Stephen Tall

Four celebrity ‘twumbs-ups’ for Nick Clegg #iagreewithnick

By Stephen Tall | Fri 16th April 2010 - 3:45 pm

Here are four approving sleb tweets spotted during the course of the debate …

    John Cleese (comedy god)

    Well, well, well. First leaders debate, and LibDems do so well. Good
    luck to them.

    Phillip Schofield (TV presenter)

    It’ll be fascinating to see how that’s altered the polls. I’m thinking Mr Clegg hasn’t done himself any harm tonight #leadersdebate

    Graham Linehan (writer, Father Ted, Black Books and The IT Crowd)

    Is it just me or is Clegg storming this? #leadersdebate

    Chris Addison (comedian, star of The Thick of It)

    Few would have recognised Nicholas Cleggolas before this evening. This is hugely significant for him, whoever ‘wins’.

…

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Posted in General Election | Tagged , and | 5 Comments
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Stephen Tall

Pollwatch Day 10 #GE2010 – Lib Dems at 20%, Lab 31%, Tories 38%

By Stephen Tall | Fri 16th April 2010 - 3:25 pm

Amidst all the excitement of the debate we neglected to report the latest two polls released last night:

    YouGov in the Sun … CON 37%(-4), LAB 31%(-1), LIB DEM 22%(+4).
    TNS BMRB … CON 36%(-2), LAB 33%(nc), LIB DEM 22%(+3).

Still no change in Anthony Wells’ UK Polling Report ‘poll of polls’ average – but I suspect that may change in the next day or so …

    Con 38% (n/c), Lab 31% (+1%), Lib Dem 20% (n/c)

It’s interesting to see the effect of the debate on public perceptions. YouGov asked how much confidence voters had …

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Posted in General Election and Polls | 5 Comments
Stephen Tall

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

By Stephen Tall | Fri 16th April 2010 - 11:20 am

Want to see Nick Clegg’s opening and closing statements from last night’s televised election debate – well, here you go …

Nick Clegg’s 60-second opening statement in the first ever British televised general election debate

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Stephen Tall

Nick Clegg leaders’ debate win: your LDV reader

By Stephen Tall | Fri 16th April 2010 - 10:30 am

Here’s a welcome problem to have this morning … wading our way through the sheer volume of media news that’s positive for the Lib Dem following Nick Clegg’s terrific performance in last night’s televised lesaders’ debate.

Let’s make a start with the newspaper editorials:

Nick Clegg’s night (Guardian)

Expectations shape reactions, which is why Britain’s first televised leaders’ debate will be judged not just in terms of how the three men involved in it performed, but what was predicted before they began speaking. On that measure, Nick Clegg thrived, David Cameron disappointed and Gordon Brown survived.

The Other One Wins: Nick Clegg seized his moment (Times)

Nick Clegg took his chance and changed a two-man competition into something that looks more like a three-horse race.

Clegg uses first TV debate to best effect (Telegraph)

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Posted in General Election | Tagged | 7 Comments
Mark Pack

Agree with Nick, too? Here’s 4 things you can do today #iagreewithnick

By Mark Pack | Fri 16th April 2010 - 10:10 am

You’ve watched the debate, you’ve heard Nick Clegg, and like millions of others you like what you saw and heard. But what next?

Here are four simple things you can do to help turn Nick’s words into
actions that bring about real change and make Britain fairer:

1. Join the Liberal Democrats:

Politics isn’t about one man bands: Nick Clegg and Vince Cable need a strong team behind them supporting their work.

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Posted in General Election | Tagged and | 7 Comments
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Mark Pack

Dear Michael Gove…

By Mark Pack | Fri 16th April 2010 - 7:56 am

Dear Michael,

You’re in the news today saying that the “novelty” of Nick Clegg will wear off when his policies come under further scrutiny.

Guess you must have missed last night’s TV debate then, with the two occasions when David Cameron directly put Liberal Democrat policies under scrutiny and said they wouldn’t work.

Only thing is, on both occasions – how to fund taking millions out of income tax and how to have a regionally based immigration system – Nick Clegg straight away responded with a detailed answer covering all of Cameron’s points.

And in both cases that response silenced Cameron on the point …

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Stephen Tall

The LDV Leaders’ Debate Verdict: Nick Clegg the winner #GoNick #leadersdebate #GE2010

By Stephen Tall | Thu 15th April 2010 - 11:40 pm

I cannot tell you how good it is to be able to type the words, “Nick Clegg was the clear winner”, and know that not only is it my view, but that it’s the public view, too. We’ve already published the two poll results which matter: those showed Nick was judged to have done best by 51%, with Cameron on 29% and Brown on 19% (YouGov), and Nick 46%, Cameron 26%, Brown 20% (ComRes).

Nick Clegg … it’s true, Nick had a couple of advantages going into the debate. He’s the least known, so merely being given equal status is already a win. True, too, expectations were lower for Nick. But even allowing for that, this was an important night for Nick. Those of us who have watched Nick at his town hall meetings will have been familiar enough with the style: natural, conversational, honest, open, personable. Though all were nervous, at least initially, Nick appeared to shrug off the jitters most quickly. His body language, crucial in a debate like this, was engaging, both with the audience in the studio, and the audience at home. What people saw tonight was the Real Nick Clegg. They seem to like him.

Gordon Brown … the Prime Minister started with low expectations, but for a different reason than Nick: most people have already made up their minds that he’s not up to the job. I was relatively (and I stress the word relatively) impressed with Brown’s performance.

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , , and | 20 Comments
The Voice

Okay, we can breathe again: who do you think won?

By The Voice | Thu 15th April 2010 - 10:10 pm

Time for the post-match spin – what did LDV’s readers make of it all?

Update: Sun/YouGov poll result puts Clegg on 51%, Cameron 29%, Brown 19%
ITV poll shows same result: Clegg 43%, Cameron 26%, Brown 20%

Posted in General Election | 32 Comments
Stephen Tall

Leaders’ Debate live-chat: now open

By Stephen Tall | Thu 15th April 2010 - 8:34 pm

Here at Lib Dem Voice, there is live-chat co-hosted with Mark Thompson’s Mark Reckons blog. Live-blogging action from Lib Dems can be found at:

Paul Walter’s Liberal Burblings
Tom King’s The World Forgetting, By The World Forgot
Burke’s Works’ The Bureau of Sabotage

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Stephen Tall

LDVideo #GE2010 #GoNick – Nick anticipates tonight’s televised debate. But how are we all feeling?

By Stephen Tall | Thu 15th April 2010 - 7:45 pm

Today’s election campaign has been something of a rest-day for the leaders, with no major set-piece launches or interviews, as all three focus on tonight’s televised leaders’ debate. The preparations have dominated the political news all day, with intense speculation about who’ll win, and indeed whether anybody will win.

In the two video clips below, Nick Clegg speaks about how he’s feeling ahead of the biggest night of his political life. But how are LDV’s readers feeling? Excited, nervous; both, neither?

Clegg on debate preparations – Nick Clegg has spoken about his nerves and how he has been preparing for the prime ministerial TV debate.

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NewsHound

LibLink: Mark Pack – TV leaders’ debates: the dos and don’ts

By NewsHound | Thu 15th April 2010 - 7:15 pm

Over at the Total Politics website, LDV Co-Editor Mark Pack has penned an open letter to the party leaders ahead of tonight’s televised debate. Mark offers six pieces of advice, ranging from the obvious (or you’d think they’d be obvious), such as “Behave” to the more oblique, “Be ready for the worms”. Here’s an excerpt:

“Drunkard”, “useful idiot” and “dickheads” – all terms from one of the 2006 Italian debates between Prodi and Berlusconi – are best avoided, as is this quote from a 2004 Czech debate: “You’re lying as you always have. That’s you all over – a liar from

…

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The Voice

Lib Dem manifesto launch: Clegg’s speech and BBC video

By The Voice | Thu 15th April 2010 - 6:50 pm

In case you missed yesterday’s launch of the Lib Dem manifesto – and want to catch up ahead of tonight’s first debate – here are two treats for you. First, the BBC report of the launch. And then Nick’s speech at the launch … in full.

Lib Dems to unveil ‘fair’ pledges – The Liberal Democrats present their election manifesto, saying it is a “serious” plan for government voters can “trust”.

And now here’s Nick’s speech launching the manifesto:

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Posted in General Election | 2 Comments
Stephen Tall

Pollwatch Day 9 #GE2010 – Lib Dems at 20%, Lab 31%, Tories 38%

By Stephen Tall | Thu 15th April 2010 - 6:30 pm

Three new polls cpublished today:

    YouGov in the Sun … CON 41%(+2), LAB 32%(+1), LIB DEM 18%(-2)
    ComRes for the Independent/ITV … CON 35%(-1), LAB 29%(-2), LIB DEM 21%(+2)
    Harris for Metro … CON 36%(-1), LAB 27%(nc), LIB DEM 23%(+1)

What does all this mean for Anthony Wells’ UK Polling Report ‘poll of polls’ average? Well, there’s no change from yesterday:

    Con 38% (n/c), Lab 31% (+1%), Lib Dem 20% (n/c)

So far, as Mark Pack has already blogged, the general trend for the Lib Dems is upwards – and that was before yesterday’s good publicity for the Lib Dem manifesto launch. Of course, …

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Stephen Tall

The first televised leaders’ debate – join us for the live-chat tonight!

By Stephen Tall | Thu 15th April 2010 - 6:00 pm

After all the anticipation, tonight sees the first of the live televised leaders debates, from 8.30 pm on ITV1. We suspect this may just attract some interest among LDV readers, and so we’ve teamed up with Mark Thompson of the award-winning Mark Reckons blog to co-host a live-chat for the three debates.

Join us here from 8.30 pm (or a little earlier if the excitement escalates to fever-pitch sooner) …

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Mark Pack

Social media’s impact on political reporting

By Mark Pack | Thu 15th April 2010 - 5:20 pm

At the weekend I did a session for the Radio Academy on social media, journalism and the general election.

Here it is as a podcast – so enjoy!

Posted in News, Online politics and Podcasts | Tagged and | Leave a comment
Mark Pack

The steady march of the Liberal Democrats

By Mark Pack | Thu 15th April 2010 - 4:24 pm

Here is the latest poll figure from each polling company for the Lib Dems, compared with the figure in its first poll in March (excluding those companies without a recent poll or who didn’t poll in March):

Angus Reid: 18%, 22% (+4)
BPIX: 18%, 20% (+2)
ComRes: 20%, 21% (+1)
Harris: 18%, 23% (+5)
ICM: 18%, 20% (+2)
Opinium: 16%, 17% (+1)
Populus: 21%, 21% (nc)
YouGov: 16%, 18% (+2)

And some good news from the Lib Dem – Tory marginals in the marginals poll run in today’s Telegraph:

The poll found that the Tories would pick up 74 of the 100 seats from Labour. However, they would not

…

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Posted in Polls | Tagged and | 1 Comment
Mark Pack

Nick Clegg on tackling poverty around the world

By Mark Pack | Thu 15th April 2010 - 1:50 pm

Nick Clegg has done an interview and video clip for ONE Vote 2010, a campaign group “committed to the fight against extreme poverty and preventable disease, particularly in Africa”.

Here’s a sample:

What would you do to secure a global climate deal that helps people living in poverty? Would you ensure that climate funding is additional to current and promised aid flows?

The Liberal Democrats have long been at the forefront of the environmental agenda and have a record of campaigning for ambitious action on the environment and climate change. At the heart of our thinking on climate change is the belief that

…

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Mark Pack

Two councillors accused of breaking election law; one political party investigated

By Mark Pack | Thu 15th April 2010 - 12:20 pm

A quick round-up of stories in the news recently:

In January 2010 the Electoral Commission, the independent party finance watchdog, began a case review following concerns raised in the independent auditor’s opinion about the adequacy of the 2008 statement of accounts of the British National Party.

The case has now become an investigation. However, it is important to note – particularly during an election period – that no conclusion has been reached and therefore no assumption should be made as to whether a breach of the rules has occurred. (Electoral Commission)

A CONSERVATIVE councillor has been suspended and is due in

…

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Mark Pack

“Liberal Democrats lead on liberty” – Henry Porter

By Mark Pack | Thu 15th April 2010 - 11:20 am

Henry Porter writes in The Guardian:

By far the best undertakings on liberty come in the Liberal Democrat manifesto, which is hardly surprising, given that it has been stalwart in its defence of liberty under all three of its leaders since the last election. Nick Clegg’s attack on Labour’s authoritarian streak is especially welcome and will be significant if there is a hung parliament on May 7, which – astonishingly – is what 32% of voters desire.

The party will introduce a freedom bill, regulate CCTV, reduce local council surveillance, restore the right to protest, protect free speech, offer guarantees to investigative

…

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Mark Pack

A graphical demonstration of just how broken our electoral system is

By Mark Pack | Thu 15th April 2010 - 10:20 am

I’ve blogged before about how if you are under 40, nearly half the seats in the country have never changed hands since you were born. That isn’t a system that gives real power to people’s votes. Nor is it a system in which MPs are held accountable for their behaviour.

Now this great map has been put together illustrating the point (click on map for larger version):

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Posted in News | Tagged and | 1 Comment
Stephen Tall

3 to see: Lib Dem #GE2010 campaign coverage (15/4/10)

By Stephen Tall | Thu 15th April 2010 - 9:50 am

Pushed for time, but want to keep up-to-date with how the campaign’s going? Here are today’s must-reads …


  • Liberal Democrat manifesto: Tough but fair (Guardian)

    • There’s a warm welcome for the party’s manifesto from the two progressive quality papers. Here’s the Grauniad:

    Right now, the Liberal Democrats are in the midst of what may be the most important 48 hours of their entire election campaign. The manifesto launch suggests that the Lib Dems are well aware of the stakes. For their moment in the spotlight, they chose a focused, costed and serious political message. Unlike the design-led offerings of their opponents,

…

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Posted in General Election | 4 Comments
Mark Pack

Here comes the debate worm

By Mark Pack | Thu 15th April 2010 - 9:20 am

I’ve written previously about my expectation that we’d see a worm grace the stage during the televised party leader debates. However, whilst I speculated about the worm being in Channel 4’s charge, looking to a traditional TV broadcast was just too old school of me. In fact, there will be a worm – but it’s a Facebook worm. As their news release explains:

With Britain’s first ever prime ministerial debate taking place on Thursday, Facebook’s 23 million UK users are being invited to participate in a mass “dial test” which will enable them rate the debates in real time and

…

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Posted in General Election | Tagged | 3 Comments
Stephen Tall

The #GE2010 Golden Half-Dozen: pick of the Lib Dem blogs (14th April)

By Stephen Tall | Wed 14th April 2010 - 11:00 pm

During the election campaign Lib Dem Voice is each day highlighting six blog-posts from the Lib Dem Blogs Aggregator which we think are well worth reading.

Here’s our pick from 14th April …

…

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Posted in General Election | 1 Comment
Stephen Tall

Votes or seats? Why Nick Clegg won’t, can’t and shouldn’t answer that hung Parliament question

By Stephen Tall | Wed 14th April 2010 - 9:30 pm

Ever since Nick Clegg launched his line on a hung Parliament – that he would talk to the party that won the “strongest mandate” and was keeping all options open – the question has been asked (though not by the public): does that mean the party with most votes or the party with most seats?

And ever since Nick has been asked that question, he has studiously refused to answer it. He stonewalled Paxman on Monday, and at the Lib Dem manifesto launch today.

And you know what? He’s absolutely right to refuse to be drawn. Here’s why: the …

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Posted in General Election and Op-eds | 25 Comments
Mark Pack

Lib Dem general election manifesto: round-up of our coverage

By Mark Pack | Wed 14th April 2010 - 7:50 pm

The launch of a party’s general election manifesto is a big story, so we’ve been covering it in a series of posts here on The Voice in the last 24 hours. If you’re just catching up on our coverage now, here’s a summary of the posts:

…

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Posted in General Election and Party policy and internal matters | Tagged , and | 5 Comments
Mark Pack

Say goodbye to broken promises: the first Lib Dem election broadcast

By Mark Pack | Wed 14th April 2010 - 6:06 pm

Here it is:

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Posted in Lib Dem TV | Tagged | 28 Comments
Mark Pack

Buckingham Palace, the Bank of England and a donation to the Conservative Party

By Mark Pack | Wed 14th April 2010 - 3:50 pm

UPDATE: Paul Cuttill, the Managing Director of the D Group, has been in touch to say that he is “100% certain” that the D Group has not made a donation to the Conservative Party and that the Electoral Commission’s register of donations is wrong. (The most likely circumstances in which this could happen are if an individual involved with the D Group has made a donation personally but that the donation was wrongly recorded.)

A business networking group that lists amongst its members Buckingham Palace and the Bank of England has given a donation to the Conservative Party.

The D Group …

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Posted in News | Tagged , , , and | 1 Comment
Mark Pack

Why won’t Hampstead & Kilburn Conservatives explain where they got private email data from?

By Mark Pack | Wed 14th April 2010 - 3:00 pm

At first it was amusing for Liberal Democrat councillors in Haringey to be getting emails inviting them to come and meet Conservative candidate Chris Philp, particularly as Philp is not standing in Haringey but over the border in Hampstead & Kilburn.

Then there were a few chuckles about how the emails kept on getting people’s names wrong. So, for example, an email from Chris Philp inviting people to come and meet him and David Cameron was sent to Rachel but addressed to “Dear Walter”.

Then the emails switched to coming from the national Conservative Party. And this time Rachel was no longer …

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Stephen Tall

Lib Dem manifesto launch attracts media plaudits

By Stephen Tall | Wed 14th April 2010 - 2:10 pm

Five years ago, I think it’s only fair to say, the Lib Dem manifesto launch was not without its hitches. Today’s was toruble-free. The website is slick and engaging, the Nick & Vince double-act showcased their complementary skills, and the media response has been almost surprisingly favourable.

In the New Statesman, James Macintyre assesses that the Lib Dems are on a roll:

The Liberal Democrats, who launched their manifesto this morning, are having an undeniably good week. … Nick Clegg, who held his own against Jeremy Paxman this week, has undoubtedly matured as leader, just in time for an

…

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Posted in General Election | Tagged | 7 Comments
Mark Pack

A tale of two Shadow Chancellors

By Mark Pack | Wed 14th April 2010 - 1:20 pm

Two party leaders.

Two manifesto launches.

Two questions asking about financial details.

Two leaders turning to their Shadow Chancellor.

One Shadow Chancellor answers the question straight away.

One Shadow Chancellor, er…, despite having advanced warning is still flipping through the paperwork in front of him when the party leader turns to him and can’t answer the question.

Can you guess which was Vince Cable and which was George Osborne?

Here’s a clue:

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