Welcome to the 117th of our weekly round-ups from the Lib Dem blogosphere, featuring the seven most popular stories according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (10th-16th May 2009), together with a hand-picked quintet, mostly courtesy of LibDig, you might otherwise have missed.
As ever, let’s start with the most popular post, and work our way down.
On Tuesday evening, LDV emailed those Lib Dem party members signed-up to our private discussion forum inviting them to take part in a survey focusing on MPs’ expenses. Many thanks to the 240+ of you who have so far completed it; we’ve been publishing the results on LDV over the last few days. You can catch up on the results of all our past exclusive LDV members’ surveys by clicking here.
LDV asked: The following MPs have been named by the Telegraph in connection with the MPs’ expenses row. Please indicate those you believe – on the …
A quick quiz for you. One of the Haringey local newspapers, The Hornsey Journal, had this story on 14 May:
Under fire councillors opt to take pay freeze
The recession is about to hit councillors in the pocket, after both Haringey Labour and Liberal Democrat parties decided NOT to take a pay rise …Councillor Claire Kober, Leader of the Labour-controlled council, said, “… This move will mean any savings can go straight into providing essential services for the people of Haringey.”
So, do you think that Labour voted through changes that resulted in the council’s allowances bill:
a) Staying the same, or
b) Increasing by £44,751 (7%)?
I’ll …
Last week Kuwait’s 50-seat Parliament was up for election and, for the first time, the victors include women. Four of the sixteen female candidates who stood were elected, including Massouma al-Mubarak who has been the path-breaking female politician of Kuwait.
Back in 2005, when women were given the right to vote and to stand for Parliament, she didn’t become a Member of Parliament herself, but did become the first female Cabinet minister. She served in the Cabinet in more than one role, resigned as health minister after a hospital fire in 2005 killed two people, accepting ‘political and moral’ responsibility even …
A week ago, I wrote an article attacking the Telegraph’s coverage of the MPs’ expenses row under the deliberately provocative headline, What has the Telegraph done for the reputation of journalism? Amidst all the outrageous abuses by MPs that the newspaper has reported, I said, it’s also been guilty of some shoddy reporting, giving equal prominence to stories which simply do not stand up to scrutiny, and deliberately omitting facts which do not fit with its headline allegations.
The main point of the article, though, was to challenge how the rest of the news media was responding to the …
With all the talk of MPs’ expenses and the European Election campaigns, it is all too easy to forget that in many parts of the country much of the focus is on county and unitary council and mayoral elections.
County council elections tend to be skewed in favour of the Conservatives these days, as many of these councils have now been shorn of their more urban areas and so a lot more rural. The last three county council elections have been on the same day as the general election, and so finally we have a chance of focusing on the …
It’s been quite a week for Nadine Dorries, the eccentric Tory Cornerstoner MP for Mid-Bedfordshire. Yesterday she earned copious media coverage for her suggestion that MPs are on ‘suicide watch’ for their Parliamentary colleagues amidst the “unbearable” Westminster atmosphere sparked by the Telegraph’s MPs’ expenses allegations.
But when reading her blog, it wasn’t that part which most caught my attention – it was this part:
… this country has never had a Prime Minister with the political courage to stand up to the British media, and award MPs the pay rise proposed year after year, by the Senior Salary Review
…
Welcome to an occasional new LDV feature, YouTube ‘cos we want to, rounding-up a couple of the most amusing/bad/interesting YouTube videos doing the rounds. This week, our focus is MPs’ expenses (what else?).
First up, let’s enjoy Tory MP Anthony “I’ve got a very very large house” Steen’s joyously apoplectic radio interview defending his claims from the taxpayer for treating 500 of his trees:
Then there’s American Comedy Central’s Jon Stewart giving his Daily Show take on MPs’ expenses – and coming up with the best one-word description yet coined, ‘Scamalot’:
Alistair Darling gave an interview to the Times on Wednesday which has attracted remarkably little comment. While the great distraction – the parliamentary allowance scandal – continues, attention isn’t focused on the Great Recession, or the Government’s part in it.
In the interview the Chancellor predicted that the recession, in the UK, would be over by Christmas. Mr Darling wants electors, not just the Labour faithful, to know that the UK economy is set to be growing strongly by the time of the General Election in 2010. Does this kind of whistling in the dark have a political purpose? I think …
The Liberal History Group’s committee had an extended debate via email a few months ago over the number of days for which Lloyd George was an MP. We’d set this as a quiz question before discovering that we didn’t all agree on the answer. Leap years weren’t the problem. It was the question of when do you start becoming an MP: on declaration of the result or on taking your seat?
But here’s a tougher one. For how many days was Joseph Ormond Andrews (1872-1909) an MP? Andrews won a by-election at Barkston Ash in October 1905, gaining the seat from …
Just a thought, but I wonder if Labour MPs should be giving this a read:
On Tuesday evening, LDV emailed those Lib Dem party members signed-up to our private discussion forum inviting them to take part in a survey focusing on MPs’ expenses. Many thanks to the 240+ of you who have so far completed it; we’ll be publishing the results on LDV over the next few days. You can catch up on the results of all our past exclusive LDV members’ surveys by clicking here.
LDV asked: On the basis of all that you have read, seen or heard – and trying to put party loyalties to one side – which …
The latest edition of Liberator magazine (issue no.333 – May 2009) has just landed on subscribers’ doormats. We went to press just before the MPs’ expenses scandal broke so you’ll search in vain for gratuitous finger-wagging about trouser presses. Instead, here’s a summary of the contents:
• The editorial column Commentary looks at Labour’s poor record on civil liberties and at the prospects of a change in Liberal Democrat policy on replacing Trident.
• The insider gossip column Radical Bulletin questions the robustness of the Liberal Democrats’ European election campaign.
• Our lead article ‘The MP caught in the kettle’ is written by Liberal Democrat MP Tom Brake, who describes his experiences during last month’s G20 demonstrations in the City.
• ‘Never again’ – Dee Doocey (a Liberal Democrat member of the London Assembly and the Metropolitan Police Authority) says that the policing of the recent G20 demonstrations was wrong and fundamental reform is needed.
Yesterday was a sad day for the Lib Dems. First, because we lost as chief executive a proven successful campaigner, Lord (Chris) Rennard, who helped save the post-merger Lib Dems from near extinction. And, secondly, because the way in which he was forced to announce his resignation resolved nothing, and was entirely lacking in dignity.
It has been clear to everyone since the News of the World alleged that Chris had claimed £41k in Lords’ allowances after designating his Eastbourne flat as his main residence (rather than his London house) that Chris and the party would need to make a …
Lynne Featherstone, MP for Hornsey and Wood Green, is asking readers of her blog for their views on who the next Commons Speaker should be:
I just don’t want it to be the traditional kind of same old same old that went before. If there was ever an opportunity for change and reform – this is the start of it.
Read more at Lynne’s Parliament and Haringey Diary.
The membership have just received an email from the President summarising the decisions made at the Federal Executive meeting on Monday.
1. There will be a code of conduct binding on Liberal Democrat parliamentarians and candidates.
2. All Liberal Democrat MPs will support the proposals from Sir Christopher Kelly’s review of MPs’ expenses. There will be no picking and choosing of which of his recommendations to support.
3. Our leader and Chief Whip in the House of Lords will undertake a thorough review of expenses and allowances in the House of Lords.
4. We will end the self-regulation of Parliament.
5.
…
Two startled Conservative MPs have been speaking out against the reporting of MPs’ expenses:
Conservative MP Anthony Steen has expressed his dismay at the public’s interest in his lavish expense claims for his country house.
The MP for Totnes in Devon has claimed £87,000 over four years for his second home. (“Some people say it looks like Balmoral,” he offered in his defence.)
On yesterday’s World at One programme on Radio Four he was indignant:
Do you know what it’s about? Jealousy. I’ve got a very very large house.
In a breathtaking display of narcissism, he kept on digging:
We have a wretched Government here which
…
Jo Swinson and Sir Alan Beith have both found themselves dragged into the latest set of allegations to be circulating – for the record, and avoidance of doubt, looking at the newspaper reports it doesn’t seem either of them have any reason not to be able to look their constituents in the eyes.
Sir Alan Beith
The Telegraph’s story about Sir Alan relates to a rented flat in London he shares with his wife, former fellow Lib Dem MP (now a Lib Dem peer) Baroness (Diana) Maddock. You can read the story here. I assume the Telegraph is publishing now …
MPs’ expenses row enters third week
Yes, it’s a fortnight since the Telegraph began exposing some of the most extravagant claims MPs have been submitting at the taxpayers’ expense. Today it’s the turn of Labour MPs Ian Gibson and Ben Chapman, to feel the heat with both offering to stand down at the next election (though both deny any wrongdoing).
Meanwhile Tory MP Peter Luff (three lavatory seats, three food mixers, two microwaves and 10 sets of bed linen) has seemingly sought to outbid Labour’s Fraser Kemp (16 bedsheets) for the highest number of household goods purchased in …
BBC’s Question Time is on tonight at the earlier time of 9pm. As I write this, the BBC’s QT website says
Question Time, the BBC’s premier political debate programme chaired by David Dimbleby, will be in Salisbury on Thursday 21 May, for a special edition going out at 2100 BST on BBC One.
The panel will include Health Minister Ben Bradshaw, Conservative shadow foreign secretary William Hague, treasurer of UKIP Marta Andreasen, former independent MP Martin Bell and one other guest to be confirmed.
Here’s hoping the “one other guest” will be a Lib Dem.
If you’re tuning in, you can join the simultanous …
What does it take for a Lib Dem blogger to hit the mainstream media?
You might think racy exclusives and sex scandals would be the way forward. But not Mark Thompson of the Mark Reckons blog – instead he’s chosen to make his mark on the Lib Dem blogging world through the medium of statistical correlation analysis, examining the likelihood of MPs in safe seats being implicated in the expenses furore.
His study, MPs Expenses and safe seats correlation – update, was picked up by (among others) The Guardian’s Polly Toynbee. And now Mark is to be …
On Tuesday evening, LDV emailed those Lib Dem party members signed-up to our private discussion forum inviting them to take part in a survey focusing on MPs’ expenses. Many thanks to the 230+ of you who have so far completed it; we’ll be publishing the results on LDV over the next few days. You can catch up on the results of all our past exclusive LDV members’ surveys by clicking here.
LDV asked, Which of the following statements most closely matches your own view:
And here’s what you told us:
>> 38% – The alleged abuses by MPs of the allowances system is an issue of fundamental importance to the political system.
>> 56% – The alleged abuses by MPs of the allowances system is an important issue, but the reporting of it has sometimes been over-the-top.
>> 4% – The alleged abuses by MPs of the allowances system is pretty trivial compared with the other issues facing this country.
>> 1% – Don’t know / Other.
We then asked: The Daily Telegraph has been running the MPs’ expenses story, having apparently obtained stolen data by paying a source up to £100,000. MPs’ expenses were due to be published by Parliament itself in June after a long-running FOI campaign. Some have criticised the Telegraph’s actions as ‘chequebook journalism’, while others have defended the paper for exposing the alleged abuses of the allowance system by MPs. Do you think, on balance, the Daily Telegraph’s actions have been:
Here’s what you said:
What a week for British politics
Nearly a week ago now, I suggested that one of the party’s longer term aims on the way out of the expenses crisis should be to push the case for full electoral and constitutional reform. Would we ever, I asked, have a better chance than this?
At the time it seemed a bit of a long shot, even by my terminally optimistic standards, but a week is a long time in the political media. The expenses relevations, coming so suddenly and in such a concentrated form, are unmistakeably betraying
…
In today’s Guardian, Stephen Keeler pays tribute to former Liberal Democrat councillor Barbara Alexander:
My friend and former colleague Barbara Alexander, who has died after a long illness aged 70, was an inspirational teacher, a dedicated local councillor and a tireless worker on behalf of a number of charities. …
Both were elected to Richmond-upon-Thames council in 1990, and Barbara worked tirelessly as a Liberal Democrat councillor and school governor, increasing her workload after Gavin’s death in 1993. She was deputy council leader, sat on education and social services committees, and chaired the governing bodies of Hampton community college and Carlisle infant
…
I first met Chris Rennard in the run-up to the 1999 European elections, when I was the number two on the East of England list. Of course I knew who he was, a campaign legend, whilst I was just starting my career in politics. Then, as now, he was a source of wise advice, exceptional strategic judgement and personal support.
Chris has worked for the party for 27 years. His political activism began in Liverpool where he delivered half of a focus round because his mother wouldn’t let him cross the main road! The Liberal cause has motivated Chris ever since. …
Here’s what the BBC has to say:
All Gurkha veterans who retired before 1997 with at least four years’ service will be allowed to settle in the UK, Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has said. Ms Smith told MPs she was “proud to offer this country’s welcome to all who have served in the brigade of Gurkhas”.
It comes after a high-profile campaign by Joanna Lumley and other supporters of Gurkha rights – and an embarrassing Commons defeat for the government.
Some 36,000 Gurkhas who left before 1997 had been denied UK residency. Ms Lumley, the actress who has been the public face
…
This just emailed to members:
My reason for writing is that I have decided to make the current election campaigns my last as Chief Executive. I discussed this with Nick some time ago and I have given notice to the Party President that I will stand down as Chief Executive at the end of the Summer.
I want to be able to work more flexibly in future whilst of course continuing to help our party advance. I believe that I will be better able to do so without the administrative burdens of being Chief Executive and running the
…
Welcome news from Birmingham regarding postal votes (not a phrase I’ve often typed…):
A former Liberal Democrat candidate has been cleared of forging 12 postal votes application forms.
It had been alleged that Mohammed Khan, who stood for election in the Nechells area in the 2006 local elections, was involved in the fraud in order to further his own election prospects. (Birmingham Post)
What’s up in blogs and news.
In the media
The expenses row continues to rumble with the MP for my ancestral home of Leominster getting scalped by the Telegraph alongside Ruth Kelly and a duck, if the pictures are to be believed.
Meanwhile over the Daily Mail has been working hard to bring you this extreme comparison with Cornish MP Andrew George – they’ve found one of his constituents who commutes to LB Barking & Dagenham, but whose weekday residence is a £30 tent. There’s some grass left in Parliament Square, isn’t there? We could have a tent city for MPs …
On Tuesday evening, LDV emailed those Lib Dem party members signed-up to our private discussion forum inviting them to take part in a survey focusing on MPs’ expenses. Many thanks to the 220 of you who have so far completed it; we’ll be publishing the results on LDV over the next few days. You can catch up on the results of all our past exclusive LDV members’ surveys by clicking here.
First up, we’re going to look at what you said about the expenses stories concerning Lord (Chris) Rennard, the party’s chief executive. Here’s what we asked: Though …
Follow @libdemvoice.org on Bluesky
Like us on Facebook
Subscribe to our feed
Sign-up for our daily email digest
Councils must help music – so music can help their communities flourish (Charlie Clinton & Josh Matthews)
Welcome to the Brexit argument, Prime Minister! (Dr Anthony Harris)
Can we afford the Triple Lock? Not as a low tax party (Joe Wright)
Labour’s new vape tax is disastrous policymaking (Rees Southern)
Welcome to my day: 5 October 2026 – it’s beginning to feel a lot like AGM season… (Mark Valladares)
How John Prescott blocked the full redevelopment of Ellesmere canal basin
The Joy of Six 1587
LGS establishes new link with US National Winston Churchill Museum in Fulton Missouri
Labour need to step up on abolition of leaseholds
Colin Milburn at Lord's in 1968: The first test innings I remember
Show Racism the Red Card
"Chop chop ya bam" Grandson of Big Mags Haney jailed over 'sadistic' machete attack
Ian Anderson on the old hippies who used punk to get on in music
Lawrence Hogben, Pressure and the meteorologists of D-Day
Richard Church 
Tim Rogers 
BigTallTim 
Geoff Reid 
Ruth Bright 
