News from Portsmouth:
Tory Jezz Baker was arrested at 1.30pm yesterday after a month-long police investigation. It is understood to be alleged that Cllr Baker, who sits on the city council planning committee, took money to support planning applications.
The full story is on the local newspaper’s website.
The Chingford Green by-election (London Borough of Waltham Forest) took place last night:
Conservative 1694 (55.2; -14.8)
Lib Dem Graham Woolnough 1022 (33.3; +14.3)
Labour 208 (6.8; -4.2)
UKIP 143 (4.7; +4.7).
Majority 672
Turnout 38.5%
Conservative hold
Swing: 15% Conservative to Liberal Democrat
That’s the question posed by Chris Huhne MP in his article for today’s Guardian which you can also read on the party’s website.
Here’s the evidence from Bristol. Judge for yourself.
First, the background: Busharat Ali is the Labour candidate in Lawrence Hill ward, Bristol. He didn’t like being attacked in a Liberal Democrat leaflet over Blair and Iraq.
He responded with a leaflet that said: “I was on the National March in London against the Iraq war” and had this photo next to those words:
The photo does not have a caption and, being next to the text it is, is clearly meant to illustrate him being on the march against the Iraq war. The photo is a pretty …
Calling for a 20mph speed limit to be introduced on a stretch of road that has actually had one for four years would be a bit of an embarrassment. Add in your candidate being a bus driver in the area and it’s a bit of a blunder. But when it then turns out that the route the buses driven by your candidate include the said road it all becomes a bit farcical.
The party’s Chief Executive, Chris Rennard, recorded an hour-long interview for 18 Doughty Street yesterday. It’s being broadcast tonight at 9pm or you can watch it in their website archive.
“The death knell of freedom of speech in this fair country . . . goodbye freedom of expression, hello thought-crime . . . a small hop, skip and a gulag away from an authoritarian state.” Just a few of the whirling absurdities uttered in response to the latest EU draft proposal on combating racism and xenophobia, in what was a wonderful week for libertarian paranoia on the Blogosphere.
And there was plenty more. “The phrase ‘first they came’ springs to mind,” said a normally sensible Iain Dale. Well it might indeed spring to mind, but just how relevant …
After each round of elections there are various chances for us to provide feedback to those involved in running the elections, including both the Electoral Commission and the Department for Constitutional Affairs.
If you have any examples of things being done badly (e.g. typos on ballot papers, Returning Officers refusing to provide lists of postal voters, etc) or examples of things being run really well, please let me know – either in the comments or by email to [email protected].
Dave Anderson (Labour, Blaydon) has been told off for the second time for misusing the “free” (i.e. paid for by taxpayers) postage available to MPs. This time it was 30,000 letters that were wrongly sent out. Easy to see how such a small error could be overlooked 🙂
Jonathan Wallace has the full story about Dave Anderson.
Tonight’s party election broadcast for the English local elections is on the subject of crime. Fronted by home affairs spokesperson Nick Clegg, it deals with Labour’s failures, Liberal Democrat proposals for tackling crime, and the positive records of Liberal Democrat councils. Here’s a preview:
You can also watch this film on TV: at 5.55pm on BBC Two; at 6.25pm on ITV1; and at 6.55pm on BBC One.
Party press release:
Newspaper and television journalist, Mark Webster, has been appointed as Senior Media Spokesperson to Menzies Campbell. The new post is the latest step in the modernisation of the Party’s communications capability, which has been underway since Menzies Campbell became Party Leader.
Mark Webster will play a key role in the Party’s strategic communications team and will work hand in hand with Puja Darbari, the Leader’s Press Secretary, Jon Oates, the Director of Policy and Communications and the Party’s new Head of Media, a post which will be appointed shortly.
Mark has over thirty years experience as a newspaper and television
…
More love and haromony in David Cameron’s party:
A FORMER council leader has claimed his own colleagues are more concerned with their allowances than working for their constituents. Tory Rochford district councillor Peter Webster launched an astonishing attack on his fellow members who, he claimed, were “too lazy”.
Chris Black has the full story.
Meanwhile over in Wales the Western Mail reports:
THE former leader of the Conservatives in the Assembly has announced he will not be voting for the party this time around.
Hat tip: Pigeon Post
I’ve commented before on Communicate Research’s highly fluctuating polls. So it’s with a pinch of salt that I point out that their latest poll has the Liberal Democrats up two points, which in turn follows the previous month’s increase of three points. Better up than down though, and these last two polls follow a change in the way CR carry out their polls (switching to include some weighting for people’s recollection of how they voted previously).
Last Friday, Norman Baker and other MPs talked out a bill that would have exempted MPs from the freedom of information legislation. But now the bill threatens to make a return because there aren’t enough other things to debate instead, apparently.
Viewers of 18 Doughty Street – the internet TV station synonymous with Iain Dale and the Tories – can get an eyeful of two – yes, two – Liberal Democrat bloggers from 9 o’clock this evening: Andy Mayer from Andy Mayer and Will Howells from No Geek is an Island (and formerly of this site). Watch online at 18doughtystreet.com.
And then they were mostly found again; thanks to the person who pointed out the reason for the bulk of the difference in the comments. I think the few who are still missing are best not fussed over 🙂
A little while back the Conservatives boasted about the number of candidates they were standing in the local elections. This story is no longer on their website as this link shows though thanks to Iain Dale we can all still read the numbers.
Why might you want to read the numbers? Well, the (independent) Press Association has now added up the …
And now in overseas news: concern about global warming has doubled in the US according to ABC (and full credit to ABC in that story for distinguishing between small, statistically insignificant changes in poll results from those that really are significant; there’s a lesson there for many UK media outlets).
Soon, members across London will select their candidates to run for election to the Greater London Assembly. Most of the selection campaign e-mails from candidates have included a link to a standalone selection website, which has been approved in advance for publication by the Returning Officer.
As a London-based member who will have a vote, but hasn’t yet decided whether to exercise it, let alone whom to excercise it for, I decided to put the candidate’s websites head to head. At the end of the post, in the interests of fairness, a full list of candidates appears. If I’ve missed off a candidate’s website, please let me know.
Candidates scored big points for:
Bonus points were received for e-campaigning wizardry such as blogs, online video etc. It’s important to note that candidates did not score points for having a website that was bigger than their rivals. In my estimation quality is more important than quantity – the goal of these sites is to win votes, not rival War & Peace.
The majority of sites were reviewed on 17 April. Ajmal Masroor and James Allie were reviewed on 21 April. By this point the selection campaign was well underway, and in my judgement, the sites should have been fully ready to be public. The sites are listed in descending order, the joint ‘winners’ first. Where two sites have a joint score, or no score, the sites are listed in alphabetical order by candidate surname.
Note: this review is a review of the candidate’s ability to put a website together. It’s up to you to decide how important that skill is when you come to cast your vote, so I wouldn’t obsess too much about ‘your candidate’ coming top or bottom of this review.
I suggest you leave a comment underneath the post, and I’ll reply there too – so if your site is marked up or down for any reason, the rationale for doing so is immediately made public.
The ninth of our weekly round-ups from the Lib Dem blogosphere is back in its rightful Sunday afternoon position, and features the seven most popular stories according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (15th-21st April), together with a hand-picked quintet you might otherwise have missed.
Without further ado:
1. ‘“It has been an absolute public relations disaster”’ by Mark Pack on Lib Dem Voice.
No, not David Cameron’s bizarre London mayoralty own goal… something completely different.
2. ‘One for all us political hacks…’ on Neil Woolcott’s blog.
Some bloggers, it seems, just can’t get enough of political leaflets.
3. ‘I Hereby Declare …
Conservative peer Lord Laidlaw is a major donor to the Conservative party, and he has a problem. He pomised before being appointed a peer to stop being a tax exile, but several years on he still hasn’t kept his promise – and has saved himself large sums in tax in the meantim.
Liberal Democrat Matthew Oakeshott has now reported him to Revenue and Customs.
Best wishes to Peter Golden and Mark Morris, and any other Lib Dem London Marathon runners!
A dismal tale of betrayal and failure in our education system has been penned by Francis Beckett in recent times. In The Great City Academy Fraud, Beckett exposes the con which lies at the heart of what is nothing more than the Conservative’s old City Technology Colleges scheme, rehashed and reheated by New Labour. The present facts are these: that that a sponsor willing to put up £2 million may effectively control and run a City Academy, towards which the taxpayer will have paid a vastly greater sum, not to mention running costs and salaries in perpetuity.
In fact Beckett shows that even the £2 million is not all that it appears, frequently comprising “payment in kind” – pretend money in the form of consultancy services and the like – as the government has been forced to water down its funding requirements in a desperate bid to attract new sponsors. And yet for the sake of this moth-eaten contribution from the private sector, unenthusiastic parents and local authorities are encumbered with a school which need form no part of a local education strategy, and which is entirely exempt from the body of education law built up since 1944.
While Academies were supposed to replace failing schools, Beckett reports how they have all too often disrupted the life of well loved schools against local wishes, with the aid of bullying tactics which emanate straight from the top. Of course parents may object to a proposed Academy, and sometimes they even get their way, but they are then made to feel as though they have deprived their patch of millions in education investment, which in a sense they have. The deal is that they can either have the school which the government and sponsor wish to impose on them, or they can go to hell.
More fallout from the sacking by the Conservatives of someone for having cancer. This week’s Sevenoak Chronicle contains a letter from the former chairman of the Conservative Association:
Your article last week on the tribunal verdict was a credit to the Chronicle: it was accurate, balanced and informed (Woman speaks out over bitter Conservative row, April 12).
What is almost beyond belief, in my opinion, is the orgy of self-congratulation entered into by the association’s chairman and spokeswoman, who seem to be portraying it as some sort of victory for them.
The facts are unequivocal: the Sevenoaks Conservative Association was found to have unlawfully dismissed their agent who was suffering from cancer.
Headline says it all really. Details on Colin Ross’s website.
I’d just like to repeat this message that Lib Dem Voice needs someone to take over the running of it. There’s a great community of regular users here – anyone want to step up? If someone wants to do a trial run – see how they get on, with the option of giving it back at the end if they don’t like it, I’m happy to consider that.
From the BBC:
A Liberal Democrat councillor has been suspended after nominating a BNP candidate for May’s local elections.
The party’s leadership has withdrawn all support for Darlington councillor Stephen Jones, who has quit as leader of the three-strong Lib Dem group.
Daniel Brown, the candidate whose nomination he signed, is one of his rivals in the North Road ward.
The local party said Mr Jones made a mistake but the Tories have called on Sir Menzies Campbell to sack him.
Edward Davey, chief of staff to leader Sir Menzies, said: “The Liberal Democrat Party in no way endorses and indeed repudiates the policy …
That’s the latest take on the Scottish elections from today’s Times.
First it was asking the Liberal Democrats if, pretty please, he could stand a joint candidate with us in the London Mayor elections and now it’s the selections for the European Parliament elections.
Ah, what bliss it must be to be a Conservative member this week. Perhaps things would be happier if Cameron just stuck to changing his clothes a few extra times each day?
Some of you may have been wondering where the eighth of our weekly round-ups from the Lib Dem blogosphere – featuring the seven most popular stories according to click-throughs from the Aggregator, together with a hand-picked quintet you might otherwise have missed – had got to.
Well, here’s your answer.
I’ve been away – hence the late posting, and lack of hand-picked quintet – but I did diligently check the Aggregator stats last Sunday (from the other side of the world), and what follows is the 10 most clicked-though items between 9th and 15th April.
Allegedly… Because I’ve a sneaking suspicion there …
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Is Ed Davey toast? (Caron Lindsay)
A plea from a member – more ambition and less equine pacification please… (Nick Baird)
Will the real Green party that cared about people and planet please stand up? (Kobe Bibbon)
We need better conversations on AI and the environment (Josh Matthews)
How to spot a Racist (Ben Rich)
Ellesmere Yard: A living relic of the canal age
The Lib Dem leadership should listen to our MPs
Latest PollBase is out, with all the British voting intention polls since the 1930s
Dean Friedman: Ariel
State of Play: the classic BBC drama, part 2
Can Davey survive as leader?
A Week in Politics #9
The Joy of Six 1589
"A chap on his own gets a bit cracked sometimes": Michael Powell on Mr Colpeper
The oldest pub in Swansea and the secret tunnel
Sarah 
David Raw 
Chloe 
PM 
Peter Hirst 
