Aspiring MEPs should start training now

By the founding editor | Mon 27th November 2006 - 8:00 am

It has been confirmed by the English Council that the English Regions will select their European Parliamentary candidates between June and November next year, with the intention of giving candidates a clear eighteen months to campaign once selected.

The English Candidates Committee is encouraging anyone thinking of applying to seek approval, if required, as early as possible to prevent any repeat of the last European selection, when some applicants were going through the approval process at the same time as interviews were taking place.

Those on the Westminster approved list not already approved for Europe will require successful completion of a “policy …

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Take out the trash on Sunday evening

By the founding editor | Sun 26th November 2006 - 11:53 pm

The Voice is supposed to cover good news and… not so good news, so as it’s late on Sunday night lets get some not so good news out of the way:

Tomorrow is another …

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Posted in Polls | Tagged , , and | 2 Comments

PPC selection update

By the founding editor | Sun 26th November 2006 - 11:46 pm

We’re now listing PPCs for Hornsey & Wood Green, Edinburgh West, Streatham, Colchester, Filton & Bradley Stoke and Rochdale. Congratulations to all those selected or re-selected, and thank you to those who supplied the information.
Seats advertising for PPCs will appear on this post soonish.

Posted in Selection news | 3 Comments
Mark Pack

STV petition

By Mark Pack | Sun 26th November 2006 - 5:25 pm

Amongst the various petitions on the 10 Downing Street website is this one calling for STV for public elections (as Scotland is getting for its local elections in May).

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Mark Pack

What happens when you don’t have policies?

By Mark Pack | Sun 26th November 2006 - 9:57 am

“Tory leader’s satisfaction ratings are comparable to that of Howard, Hague and IDS … The revelation that only 25 per cent of the electorate consider themselves satisfied with Cameron’s performance as leader of the opposition – rising only to 45 per cent among Tory voters, down from 60 per cent in February – will be a blow to his inner circle, given that it suggests a similar trajectory to his failed predecessors Howard, Iain Duncan Smith and William Hague. The most common reason for dissatisfaction was lack of clarity about his policies.”

(This is The Observer’s comment on their latest …

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Posted in Polls | Tagged | 2 Comments
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Alex Foster

Clegg’s Arctic Challenge

By Alex Foster | Sat 25th November 2006 - 4:07 pm

Nick Clegg’s Arctic challenge – he’s not monkey hunting, he’s trekking for charity:

As some of you might know, I’m participating in the “Westminster Challenge” next February: five MPs trekking miles and miles through the Arctic cold and dark during their recess to raise money for some excellent charities. Incredible, but true. You can find out more about the challenge and the charities – including the local Sheffield charity which I have chosen in addition to the three national charities – via the weblink below.

www.justgiving.com/nickclegg

I’d be hugely grateful for any sponsorship you could give me for this gruelling experience:

…

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Alex Foster

Random burblings of a late night printer

By Alex Foster | Sat 25th November 2006 - 2:17 am

I’m slaving over a hot riso producing Christmas cards. This year, we opted for a rather lovely colour front preprinted by Park with the insides being printed in 22 versions by our good selves. We have promised the activists they will be ready for the 1st December, so it’s now become a bit of a rush job.

Working with 150gsm card instead of the cheap 80gsm paper we normally use has completely thrown my estimating skills off. I can normally grab a bundle of paper and say – that’s about 500 sheets. Now, I have no idea how much card I’m flinging around the room.

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Posted in News | 2 Comments
Alex Foster

Tory “Tosser” Furore

By Alex Foster | Fri 24th November 2006 - 10:31 pm

So, here’s the story: the Tories launch a rather lurid website about the problem of personal debt in which they label the financially incontinent “tossers.”

A few Lib Dems (Nich, and Jonathan Wallace) wonder whether really that’s the sort of language a political party ought to be using to refer to voters. Even Vince Cable condemns it with some rather choice words. And there are plenty of Tories who aren’t that keen either – as Paul Walter points out.

That nice Iain Dale weighs in with “My party right or wrong,” and a reference to …

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Posted in News | Tagged and | 12 Comments
James Graham

Deputy precedents

By James Graham | Fri 24th November 2006 - 3:10 pm

For the past year, I’ve been observing a self-denying ordnance. Back at the end of September 2005, I submitted a complaint to the Liberal Democrats’ Federal Appeals Panel suggesting the Federal President’s decision to appoint a series of “deputy presidents” was ultra vires. Since then, I’ve been resisting the urge to mention the matter publicly.

A couple of weeks ago, the Federal Appeals Panel published its conclusion, following the receipt of the President’s response at the end of October this year, which can be found here. For the record I am content with the conclusions of this ruling and don’t wish to take the matter any further.

Superficially, this looks like a bit of a score draw. On the one hand, the Panel has upheld the substantive part of my argument that the President doesn’t have the power to unilaterally create such posts. On the other hand, the Panel has concluded that the Federal Executive, which does have the power, effectively authorised the creation of these posts, and thus from that point on they became legit.

However, given that my main objective in seeking this ruling was to assert the authority of the FE, I consider this ruling to be a ringing endorsement. There remain, however, a few implications that the party needs to seriously consider.

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Posted in Party policy and internal matters | 5 Comments
Mark Pack

Chairing a meeting, Conservative style

By Mark Pack | Fri 24th November 2006 - 10:01 am

You are chairing a public meeting with Ken Livingstone, put on to allow Londoners to question him about his job as Mayor.

Do you:

(a) Call half a dozen Tory councillors to ask questions rather than half a dozen more members of the public

(b) Not give away any indication that you know that any of Tory councillors you call to ask questions are indeed Tory councillors

(c) Both of the above.

If you’re Tory Bob Neill, the answer is (c). (And yes, they were all local Tory councillors he knows).

Hattip: Duncan Borrowman

Posted in News | Tagged and | 4 Comments

Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust £2m donation – how it’s being spent

By the founding editor | Fri 24th November 2006 - 9:00 am

It has been suggested that the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust’s donation of £2m to the Liberal Democrats is there to cover our backs in case we have to default £2.4m in the wake of the Michael Brown affair.

The Trust have published information which finally puts this notion to bed, and revealed that the donation is ring-fenced:

  • £100,000 goes towards the running of the leader’s office
  • £537,500 towards the cost of “a database” (more on this to follow in time)
  • £200,000 towards diversity measures (the Steve Hitchins fund)
  • £500,000 towards the 2007 elections campaigns in England, Scotland and Wales
  • £500,000 towards the cost of the next

…

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Posted in News | Tagged | 9 Comments
The Voice

Campbell pays tribute to Nick Clarke

By The Voice | Thu 23rd November 2006 - 2:27 pm

Menzies Campbell has paid tribute to The World At One presenter Nick Clarke, who has died at the age of 58:

“Nick Clarke was one of the best broadcast journalists of his generation. He was always well informed and brought an urbane authority to everything he did.

“Woe betide any politician who tried to avoid giving direct answers to his direct questions.

“He was a professional to his fingertips who made the World at One his own programme.”

Posted in News | Tagged and | 1 Comment
The Voice

London Region Exec Committee elections

By The Voice | Thu 23rd November 2006 - 10:03 am

The results of the London region elections can be found at:

http://libdems4london.org.uk/news/667.html

If you know of election results in other regions, do e-mail [email protected]

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The Voice

Ming’s good day at PMQs

By The Voice | Wed 22nd November 2006 - 2:40 pm

BBC News reports that “The old Ming Campbell – and I mean that in the non-ageist sense – is back.”

More

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The Voice

Vote now: Should the Lib Dems next London Mayoral candidate be an MP?

By The Voice | Wed 22nd November 2006 - 2:09 pm

City HallIn 2000 Susan Kramer (not an MP at the time) was crushed by Ken Livingstone. 2004 saw Simon Hughes MP receive the same treatment.

The latest Lib Dem Voice poll asks whether the party should front one of its growing band of London area MPs (Susan Kramer, Simon Hughes, Ed Davey, Paul Burstow, Tom Brake, Lynne Featherstone, Sarah Teather, Vince Cable) or use the opportunity to promote a grass-roots campaigner / peer / councillor / random other.

Please vote, and if you feel so inclined, do give your reason in the comments box …

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Posted in London and Voice polls | Tagged and | 8 Comments
The Voice

Toksvig to stand for Lib Dems?

By The Voice | Wed 22nd November 2006 - 12:33 pm

Top Lib Dem blog Hot Ginger & Dynamite reports that Iain Dale reports that Sandi Toksvig may stand for the Lib Dems at the next General Election.

UPDATE: Local officials have confirmed Toksvig did NOT apply for Meon Valley, and that she is not on the approved candidates list.

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Labour’s plan to steal the next election

By the founding editor | Wed 22nd November 2006 - 10:02 am

Guardian chartRegular readers will know that I do not “do” polls, however I couldn’t resist tapping off a quick e-mail to the Guardian after seeing this morning’s offering:

“The claim in Wednesday’s Guardian/ICM poll that a Brown premiership would cause two percent of Liberal Democrat voters to defect to the Conservatives in disgust was, in itself, enough to raise eyebrows. However, I fear your coverage missed the main point.

“If, as your graph suggests, the Liberal Democrats go down two points and the Conservatives go up three points while everyone else stays the same, the only …

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Posted in Polls | 5 Comments
Mark Pack

Greening Islington

By Mark Pack | Tue 21st November 2006 - 10:12 am

Yesterday the BBC ran a TV story on how Lib Dems in Islington are greening the borough. All the Council offices, libraries, leisure facilities and streetlights now run off renewable electricity and Islington’s vehicle fleet is getting greener each year as vehicles are converted to run on electricity, LPG or biodiesel.

The planning rules have also been strengthened so as to promote energy efficiency, cycle parking, water saving and green roofs.

The latest initiative is wind turbines on Council offices.

You can watch the story on the BBC website.

Posted in News | Tagged | 1 Comment
Mark Pack

Stephen Williams goes on YouTube

By Mark Pack | Mon 20th November 2006 - 6:50 pm

As part of the third annual Anti-Bullying Week, Lib Dem MP Stephen Williams has done a clip for YouTube about the problems of homophobic bullying:

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A lesson in just how wrong the media can be

By the founding editor | Mon 20th November 2006 - 6:20 pm

Kennedy resignationAs a little personal project, I uploaded a stack of news channel video over the weekend from the period of 2pm-6pm on 7 January 2006, the day of Charles Kennedy’s resignation as Liberal Democrat party leader.

It’s an interesting lesson in how incorrect speculation on the impact of major political events can be. Nearly every prediction made by commentators, MPs, party members in the videos turned out in time to be wrong!

Perhaps the BBC and Sky should rebrand their 24 hour news channels ’24 hours groundless speculation’ channels?

Posted in News | Tagged | 8 Comments
Mark Valladares

Critics take note – English candidate selection process is fair, not flawed

By Mark Valladares | Mon 20th November 2006 - 4:41 pm

Liberator 314 included a piece critical of English Candidates Committee and of the selection process generally. Sadly, but inevitably, the Collective are not alone in their criticism so, perhaps, we need to have an open debate on our processes, what they seek to achieve, how they work and what key failings need to be addressed in order to move things forward.

I’ve been involved in the selection processes of the party as a Returning Officer since 1989 and as a candidate assessor since 1995. In that time I’ve seen huge changes in the Selection Rules and the candidate approval processes, very few of which have simplified the processes to be followed. With that complexity comes frustration, and not just for those wanting to be candidates or wishing to adopt one.

Unexpectedly perhaps, I share some of those frustrations, as the system by which we select PPCs places a heavy burden on our Local Parties, especially the smaller, weaker ones. Our selection rules impose costs, both financial and human, and where the number of likely applicants is small, that cost is a disproportionate one. So how did we get into this mess?

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Posted in Party policy and internal matters | Tagged | 9 Comments
The Voice

Someone send David Laws a new keyboard

By The Voice | Mon 20th November 2006 - 4:34 pm

He’s probably burnt his old one out. According to the Recess Monkey blog:

Lib Dem MP David Laws (Yeovil) has managed to ask 202 PQs today, and 175 PQs were to a single Department – the DWP.

Labour blogger Kerron Cross has more. New researcher in the Laws fold, by any chance?

Posted in News | Tagged , , and | 1 Comment
Mark Pack

More Labour hypocrisy

By Mark Pack | Sun 19th November 2006 - 4:12 pm

Fresh from the news about Labour Mayor Steve Bullock both praising and condemning local swimming pool campaigners, we have news from Blaydon of Labour campaigning against local council parking policies. No prizes for guessing which party it is that runs the local council…

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Mark Pack

How well did the Democrats really do?

By Mark Pack | Sat 18th November 2006 - 10:05 pm

Unlike the UK, aggregate vote share figures across the US are rarely reported. But there have now been some unofficial calculations, which put the vote share in House of Representative elections at:

Democrats 51%
Republicans 47%

(Figure from MyDD.com, which also has more details.)

Posted in LDVUSA | 3 Comments

PPC update

By the founding editor | Fri 17th November 2006 - 11:59 pm

Update to PPC list to follow, but in brief the following PPCs have been selected:

  • Folkestone & Hythe: Toby Philpott
  • Southport: John Pugh MP re-selected
  • Aberdeen South: Vicki Harris
  • Worthing West: Hazel Thorpe
Posted in Selection news | Tagged , , and | 4 Comments
Mark Pack

Conservative councillor joins Lib Dems

By Mark Pack | Fri 17th November 2006 - 5:54 pm

A Conservative councillor in Mole Valley has switched to the Liberal Democrats. One of her reasons particularly caught my eye:

“Mr Cameron does not seem to be following up his rather vague aspirations with any solid policies.”

Who knows, perhaps it is because he is so busy changing his clothes?

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Mark Pack

By-election results: Tories fail against Lib Dems

By Mark Pack | Fri 17th November 2006 - 5:47 pm

Amongst the council by-elections held yesterday, there were two in Lib Dem held wards in southern England where – if the Tories were really making inroads into Lib Dem support – the Tories should have been scoring big swings, if not wins, from the Lib Dems.

The actual result? Two Lib Dem holds with increased majorities:

Cambridge City, Trumpington
LD Andy Blackhurst 858 (51.4; +5.9), Con 618 (37.0; +1.3), Lab 109 (6.5;
-2.6), Green 85 (5.1; -4.6).
Swing: 2.3% Tory to Lib Dem

Reading UA, Tilehurst
LD Ricky Duveen 919 (47.8; +6.4), Con 586 (30.5; -0.1), Lab 317 (16.5;
-5.7), Green 79 (4.1; -1.6), The Roman Party 21 …

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Posted in Council by-elections | Tagged and | 3 Comments

Tory MP faces de-selection after being unfaithful to cancer-stricken wife

By the founding editor | Fri 17th November 2006 - 10:42 am

The BBC reports:
Conservative MP James Gray is fighting for his political career after losing a deselection vote.

The local party executive in Chippenham voted against the 52-year-old North Wiltshire MP continuing to represent them in the next election.

The vote follows criticism that he had an affair while his wife Sarah was being treated for cancer.

There will now be a postal ballot of local Conservatives which Mr Gray says he is “hopeful” of winning.

Mr Gray has been the MP for North Wiltshire since 1997.

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Paul Keetch MP to stand down at General Election

By the founding editor | Thu 16th November 2006 - 8:00 pm

Paul KeetchHereford’s MP Paul Keetch is telling his local party members at their AGM tonight that he intends to stand down as an MP at the next election. He was elected in 1997 and is currently serving his third term as MP.

Paul stated that he took the decision to announce his retirement tonight as some members had asked to begin the process of re-selecting him this evening. He has also said he told Ming Campbell, while he was still deputy leader, of his intentions 12 months ago.

Keetch’s seat will be a prime …

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Posted in Selection news | Tagged and | 8 Comments

Cash for peerages – “major developments”

By the founding editor | Thu 16th November 2006 - 5:19 pm

Guido Fawkes’ blog claims to have a copy of correspondence sent from Inspector Yates of Scotland Yard to Tony Wright, chair of the Public Administration Select Committee, which speaks of “major developments” not yet in the public domain.

If the letters are not fakes they present a serious breach in the security of the investigation.

That is, however, something of an ‘if’.

  • At first glance, the letters purport to be scans of the original (eg the text is slightly blurry, the logo is in colour), but there is no evidence of the paper – the scan appears on a pristine screen-white

…

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Posted in News | Tagged | 3 Comments
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