciana Berger in Liverpool Wavertree

Yesterday The Independent profiles the contest in Liverpool Wavertree between Colin Eldridge and Luciana Berger:

Crash landing for Labour candidate parachuted into Liverpool
When London-born Luciana Berger was chosen as the Labour candidate to fight the seat of Liverpool Wavertree three months ago she was tipped as a rising star with a future ministerial career ahead of her. Unfortunately it was not long before things started to go horribly wrong.

There had already been rumblings of discontent within the local party at the imposition of an all-female shortlist for this eminently retainable heartland seat. Then the Labour leadership in London was accused

…

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Rightwing newspaper smears: what the posters say

The Tories’ attempts to orchestrate their allies in the rightwing press on Thursday to smear Nick Clegg backfired seriously, generating more publicity (and a fair deal of sympathy) for Nick, starting the worldwide-trending Twitter irony-meme #nickcleggsfault, and leaving the old media looking desperate and out of touch.

And it also inspired some spoof posters – here are three of the best I spotted, courtesy the wonderful folk at We got Rage Against the Machine to #1, we can get the Lib Dems into office! and their 140,000-plus creative members …

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Pollwatch Days 17-18 #GE2010 – Lib Dems on 29% in today’s polls

Two new polls tonight:

    Harris in the Mail … CON 34%(+3), LAB 26%(nc), LIB DEM 29%(-1)
    YouGov in the Sun … CON 34%(nc), LAB 29%(nc), LIB DEM 29%(+1)

This makes it one full week during which the Lib Dem surge has been maintained, with the party polling consistently in the high-20%s right up to the mid-30%s. The Tories appear to be stuck in the low 30%s, while Labour is consistently pegged in the mid-to-high 20%s. Amusingly the Mail has headlined its poll – showing a 5% Tory lead over the Lib Dems – as follows: Cameron regaining the ground he lost to …

Posted in General Election and Polls | 4 Comments

Vince on 0.2% growth: “the promised recovery is barely visible”

It’s official: the UK economy has enjoyed a second quarter of growth, as the BBC reports:

The UK economy continued to recover from recession in the first three months of the year, according to official estimates. GDP grew by 0.2% between January and March, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.

Here’s what Lib Dem shadow chancellor Vince Cable had to say – in text:

These figures show that the promised recovery is barely visible. There is a real danger of the UK going into a double dip recession. As people deal with their own debts and as the banks continue to strangle good British businesses by starving them of credit the recovery will remain fragile.

“The British economy has had a massive heart attack – it has just emerged from the intensive care unit into the recovery ward. The worst possible action is the Tory proposal to pull out the drip-feed when the patient is still in a critical condition.

“Not only must we tackle the deficit in a considered and rational fashion, we must also ensure that we support jobs and infrastructure as well as making sure businesses get the credit they need to drive growth in the economy.”

And on video:

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YouGov admit debate polling started whilst Nick Clegg was still speaking

YouGov have come in for a fair amount of flack online following last night’s instant debate poll for The Sun. Some of the criticism has been wrong or misplaced. Yes, one of their senior figures has Labour roots. But then one has Conservative roots  and other staff support the Liberal Democrats. They’ve even done polling for the Lib Dems in the past.

But – and it’s an important but – that was not the whole story. In amongst all the chaff were claims that YouGov’s polling started before the debate had actually finished and that it was collecting people’s verdicts on …

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LibLink: Rebecca Jenkins – Tory press helped make up my mind who to vote for

During the election campaign, the Guardian’s Comment Is Free website is publishing posts by a number of about their polling booth intentions. Today, one of their authors, Rebecca Jenkins, declares her hand for Nick Clegg and the Lib Dems. Here’s an excerpt in which she explains why:

I never thought I would say this, but the Tory press has made up my mind for me. It was the array of front pages attacking Nick Clegg on Thursday that did it: the “Nazi” headline, the silly schoolboy word games, and even the Daily Telegraph’s marginally more dignified attempt to make a financial

…

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If you only read five post-debate articles today, make it these five

Here’s my pick of today’s best and most insightful post-debate analysis …

Live-Blogging The Second Brit Debate: A Clegg Triumph (Andrew Sullivan)
A fascinating outsider’s perspective from a US-resident English writer who identifies as a political conservative – and has no doubts that Clegg was the victor of last night’s second debate:

Clegg seems able to grasp hot-button issues and present himself as a fresh approach. … A quote for the night: “You can’t deport 900,000 people when you don’t know where they live.” yes, Clegg again, and he pushes Cameron for a specific number for a cap on immigrants. Cameron has

…

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The LDV Friday Five: 23 April 2010

It’s Friday. It’s five o’clock. Here’s a fistful of lists that sum up the LDV week:

5 most-read stories on LDV this week

1. Poll surge continues: is this 2003 or 1974? (43) by Mark Pack
2. Dear Labour Party, You’re messing with my head (11) by Stephen Tall
3. The Second Leaders’ Debate: live-blog and live-chat (21) by Stephen Tall
4. Daily Mail: big boost for Lib Dems in poll – but editorial line even more striking (29) by Mark Pack
5. Torygraph smears Clegg: is this the best the rightwing press can do? (45)by Stephen Tall

5 active LDV Members’ Forum threads

Most bizarre election story
Virals and imprints?
The Clegg factor
Immigration Policy
Eruption to Disrupt?

5 featured groups on ACT

1. Vote Labservative!
2. Debate Nights
3. Bring Back Sue
4. Liberal Youth
5. Act Creative

5 top reader search returns to get to LDV

(excluding Liberal Democrat Voice or its variants)

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The good news for Clegg in the poll details

Overall the pattern of the debate polls is one of a close result: 3 polls make Clegg the winner, 2 make Cameron the winner. The political impact is more contentious: edging it in the majority of polls would, in any other circumstances be a triumph for Clegg – but was it enough given what happened one week before? Similarly, failing to clearly win the debate in other circumstances would be a disaster for Cameron (remember all those polls and betting odds in advance of the debates saying Cameron would win?). But after last week, perhaps this was good enough?

Well, there’s …

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The Independent View: The chilly reality awaiting health policy

For an issue that ranks second only to the economy in importance for voters, the campaign debate on the NHS has been oddly disconnected from the chilly reality that awaits it beyond May 7th: a significant reduction in the generosity of funding compared to the past ten years, regardless of which party comes into power. Most parties have been making offers in their manifestos with resource implications: more single rooms, shorter waiting times for cancer tests, more choice of GP. But on the whole there has not been much discussion of the need to save, beyond the ubiquitous offers to cut …

Posted in Op-eds and The Independent View | 3 Comments

Opinion: Nick Griffin destroyed his parents and failed his family

On Wednesday’s Today programme, BNP leader Nick Griffin told the Radio Four audience that “Liberal economics… have utterly bankrupted this country.” It’s laughable. The truth is that Nick Griffin was himself declared bankrupt in 1991. Over several years thereafter, he destroyed his parents financially as well. In this link, Griffin’s parents tell the story of how their son ruined their lives.

It is the story of a man whose gross personal financial incompetence brought significant misery to his entire family. Griffin racked up debts of several hundred thousand pounds through a series of disastrous property investments, which he describes …

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Looks like a Tory councillor is standing against John Redwood

As far as I’ve been able to find our, Cllr Robin Smith (Conservative) is the same as Robin Smith, Independent Parliamentary candidate in Wokingham, where the Conservative candidate is one John Redwood. Curious.

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Geeking the Vote

The Geek the Vote campaign has started spreading the message that the Liberal Democrats have the strongest case for building a geek-friendly Britain. I registered the domain name and started work on the site on Monday lunchtime. By Wednesday evening we had 408 Facebook fans, 272 supportive tweets using our campaign hashtag #geekthevote and a mention in the London Evening Standard.

Geeks are an emerging force in the political game. I personally became more interested in politics through following a number of single-issue campaigns online: Ben Goldacre’s tireless assault on irrationalism in public health (among other issues); a Number10.gov.uk petition …

Posted in Op-eds | 6 Comments

Opinion: Gordon must resign if he loses his majority

There is a strange bit of spin being put out by the Tories that a hung parliament with a large number of Lib Dem MPs returned would mean Gordon Brown remaining as Prime Minister. Well, they would say that, wouldn’t they? This assumes that somehow the Liberal Democrats who clenched their teeth throughout 13 years of Labour violation of civil liberties, corruption, and senseless war, are suddenly going to fly to Brown’s rescue. That’s playing fast and loose with the facts.

For a good precedent, look no further than the last hung parliament in 1974, when Ted Heath’s Tories …

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Some crowdsourcing please: how many people have just joined the register in your area?

Early signs are that as many as 500,000 – 750,000 people rushed to join the electoral register just before the registration deadline earlier this week – hopefully reflecting a surge in interest in politics, particularly from younger people.

The evidence though is rather thin at the moment, so a simple request – check with your council how many people have joined the register in the latest rolling register update and post the answer below.

(If you’re an agent or campaign manager, remember that you can ask to get these names and addresses – which if you are doing any addressed election material …

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Opinion: A Swedish lesson for Gordon Brown

So far in British political debates the word “Swedish” is usually bandied about in support of “free schools” by the Conservatives. But you won’t see anything about schools in this post – instead I will highlight a different political lesson from Sweden.

In 2006 the centre-right Alliance for Sweden (which includes our sister party) ended twelve years of Social Democratic government; this was only the third time that the centre-right has defeated a Social Democratic government since the Second World War. An important factor in the victory was …

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LDVideo Second Leaders’ Debate Special: Nick Clegg’s opening and closing statements

Missed last night’s second leaders’ debate on Sky? Want to re-live some of Nick Clegg’s best bits again? Then here, via the Lib Dem Voice YouTube channel, are his opening and closing statements …

Nick Clegg’s opening statement:

Posted in General Election and YouTube | Tagged and | 5 Comments

Dear Benedict Brogan…

Hi Benedict,

Saw that you just wrote: “The snap polls gave the debate to Mr Cameron.”

That seems a bit odd given the actual poll results are:

YouGov and Populus – Cameron winner
ComRes, Angus Reid and ICM – Clegg winner

I can’t quite see how that tallies up with your statement?

Best wishes,

Mark

As if by magic (well, actually email) back comes a note that the post is being amended 🙂

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Telegraph smear story exposed as BBC states Tories behind ‘Get Clegg’ newspaper campaign

Last night the Telegraph splashed its entire front page with a silly smear story about Nick Clegg receiving donations into his bank account. It’s been demolished within 24 hours, as the BBC reports:

Mr Clegg released copies of his bank statements and other paperwork in an attempt to clear up the row. The figures released by the party show donations from three private donors amounting to £19,690 were paid into Mr Clegg’s account between January 2006 and January 2008.

But according to the Lib Dems’ figures Mr Clegg paid £20,437.30 into party coffers between March 2006 and February 2008 for staffing

…

Posted in News | 16 Comments

3 out of 5 polls point to narrow Clegg victory in televised debate

The verdicts are coming in – you can read what I thought here – and two out of three of tonight’s instant polls show Nick Clegg edging tonight’s Sky News televised debate:

    Angus Reid … Clegg 33%, Cameron 32%, Brown 23%
    ComRes … Clegg 33%, Cameron 30%, Brown 30%
    YouGov … Clegg 32%, Cameron 36%, Brown 29%

What’s clear is that this debate was a much close contest than last week’s first debate, much more evenly matched between the three leaders. Clegg was at least as good, but – to give them their due – both Cameron and in particular Brown had improved.

What’s unclear …

Posted in News | 9 Comments

Mail readers angry at paper’s Nazi slur

This is how two Daily Mail readers reacted to today’s attack on Nick Clegg by the paper (via Radio 5):

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