Stephen Tall

Lib Dem MPs: what the Legg letters said

By Stephen Tall | Tue 13th October 2009 - 6:25 pm

On this page, which LDV will update as we receive information, we will publish the details of Sir Thomas Legg’s findings as they relate to the Lib Dems’ 63 MPs. Please email [email protected] to let us know anything we’ve missed:

* Danny Alexander, Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey, 2005 – present … Repaid £125 claimed for financial advice on his mortgage and has also been asked to submit further copies of domestic utility bills. Paid back in full.
* Norman Baker, Lewes, 1997 – present … Clean bill of health.

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Posted in News and Parliament | Tagged and | 13 Comments
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Mark Pack

The bigger the cuts, the bigger the team

By Mark Pack | Tue 13th October 2009 - 2:50 pm

One for the ironic statistics corner.

Count up the number of people in each of the three main party’s Cabinet/Shadow Cabinet (taking the listings from their official national party websites).

Line up the party’s in order of enthusiasm for cutting public spending.

And what do you find? The keener the party is on cutting public spending, the bigger is its team:

Labour – 23 members
Liberal Democrats – 30 members
Conservatives – 32 members

Hmm.

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Helen Duffett

The net is mightier than the gag #trafigura

By Helen Duffett | Tue 13th October 2009 - 1:35 pm

Breaking news from the Guardian :

The existence of a previously-secret injunction against the media by oil traders Trafigura can now be revealed.

Within the last hour, Trafigura’s lawyers Carter-Ruck, abandoned an attempt to prevent the Guardian from reporting proceedings in parliament which revealed its existence.

Labour MP Paul Farrelly put down a question yesterday to the Justice Secretary, Jack Straw. It asked about the injunction obtained by “Trafigura and Carter-Ruck solicitors on 11 September 2009 on the publication of the Minton Report on the alleged dumping of toxic waste in the Ivory Coast, commissioned by Trafigura”.

The past 16 hours have …

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Stephen Tall

Heath and Burstow table urgent Commons questions about Guardian injunction #Trafigura #CarterRuck

By Stephen Tall | Tue 13th October 2009 - 11:48 am

The Lib Dem press office has just issued the following news release:

In light of the injunction against the Guardian featured on its front page today, the Lib Dems have this morning requested an Urgent Question and debate on the reporting of parliamentary proceedings. My understanding is the Speaker will decide after midday today if he is happy to allow these to proceed. If this were to happen, the question would be asked this afternoon and the debate would take place tomorrow.

UQ – David Heath
I would be grateful if you would give consideration to the following Urgent Question to

…

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Jamie Bartlett

Opinion: Our public services are overburdened with pointless regulation

By Jamie Bartlett | Tue 13th October 2009 - 10:20 am

It is well acknowledged that our public services are overburdened with pointless and counter productive regulation, that there is too much wastage and bureaucracy which stops police officers, teachers and social workers getting on with the job, and front line staff are treated like teenagers who can’t be trusted. Much of the blame lies with obsessive control driven from Whitehall.

Every party – indeed every party for the last 30 years – has promised to remedy this by slashing bureaucracy and “re-empowering” the front line, but none have succeeded. Tony Blair made it a key priority, but made matters worse. The …

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Posted in Op-eds and The Independent View | 31 Comments
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Stephen Tall

Vince attacks Gordon’s public debt “car boot sale”

By Stephen Tall | Tue 13th October 2009 - 10:15 am

Yesterday, Lib Dem shadow chancellor Vince Cable tabled an innocuous sounding emergency question in the Commons: “To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on the proposed sale of Government assets announced today.”

But that’s not the Vince soundbite which has featured in virtually every headline in today’s newspapers reporting on Labour’s decision to sell up to £16 billion of assets to help fund the national debt. Here’s Vince’s statement in full:

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Stephen Tall

Nick Clegg tweets about #trafigura (and #CarterRuck)

By Stephen Tall | Tue 13th October 2009 - 10:10 am

Nick Clegg (or at least his office) has just tweeted the following:

Very interested concerned about this #trafigura / Guardian story the @LibDems are planning to take action on this

If you’re not on Twitter – where #trafigura is now the top-trending topic – then this post from Rob Fenwick will give you the astonishing background: namely that libel law specialists Carter-Ruck have succeeded in slapping an injunction on the Guardian preventing the newspaper from reporting the following question tabled in Parliament:

Paul Farrelly (Newcastle-under-Lyme): To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made

…

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The Voice

Lib Dem MP: Where’s my nearest railway station? In Norway.

By The Voice | Tue 13th October 2009 - 9:50 am

The Voice enjoyed this snippet from Hugh Muir’s diary in today’s Guardian:

Alistair Carmichael, the Liberal Democrat MP for the distant seat of Orkney and Shetland, received a parliamentary travel expenses form, which asked: “What is your nearest mainline railway station?” He contacted the Fees Office to explain that his constituency is in the middle of the North Sea but was told he had to answer. OK then, he said: Oslo. The member for Smarty-pants west.

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Richard Huzzey

Daily View 2×2: 13 October 2009

By Richard Huzzey | Tue 13th October 2009 - 4:03 am

Two big stories

The Grauniad has been gagged:

The Guardian has been prevented from reporting parliamentary proceedings on legal grounds which appear to call into question privileges guaranteeing free speech established under the 1688 Bill of Rights.

Today’s published Commons order papers contain a question to be answered by a minister later this week. The Guardian is prevented from identifying the MP who has asked the question, what the question is, which minister might answer it, or where the question is to be found.

Bonnie Greer and Chris Huhne to tackle Nick Griffin on next week’s Question Time:

The black playwright and author

…

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Stephen Tall

Vince Cable, the free redical, and his “primitive five-grade relationship metric”

By Stephen Tall | Mon 12th October 2009 - 9:35 pm

Lib Dem deputy leader Vince Cable’s hotly-anticipated autobiography Free Radical is published next month – you can pre-order a copy from Amazon here – and is currently being serialised in the Mail.

Excerpts published so far deal principally with Vince’s childhood growing up in York, ranging from the personal (his mother’s breakdown) to his occasional delinquency (terrorising neighbourhood cats and dogs with an air rifle) to his mixed emotions when his parents died (“I felt a vague sense of sadness and guilt that there was nothing more: no tears.”).

There’s also an intriguing diversion into Vince’s initiation into early …

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Stephen Tall

Are MPs being treated fairly?

By Stephen Tall | Mon 12th October 2009 - 8:40 pm

It seems only fair to ask. I’ve been struck today by the cross-party consensus – noted here on Left Foot Forward – that the Blogosphere is united in disgust at MPs:

Bloggers of left, right and centre were united today in disgust over reports in today’s papers that some MPs will refuse to pay back expenses that they claimed erroneously.

The argument put forward is logical enough, and best summed up by Lib Dem blogger Mark Thompson’s exasperated question, “Do they honestly think that the public are going to stand for them rejecting the report, whatever the grounds?”

True …

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Posted in News and Parliament | Tagged and | 13 Comments
Stephen Tall

Nick to pay back £910 #mpsexpenses

By Stephen Tall | Mon 12th October 2009 - 4:32 pm

The party has just released the text of the letter from Nick Clegg to Sir Thomas Legg confirming that the Lib Dem leader will – as recommended by Sir Thomas – re-pay £910 of taxpayers’ money claimed as expenses for gardening costs associated with Nick’s second home. Here’s the text of the letter:

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Gareth Aubrey

Y Barcud Oren #12

By Gareth Aubrey | Mon 12th October 2009 - 3:15 pm

To Wales, then, where it’s goodbye from him, and it’s au revoir from him …

And So, With Tears In Either Eye

In fairness to him, Rhodri Morgan pretty much kept to his end of the bargain in announcing that he would stand down as First Minister after the Assembly budget was agreed on December 8th (but since the promise was that he’d announce his intentions on or around September 29th, his end of the bargain wasn’t that hard to keep up). The inevitable political and journalistic encomium followed and you can’t begrudge it him; whatever his political failings, his personal popularity is unmatched in recent memory.

With the flag dropped, Larry, Moe and Curly were soon off and running to succeed him (not that they hadn’t been before, unofficially).

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Posted in Op-eds and Wales | Tagged , , , , , , and | 2 Comments
Mark Pack

What does the future hold for British political blogging?

By Mark Pack | Mon 12th October 2009 - 12:20 pm

Predictions that the next general election will be the one in which the internet will make a huge impact have regularly come and gone. Post-Obama ready yourself for another such clutch of predictions, but underneath this punditry froth the internet has got on with quietly shifting the way politics works. It’s been more at the unglamorous organisational end (imagine trying to organise a campaign without email) than at the eye-catching systems-shattering dramatic end beloved of pundits, but it’s been a major change nonetheless.

Following in the footsteps of email, blogging has also established a firm place in the logistics of politics, even if its impact on the overall style and conduct of politics is less clear and less dramatic. Blogs have become a key news medium for people involved in or significantly interested in politics, they have become a key part of the flow of news to and from journalists and for some MPs and candidates they reach local audiences large enough to be a significant factor in their election efforts.

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Stephen Tall

Daily View 2×2: 12 October 2009

By Stephen Tall | Mon 12th October 2009 - 9:45 am

2 Big Stories

MPs’ expenses row re-ignites as MPs question findings of independent inquiry

In case you thought the row had blown itself out, here comes the sequel:

Gordon Brown has urged MPs to repay expenses claimed up to five years ago if asked to do so following an audit ordered after the furore. There are reports that some MPs plan to defy calls to repay money and may challenge the request in the courts.

The PM is among hundreds of MPs expected to be asked to repay sums following a review of all claims by former civil servant Sir Thomas Legg. …

The BBC understands he has set retrospective limits for some items and annual limits on what he believes they should have claimed. These are £1,000 a year for gardening, and £2,000 a year for cleaning. It is believed to have angered some MPs who say they will not repay the money.

Saturday’s Telegraph reported the following snippet:

Last night, the Lib Dems, who are confident that they avoided the worst excesses, stepped up pressure on the Conservatives

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Stephen Tall

Time for a Citizens’ Convention

By Stephen Tall | Mon 12th October 2009 - 9:20 am

I’m one of some 30 signatories to a letter submitted to the Guardian, and published today, calling on the Prime Minister to take immediate action to reform democracy in the wake of the public collapse in confidence sparked by the MPs’ expenses row. Gordon Brown signalled some half-hearted recognition of the need for change in his conference speech by advocating a referendum to introduce the alternative vote electoral system some time in the next Parliament – it’s a typical Brown demi-measure, falling far, far short of even the minimum required.

no expenses sparedThere’s something rather bizarre at seeing on display the Telegraph’s book of this year’s scandal, No Expenses Spared – it’s the subtitle, The inside story of the scoop which changed the face of British politics. Bizarre for this reason: it’s hard to see how the face of British politics actually has been changed. For sure, some of the faces within British politics will have changed, with many of those MPs who were implicated standing down, voluntarily or under pressure.

But in every other significant respect, British politics is – six months on from flipping, duck island etc – entirely unchanged.

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Stephen Tall

Top of the Blogs: The Golden Dozen #138

By Stephen Tall | Sun 11th October 2009 - 6:30 pm

Welcome to the 138th of our weekly round-ups from the Lib Dem blogosphere, featuring the seven most popular stories according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (4th October – 10th October 2009), together with a hand-picked quintet, partly 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:

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Stephen Tall

LDV post-conference members’ survey (3): what you thought of the Lib Dem conference

By Stephen Tall | Sun 11th October 2009 - 4:30 pm

Over the last week, Lib Dem Voice has invited the members of our private forum (open to all Lib Dem members) inviting them to take part in a survey, conducted via Liberty Research, asking a number of questions about the party and the current state of British politics. Many thanks to the 200+ of you who completed it; we’ve been publishing the results on LDV over the past few days. You can catch up on the results of all our exclusive LDV members’ surveys by clicking here.

First up, we asked how many of you had actually …

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Mark Pack

Jon Sopel’s round-up of the best of the Sunday TV shows

By Mark Pack | Sun 11th October 2009 - 2:59 pm

The BBC’s Jon Sopel has produced another round-up of the best of the Sunday TV political shows (BBC and non-BBC). It includes Liam Fox on Brown’s eyesight, Alan Johnson on the role of government, Chris Grayling on leadership over expenses, Alistair Darling on Conservative plans and Lord Tebbit in conversation with Frank Gardner about terrorism.

You can watch it here.

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Opinion: A Cooperative Coalition

By S | Sun 11th October 2009 - 2:30 pm

The general consensus among today’s politicos is that the dye is now cast for the next General Election. Those at the helm of all “two and a half” major parties are the leaders they assume will take them into the next General Election – the only questions now are “how big will David Cameron’s majority be?” and “what will the LibDem vote share be compared to Labour’s?” And then there’s the ‘C’ word – no not that one. Not that one either…

That’s right: coalition! But with whom? New Labour? Arch-authoritarian, spendthrift, warmongering sycophants… no thanks. The Tories? A party that exists to protect the vested interests of the rich, equally authoritarian and who will most probably crack down on personal freedom like a bitch. Equally unappealing.

If the election goes to a tie break the only party the LibDems should consider forming a coalition with is the Cooperative Party.

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 150 Comments
Stephen Tall

Stephen Gately RIP: New beginning, sad ending

By Stephen Tall | Sun 11th October 2009 - 12:05 pm

RIP Stephen Gately, the singer who rose to fame thanks to Boyzone, and who has died aged just 33. His solo career was not the soaring success he might have hoped when the Irish band split up – though three Top 20 singles is more than most of the rest of us will manage.

Indeed, it’s likely that Lib Dems will be among those most familiar with his work, for his debut solo track, New beginning, was adopted by the party as its theme tune for the 2001 general election (and used subsequently at many party conferences).

Lib Dem blogger Stephen Glenn pays fuller tribute here. Below is the TOTP video of New beginning:

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Posted in Obituaries | Tagged and | 4 Comments
Duncan Hames MP

Campaigning with Nick and Vince in Chippenham

By Duncan Hames MP | Sun 11th October 2009 - 10:45 am

Have you ever wondered what senior MPs like Nick Clegg and Vince Cable do while the other parties have their conferences? Well, I can tell you: they don’t sit at home watching them on the television, instead they take the chance to get out of Westminster and visit our teams in key constituencies around the country. Today it was our turn, when they both came to the Chippenham constituency here in Wiltshire.

Parliamentary candidates, like me, are always delighted to get a visit from well known Lib Dem MPs. It opens doors in the constituency, interests the local media, and provides a chance to say thank you to some of the team.

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Mark Pack

Daily View 2×2: 11 October 2009

By Mark Pack | Sun 11th October 2009 - 7:00 am

It’s Sunday. It’s 7am. It’s time for the Daily View, today with an science fiction meets ukulele musical extra.

2 Big Stories

English Defence League takes to streets, violence follows

Perhaps someone should tell the English Defence League that the best way for them to defend the values they claim to stand up for would be to wind themselves up given how little of that traditional English value of tolerance its members display. But in the meantime, here’s the latest news:

More than 40 people have been arrested during two political demonstrations in Manchester city centre.

At least 2,000 people attended the protests, by the English Defence League (EDL) and members of Unite Against Fascism (UAF) on Saturday afternoon.

Witnesses said “ugly scenes” broke out between rival protestors and police.

Forty-eight people have been arrested, four among them were held on suspicion of affray. Most of the other arrests were for public order offences. (BBC)

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Mark Pack

An introduction to political blogging

By Mark Pack | Sat 10th October 2009 - 8:18 pm

Welcome to the first part of a new weekly series on political blogging which we’ll be running here on The Voice between now and Christmas. It’s designed primarily to be an introduction for anyone thinking of starting a political blog, but packed full of enough information to be useful for existing bloggers too.

If the series is a success, we will turn it into a pdf e-book afterwards, putting all the advice together in one convenient document. There will be a chance to revise the posts before collating them, so you’re even more welcome than usual to post comments to the …

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Posted in Blogging guide | Tagged , and | 2 Comments
Bill le Breton

Opinion: If you go down to the woods today…

By Bill le Breton | Sat 10th October 2009 - 6:20 pm

At the end of the thread to my last offering there was an invitation from Mark Wright to comment on whether I still thought our conference was a disaster. Yes, I do Mark; I know it was; day by day I grow more and more certain.

My case was never based on poll performance (especially during the conference season) and Sunday’s new ComRes poll with its CON 40% (+2), LAB 28% (+5), LDEM 19% (-4) figures should remind us why. No, for me the evaluation was always to do with lost opportunities. May I try to explain my reasoning?

Back in the …

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Mark Pack

Taxpayers’ Alliance admits director doesn’t pay British tax

By Mark Pack | Sat 10th October 2009 - 9:34 am

From today’s Guardian:

The Taxpayers’ Alliance, a campaign group that calls for tax and spending cuts and claims to represent the interests of taxpayers, has admitted one of its directors does not pay British tax.

The Guardian has learned that Alexander Heath, a director of the increasingly influential free market, rightwing lobby group, lives in a farmhouse in the Loire and has not paid British tax for years…

“The least we can expect for an organisation that purports to represent the interests of British taxpayers is that it is run by people that pay British tax,” said Jon Cruddas MP.

You can read …

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Andrew Reeves

Muslims won’t play with the gays!

By Andrew Reeves | Sat 10th October 2009 - 8:50 am

We often see claims of racism and homophobia in sport today, more often than not though it is the fans who are accused of chants that are not as PC as they perhaps should be.

So when news of this story reached my in box from a few sources, I dug around and to be honest was appalled.

A Muslim amateur football team Creteil Bebel has pulled out of its planned game this weekend with Paris Foot Gay (PFG), saying it was against their religious beliefs to play against homosexuals.

In fact, Zahir Belgarbi, one of the team directors told Reuters: “As a Muslim, …

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The Voice

The LDV Saturday caption competition – Vince ‘n’ Paddy

By The Voice | Sat 10th October 2009 - 8:45 am

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

vince paddy

Here are veteran Lib Dem stars Vince Cable and Paddy Ashdown – but what do you imagine they might be thinking / saying?

Image: Alex Folkes/Fishnik Photography

Posted in Caption Comp | Tagged and | 13 Comments
Mark Pack

Councillors in the news: Barnet and Stoke

By Mark Pack | Fri 9th October 2009 - 5:40 pm

Via Liberal England we have:

Golders Green Tory Christopher Harris has been travelling Down Under since July on an “extended holiday” but has still managed to hang on to his job.

Despite being 10,000 miles away in a country with a 10-hour time difference, Cllr Harris is still claiming more than £800 a month in a council allowance to serve residents.

And then via Pits’n’Pots:

Mike Barnes’s future as Labour Group Leader hangs in the balance as the party’s National Executive have placed him under ‘administrative suspension’ with immediate effect.

Yesterday, Mike Barnes admitted to impersonating someone from this website to try

…

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Helen Duffett

The LDV Friday Five (ish): 9 October 2009

By Helen Duffett | Fri 9th October 2009 - 5:00 pm

It’s Friday. It’s five o’clock. And when I tried to high-five Stephen Tall by way of celebration, he thought I was putting up my hand and asking to write the Friday Five. Ah, why not –

5 most-read stories on LDV this week

1. YouGov marginals poll: what it means for the Lib Dems (35) by Stephen Tall
2. Iain Dale for Home Secretary? (10) by Richard Huzzey
3. Would slavery have been abolished under Farage? (32) by Iain Roberts
4. Because homophobia is gay when it’s against Tories, too (21) by Stephen Tall
5. Opinion: A frightening party of selfishness …

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