Liberal Democrat Voice

Zac Goldsmith’s £260,000 “punt” on getting elected

By Helen Duffett | Tue 15th December 2009 - 12:05 pm

Latest figures from the Electoral Commission reveal that Zac Goldsmith, Conservative candidate for Richmond Park, has spent more than a quarter of a million pounds of his own money in the hope of getting elected.

From today’s London Evening Standard:

“The environmentalist has donated £260,000 since he was selected to fight the Richmond Park seat in 2007, according to the latest figures from the Electoral Commission…

“Virtually all of the money goes to office staff and “office costs”. The party says that Mr Goldsmith set up his own office in Richmond, separate to the local association’s headquarters. The candidate employs two members

…

Posted in News | Tagged donations, electoral commission, matthew oakeshott, richmond park and zac goldsmith | 13 Comments

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Who has too much influence in Liberal Democrat candidate selections?

By Mark Pack | Tue 15th December 2009 - 11:50 am

This is what female members of the party’s list of approved candidates for the Westminster Parliament thought in 2007:

National leaders:
Have too little / far too little influence over the selection process: 26%
Have about the right influence: 58%
Too great / far too great: 5%
No view/ answer: 11%

Regional officers:
Too little / far too little: 21%
About right: 56%
Too great / far too great: 12%
No view/ answer: 12%

Local constituency officers:
Too little / far too little: 8%
About right: 62%
Too great / far too great: 18%
No view/ answer: 12%

Local party members:
Too little / far too little: 6%
About right: 71%
Too great / far too great: 13%
No view/ answer: 10%

Party agents:
Too …

Posted in News and Selection news | 8 Comments

Ros Scott writes… Party President’s report to members, November ‘09

By Baroness Ros Scott | Tue 15th December 2009 - 10:30 am

The two months since the party’s last Federal Executive have, as usual, been pretty busy. In that period I have visited local parties in Aldershot, Altrincham & Sale, Winchester, Islington, Sutton, Wycombe, Amersham & Chesham, Swindon, Gloucester, Stroud, Cheltenham, East Dunbartonshire, Glasgow North, Edinburgh Pentlands, North & Leith, West, Ochil, and Consett. I have also attended the North West and West Midlands Regional Conferences.

The two meetings of the party’s Chief Officers Group which I have attended are reported separately to FE, but I wish to highlight the work done to develop the business plan and budget which were …

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged ACT, chief officers group, chris bones, chris fox, christian moon, eldr, featured, federal executive, federal policy committee, ralf dahrendorf, robert woodthorpe brown and roy thomson | 4 Comments

McNally on the Lords: “it must not just be for the rich, the retired and the London-based”

By The Voice | Tue 15th December 2009 - 12:05 am

The report of the Senior Salaries Review Body was being debated in the House of Lords on Monday – and Lord (Tom) McNally was there to put forward the Lib Dem view that, whatever and however peers are paid, the second chamber becomes a place which is open to those of all backgrounds, income and geography.

The Lib Dems in the Lords submitted evidence to the SSRB which recommended replacing the attendance allowances and all office costs with a single taxable daily rate with a specific receipted overnight allowance. The SSRB recommended reforms to expenses which would see the introduction of a £200 daily allowance and £140 overnight receipted expense while the Lords is sitting.

Here’s Lord McNally’s speech to the Lords in full:

Posted in Parliament | Tagged house of lords and lord mcnally | Leave a comment

Oakeshott asks Ashcroft the simple question: “Are you a non dom or not?”

By Stephen Tall | Mon 14th December 2009 - 9:15 pm

David Cameron, yesterday, on Sky News:

I think it time to pass a law that says that if you want to be in the Houses of Parliament, if you want to be a legislator, you need to be or be treated as a full UK taxpayer.”

And quite right, too. But what has prompted the Tories’ Damascene conversion? After all, they had the opportunity earlier this year to vote for exactly what Mr Cameron is now, belatedly and under media pressure, calling for.

Lord (Matthew) Oakeshott’s House of Lords (Members’ Taxation Status) Bill had its second reading on 23 January 2009, …

Posted in News | Tagged lord ashcroft and matthew oakeshott | 4 Comments

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LibLink … Chris Huhne: These mystery men can break governments

By NewsHound | Mon 14th December 2009 - 4:30 pm

Lib Dem shadow home secretary Chris Huhne has an article in today’s Times noting that how much it costs the Treasury to borrow money depends on three ratings agencies … and asks the crucial question: are they fit to wield this power?

Chris’s credential for writing an article outside his brief? Well, he founded the sovereign group at Fitch Ratings, and was group managing director. Here’s an excerpt:

Last week Moody’s — one of the big three international ratings agencies — warned that the UK’s top bond rating would be under threat if Britain failed to sort out its public finances

…

Posted in LibLink | Tagged banking, chris huhne, credit agencies and recession | 4 Comments

Hypocrite Humphrys’ bonus bunk

By Chris White | Mon 14th December 2009 - 3:52 pm

John Humphrys was sounding pleased with himself on the Today Programme the other day. Nothing unusual there, you might say. He was attempting to skewer a minister because civil service managers at the UK Border Agency were being paid a bonus.

At first hearing it seemed as though they were each getting in excess of £300,000 for doing their own job. It was only on careful hearing that it became apparent that the figure was the total bonus pool and that the bonuses amounted to little more than £10,000 a piece.

The justification for the payments was that they were clearing …

Posted in Op-eds | 8 Comments

Cornwall Tories accused of ‘duping’ charity choir

By The Voice | Mon 14th December 2009 - 3:00 pm

ThisIsCornwall.co.uk has the story:

THE Conservatives in Cornwall have been accused of “duping” a charity choir into taking part in a Christmas carol concert to raise money for party funds as well as charity.

Members of Helston Chamber Choir were delighted when they were invited to sing at the festive event next week, believing it was in aid of St Julia’s Hospice, part of Cornwall Hospice Care, alone.

However, when promised publicity material and tickets failed to materialise, and then e-mails went unanswered, the choir investigated further – only to find the concert was also raising cash for the Tories in West

…

Posted in News | Tagged conservative party, cornwall and stephen sobey | 3 Comments

LibLink … Nick Clegg: Our double disgraces live on

By NewsHound | Mon 14th December 2009 - 2:20 pm

In the Times yesterday, Nick Clegg had an article in the paper’s Think Tank strand arguing that, what he termed, ‘the usual suspects’ are preventing reform in politics and banking. Here’s an excerpt:

For two professions, 2009 has been a shameful year: politicians and bankers. Both had their worst vices and darkest secrets exposed to public view. Such is the disdain in which these two groups are now held, any rational observer would expect significant consequences: radical reform driven through by public outrage. And yet, as 2009 draws to a close, the stark truth is that both politicians and bankers are

…

Posted in LibLink | 18 Comments

Lib Dems move to clip Mandelson’s power over copyright

By Mark Pack | Mon 14th December 2009 - 11:50 am

The Digital Economy Bill currently going through Parliament would give Peter Mandelson huge powers to rewrite the country’s copyright laws in future – and all without much in the way of Parliamentary scrutiny or checks and balances.

But Liberal Democrat peer Tim Clement-Jones has tabled an amendment to the Digital Economy Bill to delete the controversial Clause 17.

He’s said:

This clause would give the Government carte-blanche to change all copyright law relating to the internet as and when they please.

Such powers are unnecessary and over-reaching and we have tabled an amendment to delete Clause 17.

Good news.

Whilst the Parliamentary Party’s approach seems to the …

Posted in News | Tagged digital economy bill, don foster, peter mandelson, tim clement-jones and tim razzall | 8 Comments

Daily View: 14 December 2009

By Stephen Tall | Mon 14th December 2009 - 9:30 am

Mornin’ all, welcome to Monday, and to the beginning of the last full working week before Christmas. What other things happened on this day in history, you ask? Well, 54 years ago, Hugh Gaitskell was elected leader of the Labour party, succeeding Clement Attlee, and six years ago Saddam Hussein was captured. But enough of the past, and on to the present …

2 Must-Read Blog-Posts

A couple of weeks ago, Iain Dale was casually dismissing the revelations that trustafarian Tory millionaire candidate Zac Goldsmith has been avoiding tax by registering for non-dom status: “lots of sanctimonious guff,” he told …

Posted in Daily View | Tagged chris huhne, iain dale, nich starling, nick thornsby, Polls and zac goldsmith | 7 Comments

Top of the Blogs: The Golden Dozen #147

By Stephen Tall | Sun 13th December 2009 - 5:30 pm

Welcome to the 146th of our weekly round-ups from the Lib Dem blogosphere, featuring the seven most popular stories according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (6th – 12th December 2009), together with a hand-picked quintet, usually courtesy of LibDig, you might otherwise have missed.

Don’t forget, by the way, you can now sign up to receive the Golden Dozen direct to your email inbox – just click here – ensuring you never miss out on the best of Lib Dem blogging.

As ever, let’s start with the most popular post, and work our way down:

Posted in Best of the blogs | 3 Comments

How to get Lib Dem Voice by email

By Mark Pack | Sun 13th December 2009 - 4:50 pm

Some people like regularly visiting a site to see if there’s new stories of interest. Some people like subscribing to its news feed (RSS) and checking that way. But if you prefer email, you can instead sign up to get a daily early morning email with a summary of the previous day’s posts from Lib Dem Voice, complete with convenient links to click on if any take your fancy and you want to take a read.

Just go to our email sign up page to start getting these emails. You can also sign up for a special once-a-week email, bringing …

Posted in Site news | Tagged featured | Leave a comment

The future’s turquoise?

By Helen Duffett | Sun 13th December 2009 - 4:33 pm

Revealed: the colour for the year 2010.

Pantone, the company that produces a system for standardising colour references, have declared turquoise the colour of the year 2010. (That’s PANTONE® 15-5519 Turquoise, taxonomy fans!)

“…an inviting, luminous hue… Combining the serene qualities of blue and the invigorating aspects of green, Turquoise evokes thoughts of soothing, tropical waters and a languorous, effective escape from the everyday troubles of the world, while at the same time restoring our sense of wellbeing.”

Coincidence, or not, that turquoise features …

Posted in News | Tagged turquoise | 8 Comments

Tory candidate Zac Goldsmith accused of avoiding £5.8m tax as non-dom

By Mark Pack | Sun 13th December 2009 - 1:07 pm

So writes today’s Observer:

Zac Goldsmith, David Cameron’s green adviser and a prospective Tory MP, has been accused of avoiding the payment of nearly £6m in tax during the past 10 years by adopting non-domiciled status.

Goldsmith, the prospective Conservative candidate for Richmond Park, is estimated to have a personal fortune of at least £200m, inherited from his late father, Sir James Goldsmith.

Goldsmith admitted last month that he had claimed off-shore “non-dom” status. Since the news became public, he has said he has given it up.

However, the Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman, Chris Huhne, has calculated that Goldsmith is likely to have

…

Posted in News | Tagged chris huhne, richmond park and zac goldsmith | 74 Comments

What the papers say…

By Philip Young | Sun 13th December 2009 - 10:05 am

Over at the Daily Mail, is the shine coming off Brand Cameron, or, is this just a kick up the pants? First comes the big slap…then the boot, with a stiletto heel.

Daily Mail, leader-column, 12.12.09:

“At a time like this, it’s madness to ring-fence any budget at the expense of the rest. Even sacred cows can be hugely overweight. Since 1977, billions have been poured into health and education, without the improvements in standards we’d expect.

“How can Mr. Darling claim there’s no scope for cuts in the NHS, on the day we learn it is spending £1 …

Posted in News | Tagged alistair darling, azad ootam, bob ainsworth, chris huhne, david cameron, george osborne, john maples, john thurso, norman lamb, PBR, royal mail, steve webb, what the papers say and willie rennie | 3 Comments

Government backs down on vetting rules

By Iain Roberts | Sun 13th December 2009 - 9:45 am

The Government has backed down over its controversial Vetting and Barring scheme.

Designed to protect children, many were concerned it would have the opposite effect. It widened the net on which adults needed to be vetted, extending in some cases to authors visiting schools and adults giving kids a lift to clubs and activities.

Might this have resulted in more harm to children through lost opportunities as perfectly safe adults became unable or unwilling to help children?

I think it may have. A friend of mine was asked to help at our local Scouts. She …

Posted in Op-eds | 9 Comments

Daily View 2×2: 13 December 2009

By Mark Pack | Sun 13th December 2009 - 7:00 am

It’s Sunday. It’s 7am. It’s time for feline table tennis, but first the blogs and news.

2 Must-Read Blog Posts

What are other Liberal Democrat bloggers saying? Here’s are two posts that have caught the eye from the Liberal Democrat Blogs aggregator:

Esther for Luton – What’s that all about then? asks Jeremy Rowe. He says, “I couldn’t honestly tell you that I’m any nearer to understanding what she believes or why she’s descended on Luton.”
ID cards – the death knell? asks Lisa Harding

Spotted any other great posts in the last day from blogs that aren’t on the aggregator? Do post up a comment sharing them with us all.

2 Big Stories

Untouchable: Blair to give Iraq War evidence in secret

Posted in Daily View | Tagged china, climate change, copenhagen summit, esther rantzen, id cards, iraq, luton south and tony blair | 1 Comment

‘Best MP’ competition: don’t forget to ask a question

By Mark Pack | Sat 12th December 2009 - 4:10 pm

A few days ago The Voice covered Yoosk’s competition to find Britain’s Best MP.

The shortlisted MPs are all going to be asked to answer a set of questions taken from suggestions made by the public. As our post from Yoosk’s Keith Halstead explained:

If you would like to post your own question, please visit our site here, and click the ‘ask’ button in the panel at the bottom of the page (you will be asked to register with Yoosk which is easy, but will require an email address, username and password). Alternatively, you can add your question as a comment

…

Posted in News | Tagged yoosk | Leave a comment

Macbrown – a Synopsis

By Rachel Smith | Sat 12th December 2009 - 3:45 pm

Hat-tip and sincere apologies to Master Shakespeare.

In a thunderstorm, three witches decide to meet again on the heath “after the deed is done.”

Next, a captain reports to King Dunblair that Macbrown beat MacMajorwald in battle. Darling adds that the Thane of Cawdor was traitorous to them during the battle.

The three witches confront Macbrown and Banqleson (the Dark Lord) on their way home from the battle. They predict that Macbrown will be King of Scotland, and Banqleson, though never King himself, will beget rulers.

The witches leave and Darling informs Macbrown that he has inherited the title Thane …

Posted in Humour and Op-eds | Tagged gordon brown and william shakespeare | 2 Comments

If a gobby barmaid from Yorkshire can do it, anyone can

By Jennie Rigg | Sat 12th December 2009 - 1:57 pm

Welcome to part ten of our “Introduction to blogging” guide for Liberal Democrat bloggers or would-be bloggers. It’s appearing each Saturday between now and Christmas, with all the posts available via this page. The series will then be revised and collated into an e-book, so please do post up your comments as the series progresses. Today it’s the turn of Jennie Rigg.

So you’ve read all the foregoing articles, and you’re still doubtful as to whether this blogging thing is for you? This is where I come in. I am by no means a typical Lib Dem Blogger, as you …

Posted in Blogging guide | Tagged blogging and featured | 10 Comments

A good reason for Gordon Brown not to have an early general election

By Mark Pack | Sat 12th December 2009 - 12:50 pm

I’m pretty sceptical of the chatter about Gordon Brown calling an early general election*. Here’s one the reasons which hasn’t been much talked about.

Imagine we have an early election. Imagine too that Labour manages what is probably the limit of its hopes – largest party in a hung Parliament. (Witness Labour MPs going round telling Liberal Democrats how much they now love voting reform.)

Labour then hangs on to power.

But in May along comes a round of local elections, in which Labour will – almost certainly – suffer massive losses. If you’ve got experience of a no overall majority council, you’ll …

Posted in General Election and News | Tagged gordon brown | 15 Comments

Derby North: hung parliament territory?

By Peter Welch | Sat 12th December 2009 - 11:20 am

Let’s start with a health warning. My first-hand knowledge of Derby amounts to changing trains there once a decade ago. But the press are keen to help us find out more. Derby North qualifies as a three-way marginal (Lab 39.5%, Lib Dem 30.6% and Tories 25.9% according to Antony Wells). And not one but two national papers descended on the seat to find out how the public saw the PBR.

Slightly bizarrely, they both report on the seat as a Conservative prospect. (It is number 130 on the Tory hit list, number 30 on the Liberal Democrat list of targets.) …

Posted in General Election and Op-eds | Tagged david cameron, derby north, lucy care, nick clegg, southend west and vince cable | 16 Comments

Top Tory Jeremy Hunt repays £9,500 over expenses claim breach

By The Voice | Sat 12th December 2009 - 10:25 am

Last month, the Economist labelled the Tories’ shadow culture secretary, Jeremy Hunt, one to watch … a label which also clearly applies to his expenses claims, as the BBC reports:

Shadow culture secretary Jeremy Hunt is to repay more than £9,500 after he was found to have breached expenses rules. The Standards and Privileges Committee criticised an arrangement under which the MP’s agent stayed rent-free in his taxpayer subsidised home. … If the MP “promptly” repaid half of his claims on the home over the period, it said he would face no further action. …

The matter was referred to

…

Posted in News | Tagged jeremy hunt, mike simpson, mps expenses and south west surrey | 3 Comments

LDVideo … Nick’s PMQs, ‘Unparliamentary language’ and Jon Stewart’s take on ‘Climategate’

By Stephen Tall | Sat 12th December 2009 - 10:05 am

Welcome to the latest LDVideo instalment, featuring three of the most memorable video clips doing the rounds on the blogosphere.

I missed covering this week’s Prime Minister’s Questions, so here to make up for it is Nick Clegg’s contribution – taking to task (with some passion) Gordon Brown for Labour’s failures to put fairness at the heart of their policies:

Posted in YouTube | Tagged climate change, jon stewart, nick clegg and PMQs | 3 Comments

The LDV Saturday caption competition – the ‘never work with children’ edition

By Stephen Tall | Sat 12th December 2009 - 9:05 am

There’s no prize at stake – just the opportunity to prove you’re wittier than any other LDV reader …

nick clegg-baby-bournemouth
(Photograph: Martin Argles, The Guardian).

Here’s Nick meeting a future Lib Dem voter at the 2008 Bournemouth party conference – what do you think they might be saying to each other, or thinking about each other?

The winner of last week’s caption competition, The Nick ‘n’ Vince show, (according to The Voice’s judging panel of one) – was Sesenco.

Posted in Caption Comp | Tagged nick clegg | 14 Comments

The LDV Friday Five (ish): 11 December 2009

By Helen Duffett | Fri 11th December 2009 - 5:48 pm

What could be simpler: five categories, each with five links. And it’s Friday.

5 most-read stories on LDV this week

1. Times: Tories “give up” on Cheadle with Lib Dems digging in for victory (6) by Stephen Tall
2. What makes a ‘good’ MP? (5) by Keith Halstead
3. What does Glenda Jackson do? (1) by Mark Pack
4. Book review: British Electoral Facts (1) by Mark Pack
5. Spelman drops Conservative pledges to abolish RDAs (8) by Mark Pack

5 active LDV Members’ Forum threads

Posted in Friday Five | Leave a comment

Tory post ‘a misjudgement’ by Gen Sir Richard Dannatt

By The Voice | Fri 11th December 2009 - 1:50 pm

From the BBC:

Ex-Army chief Gen Sir Richard Dannatt has been accused of a “terrifying misjudgement” in agreeing while still in service to be a Tory adviser.

Former Lib Dem leader Lord Ashdown told BBC Question Time the appointment had broken the convention that the military should be independent of politics…

Lord Ashdown said the UK had to face up to the fact that it would be engaged in Afghanistan for “decades”, while stressing that this did not mean troops would be based there indefinitely.

“It takes a lot of time to build peace after war,” he said.

Full story here, and video here:

Posted in News | Tagged paddy ashdown and richard dannatt | 12 Comments

What the papers say…

By Philip Young | Fri 11th December 2009 - 1:40 pm

A look back at the last few days of news and comment in the National newspapers, by former Fleet Street News Editor (and former Editor of Liberal News), Philip Young… including a few clippings you may have missed.

Sunday Times, 6.12.09:

“A Tory peer has been caught using someone else’s home address to claim tens of thousands of pounds in expenses. Lord Taylor of Warwick, a 57-year-old former barrister, told the House of Lords that his main home was a terrace house in Oxford, which he neither owned nor lived in. Taylor has lived in his family home …