Mark Pack

Attempt to set world record for most enthusiastic backer of election candidate narrowly fails

By Mark Pack | Wed 14th April 2010 - 12:50 pm

Campaign window April 2010

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Ryan Cullen

Conservative candidate steps down after foul-mouthed tirade

By Ryan Cullen | Wed 14th April 2010 - 12:11 pm

On Monday Lib Dem Voice brought you the story of potty-mouthed Conservative candidate Chris Hawes and his foul language aimed at Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg.

Yesterday Chris Hawes decided to step down as the Conservative’s council candidate for the Leavesden ward of Three Rivers District Council, which in the Lib Dem target constituency of Watford. Watford Conservatives’ representaive Peter Ganney emailed the Watford Lib Dems constituency chair, saying: “Chris is embarrassed by what he wrote and has apologised for using such rude words. He has chosen to withdraw his candidature for Three Rivers District Council, Leavesden Ward”.

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Posted in News | Tagged , and | 5 Comments
Mark Pinsent

Vince Cable crossed with Sid Vicious and with a dash of Sinatra

By Mark Pinsent | Wed 14th April 2010 - 11:50 am

The latest salvo from the InVinceCable We Trust campaign is Vince Cable’s Way…a, umm, ‘mild’ reworking of the crooners’ classic My Way. Though think more Sid Vicious than Sinatra…

Clearly the video’s a lighthearted way to make the serious point at the centre of the InVinceCable campaign: that Vince Cable is the only realistic candidate for chancellor with the credentials to do the job effectively.

We realise that this focus on one position in the next Government and one individual amongst all politicians isn’t one supported by all, but the potential for a hung parliament, in our view, …

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Posted in News, Online politics and The Independent View | Tagged | 1 Comment
Stephen Tall

3 to see: Lib Dem #GE2010 campaign coverage (14/4/10)

By Stephen Tall | Wed 14th April 2010 - 10:55 am

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

The Liberal Democrats have launched their General Election manifesto, pledging to build a fairer Britain if elected on May 6. The 109-page document promises fairer taxes, economic reform, a £2.5 billion pupil premium for the poorest children and sweeping constitutional change include a new electoral system.

LDV Co-Editor Mark Pack treated Lib Dem Voice readers to a sneak preview last night.

It’s …

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Stephen Tall

Pollwatch Day 8 #GE2010 – Lib Dems at 20%, Lab 31%, Tories 38%

By Stephen Tall | Wed 14th April 2010 - 10:25 am

Four new polls came out last night, published today:

    YouGov in the Sun … CON 39%(nc), LAB 31%(-2), LIB DEM 20%(nc)
    Populus in the Times … CON 36%(-3), LAB 33%(+1), LIB DEM 21%(nc)
    ComRes for the Independent/ITV … CON 36%(-1), LAB 31%(+1), LIB DEM 19%(-1)
    Angus Reid for Political Betting … CON 38%(+1), LAB 28%(+2), LIB DEM 22%(nc)

What does all this mean for Anthony Wells’ UK Polling Report ‘poll of polls’ average? Well, there’s an ever-so-slight narrowing of the gap between Labour and the Tories – or (looked at another way) a slight lengthening of Labour’s lead over the Lib Dems:

    Con 38% (n/c),

…

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Mark Pack

Liberal Democrat manifesto by numbers

By Mark Pack | Wed 14th April 2010 - 9:35 am

The Liberal Democrat manifesto by numbers:

  • 9 different formats for the manifesto (hard copy, video, on screen, iPhone app etc.)
  • 6 photos of Nick Clegg
  • 5 pages of index
  • 4 pages of detailed costsing
  • 4 steps to a fairer Britain
  • 3 photos of Vince Cable
  • 0 mentions of chocolate
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Posted in General Election and Party policy and internal matters | Tagged , , , , , and | 7 Comments
Mark Pack

Conservative candidate Caroline Righton ‘goes to ground’

By Mark Pack | Wed 14th April 2010 - 9:20 am

Caroline Righton, the Conservative candidate in St Austell & Newquay who was previously implicated in the faking of a message that smeared her Liberal Democrat opponent, Stephen Gilbert, has now turned all elusive again:

Caroline Righton, is one of only 7 candidates across the whole south west not to respond to a BBC request to give her view on the issue of fox hunting and has pulled out of the first local radio debate of the campaign.

The BBC’s Politics Show asked the 110 candidates in the south west what they would do if given a free vote on

…

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Posted in News | Tagged , and | 7 Comments
Mark Pack

Liberal Democrat manifesto: advance peek

By Mark Pack | Tue 13th April 2010 - 10:00 pm

Tomorrow Nick Clegg is launching the Liberal Democrat manifesto, but tonight The Voice can give you an advance peek at what it will be saying. We’d like to report that this is due to our cunning radio controlled artificial pigeon which we have flown in to the roof of Cowley Street and used to point a webcam at the desk of the Director of Campaigns, but instead it’s thanks to the more prosaic method of receiving email, reading it and then blogging. Ah well, next time.

But back to the manifesto and let’s start with the cover:

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Posted in General Election and Party policy and internal matters | Tagged , and | 12 Comments
Stephen Tall

Lib Dem Linda aims to kick Nads out of Parliament

By Stephen Tall | Tue 13th April 2010 - 8:30 pm

LDV readers may have already seen Lib Dem candidate Linda Jack‘s advertising campaign video aimed at raising funds to unseat controversial Tory MP Nadine Dorries in Mid-Bedfordshire. Launched today, Linda’s ad will appear on leading political blogs and web sites to raise funds, as well as those searching for Nadine Dorries on Google.

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Posted in General Election, Online politics and YouTube | Tagged , and | 11 Comments
Mark Pack

If a party’s leader visits a constituency it doesn’t hold three times…

By Mark Pack | Tue 13th April 2010 - 8:26 pm

… in the space of a few months, it’s a pretty big clue that the party believes it has a strong chance of winning – and almost certainly has polling or canvass data analysis to back it up.

I’m thinking of Nick Clegg and Luton South.

And why am I thinking of Luton South? Because of today’s Times which, apart from a most excellent page 16, made rather a misjudgement in reporting on Luton South and not mentioning Liberal Democrat candidate Qurban Hussain even once.

PS Michael Crick has been wondering why “in four leaflets the Lib Dem Qurban …

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Posted in News | Tagged , , and | 3 Comments
Stephen Tall

Tory manifesto “a blueprint for fake change” say Lib Dems

By Stephen Tall | Tue 13th April 2010 - 7:50 pm

My LDV Co-Editor Mark Pack has just posted up the party’s official response to today’s launch of the Tory manifesto. If that doesn’t sate you, then here’s Nick’s verdict courtesy the BBC …

Clegg: ‘You can’t trust the Tories’ – Nick Clegg has said the Conservatives cannot be trusted, after the Tory party launched its election manifesto ”to change Britain for the better”.

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Posted in General Election | 1 Comment
Mark Pack

Conservative manifesto: the Liberal Democrat reaction

By Mark Pack | Tue 13th April 2010 - 7:41 pm

Here’s the party’s line:

The Conservative manifesto is a blueprint for fake change. It is a depressing and dishonest con with a massive spending black hole at its centre, threatening an inevitable hike in VAT.

In the attached document, we detail where the Conservatives have failed to justify their promises, and why they should not be trusted with the keys to No. 10.

Commenting, Nick Clegg’s Chief of Staff, Danny Alexander said:

“The truth is that you cannot trust the Conservatives. David Cameron simply believes it is his turn to take over in the same way the two old parties have taken turns for

…

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Mark Pack

Does the location of polling stations change how people vote?

By Mark Pack | Tue 13th April 2010 - 7:20 pm

Daniel Finkelstein poses the question, based on the finding of an academic survey:

The fact that polling stations are generally located in schools and other public buildings influences how people vote . It makes proposals to protect school funding more potent.

More in his post over on The Times.

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Mark Pack

The other TV election debates

By Mark Pack | Tue 13th April 2010 - 6:10 pm

Here are the details of the debates the BBC is hosting between various Cabinet ministers and their shadows from the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats. All will be on the BBC’s Daily Politics show on BBC2.

Monday 19th April 2:15-3:00
The Foreign Affairs Debate. David Miliband for Labour, William Hague for the Conservatives and Ed Davey for the Lib Dems go head to head in live debate. Cross examined by Andrew Neil and BBC Security Correspondent, Frank Gardner.

Tuesday 20th April 2:15-3:00
The Crime Debate. Alan Johnson for Labour, Chris Grayling for the Conservatives and Chris Huhne for the Lib Dems go head to head …

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Posted in General Election | 5 Comments
NewsHound

LibLink: Campaign diary (April) – Jamie Saddler in Wirral South

By NewsHound | Tue 13th April 2010 - 4:40 pm

For the last couple of months, the Voice has been linking to the online campaign diary by Jamie Saddler, the 23 year-old Lib Dem candidate for Wirral South. His diary has been commissioned by Catch21, an organisation trying to get more young people interested in politics.

The latest instalment has just gone live – here’s an excerpt, as we catch up with Jamie in the midst of campaigning:

There are two things making the difference on the doorstep for me though – honesty and fairness. If there’s one thing the voters out there want it is for politicians to be

…

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Posted in LibLink | Tagged , and | 1 Comment
The Voice

Photo evidence – Geoff Hoon for sale!

By The Voice | Tue 13th April 2010 - 3:50 pm

Last month Geoff Hoon was one of a clutch of Labour MPs caught on film by Channel 4’s Dispatches selling their services. It would appear from this photo that he’s now taking this very literally …

PS: what does this say about Labour’s confidence in their chances of holding onto Geoff Hoon’s seat of Ashfield? The Lib Dems’ Jason Zadrozny is mounting a strong challenge – you can visit his site, and find out how you can help Jason’s campaign here.

Posted in General Election | Tagged and | 10 Comments
Stephen Tall

Over 13,000 raging against the election – and for the Lib Dems – on Facebook

By Stephen Tall | Tue 13th April 2010 - 3:30 pm

‘We got Rage Against the Machine to #1, we can get the Lib Dems into office!’ is the name of the independent Facebook group set up just 2 weeks ago, and which currently numbers well over 13,000 fans. Which means (with impeccable liberalism) that this unofficial grassroots movement is already almost as big as almost as the official Lib Dem Facebook group.

As the group’s creators state:

This is NOT a bandwagon! This group is intended to encourage those who would like to vote Lib Dem, but usually don’t in favour of strategic voting, that if we unite we can really see a change in the 2 party system.

Also, the group wasn’t set up by lib dems, it was set up by Ben Stockman. He sent Jon Morter (creator of the RATM group) an email asking if he would mention the group. Jon Morter liked the idea… and that’s how it took off!!

Our reference to the Christmas RATM effort is simply a recognition of the way people can join together for a purpose (any purpose!) using a social networking site. However, it’s good to see that Rage oppose two-party politics also lol (See http://tinyurl.com/ye2f582)

Want to promote the group to your non-Lib Dem Facebook friends? Then spread the word, using http://libdem2010.com as the direct link, or Digg it here.

The Voice’s favourite quote from the group?

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Posted in General Election and Online politics | Tagged | 10 Comments
The Voice

Clegg on bankers’ bonuses clampdown

By The Voice | Tue 13th April 2010 - 2:50 pm

If you missed LDV’s coverage of Nick Clegg’s plans to bring the bankers’ bonus culture under control this morning, then why not catch up with the BBC coverage of the announcment:

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Mark Pack

Good news on turnout and engagement

By Mark Pack | Tue 13th April 2010 - 2:20 pm

Two pieces of cheery news.

First, from the latest Sunday Times/YouGov poll:

I am so disillusioned with politics that I am seriously thinking of not voting at all in the coming general election:

Agree 15%
Disagree 73%

All things considered, 15% is a pretty low figure.

Second, from a survey of 18-25 year olds:

A survey of 18-25 year-olds, commissioned by new media age and conducted by Lightspeed Research, found 46% of those aged between 18 and 21 believe increased political activity online has stimulated their interest in the election, with the figure at 41% for 22-25 year-olds…

Posted in General Election, Online politics and Polls | Tagged | 1 Comment
Mark Pack

Tactical unwind or tactical rewind?

By Mark Pack | Tue 13th April 2010 - 1:49 pm

For a long time after David Cameron’s election to leader of the Conservative Party there was widespread talk of “tactical unwind”, that is how his changes to the Conservative Party may result in much less anti-Tory tactical voting at the next general election. It’s one of the range of reasons that many Tories quote for believing that they will do better in terms of seat numbers than the overall vote numbers suggest.

However, what’s struck me for some time is how the overall political campaigning is playing out in a way that is likely to rewind the unwind.

For example, on cutting …

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Posted in General Election, Op-eds and Polls | Tagged | 7 Comments
Mark Pack

How are the party leaders doing on Twitter?

By Mark Pack | Tue 13th April 2010 - 12:45 pm

I’ve used Edelman’s Tweetlevel tool for my monthly round-ups of how Liberal Democrat MPs are doing on Twitter, so the figures just outabout how the party leaders are doing as measured by that tool caught my eye.

Some of the headline findings are:

  • Gordon Brown wins Twitter war by volume
  • Clegg is the leader with most favourability
  • Cameron “gets people’s goats” – exciting most negative Tweets, but Cameron’s negative ratings have decreased since the call of the General Election
  • Tory NI pledge gives Cameron significant uplift in favourability
  • Over 50,000 Tweets on the party leaders since 22nd March, with nearly half of that since General

…

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Mark Pack

Welcome to the new bloggers…

By Mark Pack | Tue 13th April 2010 - 11:20 am

Eight blogs have recently joined Ryan’s Liberal Democrat Blogs aggregator:

Good luck to all the new bloggers, and why not take a moment to pop over to their blogs, take a read and post a comment?

Whether you are a new or experience blogger yourself, you may also find our compilation of “how to blog” posts useful:

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Posted in Online politics | Tagged | 2 Comments
Stephen Tall

Clegg launches five point plan to bring bankers’ bonus culture under control

By Stephen Tall | Tue 13th April 2010 - 9:55 am

A lot of people don’t enjoy election campaigns – but here’s one reason I do: the quality of Lib Dem press releases sky rockets. Today’s announcing Liberal Democrats’ five point plan to tackle bankers’ bonuses is a case in point: punchy but detailed. So good, in fact, I’m simply going to hit the copy ‘n’ paste key …

    Background

    The UK banks owe their very existence to the British taxpayer. Some banks such as RBS, Lloyds-HBOS and Northern Rock have received direct taxpayer bailouts, yet all have benefited from the explicit guarantee that none of them will be allowed to

…

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Posted in General Election | Tagged and | 6 Comments
Stephen Tall

3 to see: Lib Dem #GE2010 campaign coverage (13/4/10)

By Stephen Tall | Tue 13th April 2010 - 9:30 am

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

Miriam Gonzalez Durantez, who works as an international lawyer and has barely been seen on the campaign trail, spoke out in a documentary about her husband.

“It is a bit frivolous, there is an element of frivolity obviously on knowing where your clothes come from,” she told ITV’s Tonight programme. “I wouldn’t look on it as whether it’s frivolous in relation to the women – I think (it) is frivolous in relation to the voters.

…

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Stephen Tall

Pollwatch Days 6-7 #GE2010 – Lib Dems at 20%, Lab 30%, Tories 38%

By Stephen Tall | Tue 13th April 2010 - 12:05 am

Five new polls over the last 2 days of the campaign:

    YouGov in the Sun … CON 39%(+2), LAB 33%(+2), LIB DEM 20%(nc)
    ComRes for the Independent/ITV … CON 37%(-2), LAB 30%(-2), LIB DEM 20%(+4)
    ICM in the Guardian … CON 37%(-1), LAB 31%(+1), LIB DEM 20%(-1)
    Opinium in the Express … CON 39%(nc), LAB 31%(+2), LIB DEM 17%(nc)
    YouGov in the Sun … CON 37%(-3), LAB 31%(-1), LIB DEM 20%(+2)

After the small uptick in support registered by Anthony Wells’ UK Polling Report ‘poll of polls’ over the weekend, today sees the Tories dropping down 1%, with Lib Dems and Labour both unchanged …

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Posted in General Election and Polls | 9 Comments
Stephen Tall

The #GE2010 Golden Half-Dozen: pick of the Lib Dem blogs (12th April)

By Stephen Tall | Mon 12th April 2010 - 10:00 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 12th April …

  • National Insurance: are the Tories this useless? (Mat Bowles)

    • Haven’t had your fill of the NIC debate yet? Mat takes a fair and balanced look: “Note that when Vince has attacked the Tories on this, he’s not argued with them too much over the NI stuff; he’s argued with them over how they’re going to pay for it; he’s right to say that the money they’re

…

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Stephen Tall

3 reasons to be pleased with Nick Clegg’s Paxman interview

By Stephen Tall | Mon 12th April 2010 - 9:20 pm

I’ve just finished watching Jeremy Paxman grill Nick Clegg live on BBC1 (presumably on iPlayer later). There are three reasons Lib Dems can be pleased with Nick’s performance:

1. Most importantly, Nick acquitted himself very well. In spite of some tough questions, combined with Paxman’s trademark habit of never allowing an interviewee to finish a sentence, Nick handled the detail well, but never forgot to paint the bigger picture. The impression left was a of a politician well in command of policy, and firm in his principles.

2. Then there’s the fact that Nick actually dared to take the Paxman challenge – …

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Posted in General Election | Tagged and | 17 Comments
Mark Pack

Online campaigning’s reach lags only modestly behind offline campaigning

By Mark Pack | Mon 12th April 2010 - 8:20 pm

A new survey about how many people have been reached by the online campaigning of political parties has been written up in the media as a bad news story, in more than one place, even though the data shows online campaigning reaching not that many fewer people than offline campaigning.

The Nesta survey (carried out 31 March – 9 April) found 21% of people saying they could recall emails, adverts or websites from the political parties. This compares with 27% of the electorate who say in the recent Brunel survey that they have been reached by the offline campaigning …

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Posted in Online politics | Tagged and | 1 Comment
Mark Pack

What is Labour planning on electoral registration?

By Mark Pack | Mon 12th April 2010 - 8:13 pm

As NextLeft pointed out on Twitter, Labour’s manifesto launch included a promise about electoral registration:

Labour will act ‘and legislate if necessary’ to end ‘unacceptable situation were 3m eligible voters cannot vote because not registered’

Anyone who qualifies to register is already legally obliged to, so what might this reference to possible legislation mean?

It could mean making the punishment for non-registration more stringent. It’s rare for someone to be prosecuted and it would be very much in line with the style of Labour’s approach to other issues to go for tougher punishments. However, whilst the reasons for non-registration have often been …

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Posted in Election law | Tagged and | 2 Comments
Stephen Tall

How to get your hands on your David Heath action figure

By Stephen Tall | Mon 12th April 2010 - 7:45 pm

Here at the Voice we get sent many promotional emails from companies looking for some free publicity. Generally we ignore them. But, just occasionally, they’re too creative, inventive and fun to ignore.

Congratulations then to designers and developers Fancy for coming up with the David Heath action figure, inspired by their local MP for Somerton and Frome. As they explain:

Nailing our colours to the mast, we thought we’d produce a line of action figures extolling his many virtues and capturing the essence of our hard-working local MP

…

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Posted in General Election | Tagged | 5 Comments
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