Caron Lindsay

19% swing from Labour to Lucy Salek in Lewisham East

By Caron Lindsay | Fri 15th June 2018 - 3:18 am

Nice when your canvass returns are bang on, isn’t it?

We briefed the media this week that we were on 25% – and that is almost exactly what we delivered. Last year we lost our deposit in Lewisham East. This year we got a quarter of the vote.

Our actual number of votes went up by 2.5 times, too, from 2086 votes last year, although the turnout was less than half. Labour’s vote dropped from 32000 to 11000 and the Tory vote dropped from 11000 to 3000. That vote share bar chart is going to look very good.

And, courtesy of the wonderful Jon Ball making this Facebook post public, we have the Sky News one plus a picture of a very happy looking Alistair Carmichael.

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Caron Lindsay

Lewisham East…what can we expect?

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 14th June 2018 - 10:00 pm

First of all, a massive thanks to all the staff who have worked so hard to deliver a stellar campaign in Lewisham East. Then to Lucy Salek who has done so much to get herself known in the community. To get such name recognition on the doorstep in just over 6 weeks is incredible.

And also to people who have gone to help and those who have made phone calls.

So, sometime in the middle of the night we’ll find out the result. What would be a good one?

Well, given that we got 4.4% just over a year ago, which …

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Caron Lindsay

Alistair Carmichael: Voting for what the SNP wanted would have left Scotland weaker

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 14th June 2018 - 7:21 pm

There’s been a lot of ill-informed nonsense on social media about the way the Liberal Democrats voted, or in fact didn’t vote, on devolution in the Commons the other night. I was going to write a post to explain it all but then found I didn’t have to, because Alistair Carmichael had done it for me, and better.

What I think was the problem is that we didn’t really get our story out in good enough time and allowed the SNP to put it about that we had somehow not stood up for Scotland. We need to learn from this and explain it all beforehand.

Actually, and unsurprisingly, the situation is very different. As Alistair explains here, if we’d voted the way the SNP wanted and had won that vote, we’d have gone back to the original clause of the Bill, which was awful because it would have repatriated all the EU powers to Westminster to be doled out from there. No thanks.

So, Alistair now takes us through what happened and comments on the extraordinary PMQs session yesterday.

There was a single motion voted on which was a government motion to agree with an amendment from the House of Lords (apologies some jargon is unavoidable here but I shall try to keep it to a minimum). This amendment related to the inclusion of a new clause in the bill dealing with the transfer of powers coming back from Brussels post-Brexit. I was not going to support that motion as there is not yet any agreement between the Scottish and UK Governments – the reason why Liberal Democrats in the Scottish Parliament quite rightly voted against granting the legislative consent motion for the Bill.

At the same time, however, the Welsh Government HAVE reached agreement with the UK Government and that is what is now contained in the bill. If it is wrong to vote against the Scottish Parliament’s view then surely it is wrong to vote against the view of the Welsh Assembly. There was an amendment to the government motion from the Labour Party on the order paper that reflected the true position and it was originally my wish to vote for that. Unfortunately, however, that amendment was not put to the vote so, in the circumstances described, an abstention seemed like the appropriate thing to do. In this view we were joined by the Labour Party.

One further consideration. It may not have been what they intended but the actual effect of the SNP vote (if successful) would have been to restore the Bill to the position that it was in when it left the Commons – a much weaker position for Scotland than the one that the Bill currently provides!

There are serious points at issue here :

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Legacy of Grenfell

By Joe Bourke | Thu 14th June 2018 - 3:00 pm

One year on from the tragedy of the Grenfell fire a public inquiry is underway to ascertain how such a thing could have happened in a modern building in the middle of London.

What has struck me about this whole event is the frustration and powerlessness that tenants and leaseholders express over the ability to control their own lives and safety.

Property tenure has changed greatly in recent decades. Right to buy has changed the composition of public housing developments. They will frequently include a mix of leasehold apartments, shared ownership and traditional …

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Kirsten Johnson

Parity of esteem for mental health – petition to change Health and Safety legislation

By Kirsten Johnson | Thu 14th June 2018 - 12:30 pm

Back in 2016 I wrote a blog explaining my efforts to raise awareness of mental health first aid which led to an Early Day Motion being submitted by Norman Lamb MP.

There is now a further campaign led by MHFA England to change health and safety legislation so that there is parity of esteem between mental and physical first aid. Where’s Your Head At? is calling for every workplace to provide Mental Health First Aid as well as physical first aid.

The call is simple:

By law, all workplaces, schools and colleges must make provision around physical first aid. Why not the same for mental health?

Mental health issues including stress, anxiety and depression are the biggest cause of sickness absence in our society. Mental Health First Aid courses teach people to spot the signs of mental health issues, offer initial help and guide a person towards support. When support and treatment is accessed early, people recover faster and have better outcomes for their health.

Training people in mental health awareness and skills also helps to build an open and supportive culture around mental health. This can stop preventable health issues arising in the first place, and empower people with mental health issues to thrive in work.

We believe that mental and physical health should be treated equally – because we all have mental health. Let’s change the law to reflect this.

Besides the profound benefit this will have to those suffering mental ill-health but remaining unsupported and undiagnosed, changing this legislation will also save businesses an estimated £35 billion per year.

Please consider signing the petition. It can be found here.

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The Voice

An academic Brexodus is upon us

By The Voice | Thu 14th June 2018 - 8:43 am

Lib Dem activist Dr Ruvi Zieglar has written for the Cherwell, Oxford University’s newspaper, on the effect of Brexit being felt by universities. Many European staff are leaving because of the uncertainties surrounding jobs, research funding and future prospects.

Ruvi says,

‘Brexodus’ is picking up speed: according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), 130,000 EU27 citizens emigrated between September 2016-17, the highest number since the 2008 financial crisis.

Ruvi goes on to explain,

Nearly two years after the referendum, EU27 are still waiting for their post-Brexit rights to be secured….The draft Withdrawal Agreement hardly

…

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Caron Lindsay

SNP stunt kills off chance of devolution debate

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 13th June 2018 - 9:42 pm

Well, I suppose a bit of drama at PMQs brightens up the day, but what exactly was the point of the SNP’s mass walkout and their leader depriving himself of a vote as one of the most crucial pieces of legislation ever to go through the Commons. Not only that, but he had an application in for an emergency debate on the devolution related issues that everyone except the Scottish Tories are livid about. That fell because he was no longer allowed to be there. Presumably the SNP decided that a walkout would get them more attention on the news than a 3 hour debate. It did, but when this news cycle is over, what have they actually achieved? The square root of bugger all, to be honest.

At the heart of all the fuss is the issue of what happens to powers that were enacted by the EU when/if we leave. There is no agreement between the two governments about what should come to Westminster and what should come to Holyrood. The Scottish people don’t seem to give two hoots either way, to be honest. However, the Scottish Parliament voted by a large majority (everyone except the Tories) for the Scottish Government’s Continuity Bill rather than give consent to the EU Withdrawal Bill. This means that the two Governments are not in agreement and the Tories think that the way to resolve that is for Westminster just to dictate what happens. That is simply not acceptable.

However, there isn’t likely to be a settlement that satisfies the SNP. Their prime motivation is to drive as many wedges as they can between the two Parliaments. The clue is in their name. Everything they do is about trying to get independence.

So today, Ian Blackford, the SNP leader, had a justified go at May at PMQs and then pulled one of the biggest diversionary Parliamentary stunts in the book – moving a procedural motion for Parliament to sit in private. That would have meant that the public galleries would have been emptied and that the broadcast would have been stopped, but only if MPs had voted for it. Speaker John Bercow decided to flambe the situation rather than calm it down. He was all over the place on the procedure. First of all he said that the vote should happen straight away. Then he said he was minded to have it at the end of PMQs. Then he gave the SNP a choice. They all said they wanted it there and then and he insisted it would happen later. If he had just held the vote in the middle of PMQs, the SNP would have lost it and normal service would have been restored. Instead, Bercow went over the top and threw Blackford out. I know I’m always saying that Bercow should be throwing people out, but not like this. I meant the people who jeer and behave like toddlers.

The result was that Bercow’s dithering gave the SNP much bigger headlines than they were expecting. The Speaker isn’t usually so ignorant of procedure. You might be forgiven for thinking that he knew exactly what he was doing. He certainly seemed quite chuffed with himself.

But this excitement will die down. And we’ll be no further forward.

Tim Farron has form for this sort of stuff and he thought they’d made a mistake:

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Paul Walter

Paddy rallies the troops at Lewisham

By Paul Walter | Wed 13th June 2018 - 8:11 pm

It was great to spend a day campaigning for Lucy Salek in Lewisham East yesterday. It was my second time helping the campaign, greatly assisted by an off-peak Travelcard, which allowed fulsome use of the train, tube and bus. Tragically, there was a fatal incident on the line yesterday around Hither Green and Lee stations, meaning that I ended up, to my surprise, in New Eltham, at one point.

Anyway, our enormous HQ was brimming with volunteers all day. A hive of industry. There were people there from as far afield as Falmouth. It was particularly good to join in the traditional Blue envelope addressing work!

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New Issue of Liberator Out – Issue 390 of Liberator is on its way to subscribers.

By Liberator Collective | Wed 13th June 2018 - 5:00 pm

Our two free sample articles for this issue are by former MP Norman Baker on his experiences as a Home Office when Theresa May set about constructing her ‘hostile environment’, which was to lead to the Windrush scandal, and by Claire Tyler on ideas to help young people deal with precarious work, unaffordable housing and low incomes. Both are on: www.liberatormagazine.org.uk

 Also in this issue:

 How Green Was My Pact? Richmond Liberal Democrats struck a pact with the Greens and took control of the council in May. Was this too high a price to pay? Wendy Kyrle-Pope says it worked, while Theo Butt-Philip urges caution

 Firm But Unfair The royal family used its recent wedding to burnish its image, but ‘Operation Charlie’ will call them into question, says Sarah Green

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Tahir Maher

Artificial Intelligence and Liberty

By Tahir Maher | Wed 13th June 2018 - 2:30 pm

Last year a computer program used by a US court for risk assessment was biased against African/Caribbean prisoners. The program was much more prone to label these defendants to re-offend.  Again in 2016 Microsoft released its Chatbot Tay in Twitter to engage in conversation.  In less than a day Chatboy Tay began uttering racist and sexist comments. Facebook last year experimented by allowing two AIs to interact freely. They had to shut them down as they very quickly developed their own version of the English language.

Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) is coming. We are moving from automation to intelligent application to eventually super intelligent A.I. There seems to be no clear plan or any real risk assessment of super-intelligent A.I. and how we will, in the long run, interact with such A.I.

Computers will not become biased on their own. They will learn from us. Up to now, computer science algorithms have focused on machine learning, often having programs performing work we would do, collecting and analysing data, identifying patterns and automating processes. However, as A.I. is built by human beings who have implicit biases, even if you could design an A.I. algorithm to be entirely agnostic for a race, gender, and religion, they will, through interaction, learn from our experience and the world we live in.

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Tahir Maher

Interview with the new Chair of FCC – Geoff Payne – Part 3 of 3

By Tahir Maher | Wed 13th June 2018 - 12:30 pm

 

Do we need to have more radical fringe meetings – i.e. Invite more thought provoking / radical guests to fringe meetings;

Yes! I would love to see more radical fringe meetings.  Without wishing to be seen to cop out though, I should add that FCC is not directly responsible for running the fringe.  We make the rooms available and promote the opportunities to book but we are dependent on party members and other bodies coming forward with radical ideas.  I would like to see more fringe meetings focussed around controversial items on the agenda.

 

Do you feel the different number and variety of …

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Tahir Maher

Interview with the new Chair of FCC – Geoff Payne – Part 2 of 3

By Tahir Maher | Wed 13th June 2018 - 10:25 am

Geoff Payne

Repeatedly I hear from members that they want more policy motions to be discussed at the conference and to hear directly from more of the senior figures in the party

Given that we only have a finite amount of agenda time, there can be a tension between those two things!  I agree that those are the priorities of many of our members though.  People do enjoy speeches from spokespeople but they also attend to debate policy.  I am committed to wringing as many minutes as we can from the agenda.  That said, there are other important aspects of a conference such as the fringe and training.  The challenge we have is to balance the competing demands of them all

What will you do to encourage more AO’s and SAO’s to be at the party conferences especially as a lot of them are tight for funds

I completely understand the pressure on funds having chaired an SAO.  When I was Vice-Chair of FCC, I developed an agreement with many party bodies to enable more of them to take advantage of the concessionary party body rate for the exhibition and fringe.  We are going to continue that and are always interesting in hearing ideas about how we can make the experience better for them.  Many of them hold their Annual General Meetings at the conference and I really want to encourage that.  SAOs and AOs are part of the lifeblood of the party and they belong at the conference.

Do you have any plans to assist new members or members who have not attend a conference to attend?

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Kevin Lang

Obituary: George Grubb: The epitome of all that is best about the party

By Kevin Lang | Wed 13th June 2018 - 8:55 am

It is often said, rightly, that the Liberal Democrats are like a family. We share good times and bad. We sometimes quarrel and we frequently spend more time around each other than is healthy. It also means that, when we lose one of us, we feel it as intensely as losing a close relative.

That’s certainly how I and other Liberal Democrats feel at the loss of George Grubb. The first ever Liberal Democrat Lord Provost (mayor) of Edinburgh, George was not only a friend and mentor, he was an inspiration to me and so many other Liberal Democrats in the City.

He was the very epitome of all that is best about the party. A radical liberal at heart, it was quite something to hear George rail against institutions (even the monarchy) in the softest and most polite of tones. He devoted his life to helping others, first as a church minister and then as a local councillor. However for me, George was more than a role model. He was a good friend, a confidant and guide, who not only married my wife and I but oversaw the funeral of my grandmother.

Politically, George first stood for the party in 1999 for the “unwinnable” ward of Queensferry in west Edinburgh in order to “get some experience”. He found himself elected with a majority of 300. In fact, George is one of those rare liberals who stood for office and never actually lost an election!

George also broke the infamous ‘Queensferry curse’, where no party had managed to hold the ward beyond a single term for more than 20 years. Not only was he re-elected, he was returned with a thumping majority four years later and well over 50% of the vote.

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Tahir Maher

Interview with the new Chair of Federal Conference Committee – Geoff Payne – Part 1 of 3

By Tahir Maher | Wed 13th June 2018 - 7:30 am

Members at a conference
Congratulations on being elected the new FCC Chair

Thank you! It is a really exciting job to have; one of the very best in the party.

 

What changes do you think that Andrew Wiseman brought to the FCC as Chair?

Andrew was a great chair.  He steered us through the immediate pre-coalition period, though the years we were in government and then the period of re-building afterwards.  He oversaw increases in attendance, vast increases in commercial revenue from 2010 and more recently the attendance of huge numbers of new members at conference.  One of the most significant changes that he successfully navigated us through was the abolition of conference representatives and the move to one member, one vote.  He will be a very hard act to follow.

 

What attracted you to put yourself forward to be Chair of FCC as compared to another representative body of the LD?

The simple answer is that I love party conference.  We are unique in having a conference that actually makes the policy of the party.

Any member, from a person who joined just a few weeks ago, to the Leader can submit a motion to the conference and make a case for it being passed. All votes are equal.  Success depends on the power of argument and the strength of the idea.  The same goes for individual motions on particular issues, wide-ranging policy papers and indeed election manifestos.

The FCC plays an incredibly important role in refereeing conference, ensuring debates are fair and selecting an agenda that is interesting, varied and which contains things that members actually want to talk about.

We have a great committee comprised of members elected from across the party.  It is a real privilege to be its chair

 

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Caron Lindsay

EU Withdrawal Bill: This isn’t over yet

By Caron Lindsay | Tue 12th June 2018 - 9:49 pm

Anyone feeling a bit jaded after today’s events in Parliament?

I mean, honestly, you have at the start of the day a very smug Arron Banks blithely telling anyone who would listen that Leave.EU “led people up the garden path” (that’s lied to you and I).

A few hours later, at the other side of the Parliamentary Estate, MPs fail to adequately hold the Government to account on their atrocious, democracy-undermining, devolution-busting disaster of an EU Withdrawal Bill.

The day had started quite promisingly with the resignation of a Government Minister who then proceeded to buy the Govenrment’s concession and abstained …

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Money in Switzerland

By Joe Bourke | Tue 12th June 2018 - 3:39 pm

Switzerland’s system of direct democracy includes the right to submit a federal initiative and a referendum, both of which may overturn a parliamentary decision.
Last year they held a referendum on a Universal basic income and last Sunday they had one on re-establishing sovereignty over money creation as per this economist article https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2018/06/09/a-referendum-on-the-way-money-is-created.

The proposal would have brought an end to the fractional reserve banking system in Switzerland. The central bank would have become the only provider of Swiss francs in a full reserve system. In other words, commercial banks would no longer …

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Joe Otten

Justice minister Phillip Lee resigns over government handling of Brexit

By Joe Otten | Tue 12th June 2018 - 12:49 pm

Justice Minister, Dr Phillip Lee resigned this morning over the manner in which the government is pursuing Brexit.

In a statement on his website he says

The main reason for my taking this decision now is the Brexit process and the Government’s wish to limit Parliament’s role in contributing to the final outcome in a vote that takes place today.

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Graham Colley

Lewisham East – more news from the frontline

By Graham Colley | Mon 11th June 2018 - 11:27 am

Every by-election has a tipping point. You either have the momentum, or you do not. I know I was closely involved in the Bermondsey by-election, where we proved that one of Labour’s fiefdoms could be demolished by Liberal activism. I must tell you that this weekend the Leegate Centre had the buzz of a Party whose Liberal philosophy, which fights against Labour state control or Tory neoliberalism, is unstoppable.

Liberal Democrat activists were dedicated and inspired.

I spent Saturday afternoon on the doorstep in a former Conservative ward. I can tell you that most began as undecided but were happy to listen …

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David Thorpe

The decline of the high street: a liberal solution

By David Thorpe | Mon 11th June 2018 - 8:11 am

The death of the great British high street is an event rarely out of the popular press, and it has been so for a decade.

Mary Portas was appointed in a hail of publicity by David Cameron to find ways to save the high street as far back as 2011, nothing came of that and the problem has become much worse since the increase in business rates introduced last year, the creation of the national living wage and the dent to consumer sentiment caused by the UK’s vote to leave the European Union.

Now I quite like the national living wage announced …

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Caron Lindsay

Top of the Blogs: The Lib Dem Golden Dozen #519

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 10th June 2018 - 9:00 pm

Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 519th weekly round-up from the Lib Dem blogosphere … Featuring the five most popular stories beyond Lib Dem Voice according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (3 – 9 June, 2018), together with a hand-picked seven you might otherwise have missed.

Don’t forget: you can 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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Caron Lindsay

Celebrating 100 years of women having the vote – Processions 2018

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 10th June 2018 - 7:30 pm

Today, events have been taking place in the four capitals of the UK to celebrate 100 years since women got the vote.

Christine Jardine explained why she was taking part in the Edinburgh event.

I went to the Meadows in Edinburgh to take my place in the march. Without any forward planning, I managed to meet some friends of mine in a crowd of thousands.

So many people had made wonderfully creative banners. This was one of my favourites.

It wasn’t so much a march, but the creation of a living work of art. We were organised into lanes and we had to have either a white, green or purple scarf so that it would look impressive from above. But my friends are not ones to be enslaved by conformity. Oh no. Our Linda noticed that there were some spares and legged it across barriers to get us spare scarves of all three colours so we could shift between lanes seemlessly. So we started off as purple and finished as green.

Even Greyfriars Bobby was dressed up for the occasion.

The atmosphere was fantastic. People were high-fiving us and talking to us all the way along.

Across the country, Lewisham East candidate Lucy Salek took part in the London event.

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The Voice

Christine Jardine to cover foreign affairs during Jo Swinson’s maternity leave

By The Voice | Sun 10th June 2018 - 6:19 pm

Christine Jardine will be covering the Foreign Affairs brief during Jo Swinson’s imminent maternity leave and said she was glad of the chance to continue Jo’s work:

I am delighted to be trusted with this important role. It is an area in which I have always been interested in and I look forward to continuing Jo’s good work.

Jo knows her job is in good hands:

I’m delighted that Christine will be keeping my desk warm and I’m sure she will do a brilliant job making thoughtful interventions on foreign policy.

The forthcoming visit of Donald Trump will give Christine many opportunities to put …

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Caron Lindsay

Vince backs Wera Hobhouse’s bill to outlaw “Upskirting”

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 10th June 2018 - 1:30 pm

This week, Vince Cable met campaigner Gina Martin with her lawyer Ryan Whelan to give his support for Lib Dem MP Wera Hobhouse’s Bill to make the appalling practice of “upskirting” a specific criminal offence. This will ensure that victims will no longer be told by the Police that nothing can be done to deal with their complaints.
Wera’s Bill has its second reading this coming Friday.

Vince said:

Upskirting is a shameful crime which has already affected far too many women across England and Wales.

One woman who was affected was Gina Martin. I was fortunate

…

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Caron Lindsay

‘A definite buzz” in Lucy Salek’s Lewisham LIb Dem Campaign HQ

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 10th June 2018 - 11:30 am

Have you managed to get to Lewisham East yet?

If you are one of the party’s many thousands of members in London and you haven’t been yet, head down in the next few days to help Lucy Salek get the best result we can on Thursday.

There has been a pretty vigorous Lib Dem campaign. In just a month, Lucy has managed to get name recognition and has been out and about in the community. There have been a LOT of leaflets highlighting how the Liberal Democrats are committed to giving people the final say on the deal while Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party is giving the government a free pass to the most chaotic Brexit possible.

She had a former by-election winner with her this week:

Polling will take place in the wake of Tuesday night’s votes on the EU Withdrawal Bill so there will be nowhere for Labour to hide.

The New European soaks up the campaign atmosphere:

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NewsHound

LibLink: Jo Swinson: Seven steps you can take to fight Brexit

By NewsHound | Sun 10th June 2018 - 9:36 am

Jo Swinson has written for the New European on Brexit. In the style of her excellent book, Equal Power, she explains the problem and then gives you a whole list of things you can do about it.

We wake up to headlines every day which emphasise the many reasons why Brexit is a bad idea. As well as one of the key protagonists and funders of a Leave campaign having more contact with the authoritarian Russian Government than is seemly (for the avoidance of doubt, none would be seemly), the Government’s own papers suggesting we’d run out of …

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The Voice

Jenny Willott gets an OBE in the Birthday Honours

By The Voice | Sat 9th June 2018 - 1:21 pm

Former Liberal Democrat MP for Cardiff Central Jenny Willott has been awarded an OBE for political and public service in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list.

Jenny was a minister during the coalition years – an assistant whip and she covered Jo Swinson’s job at the Business, Innovation and Skills and as Equalities Minister when she was on maternity leave.

She and Jo were the first Lib Dem women to attend Cabinet.

Congratulations to Jenny.

Let us know of any other Lib Dems in receipt of honours in the comments.

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Ruth Bright

Cyril Smith: “Scurrilous hearsay?”

By Ruth Bright | Sat 9th June 2018 - 10:25 am

11 minutes and 19 seconds into Sunday’s final episode of “A Very English Scandal” Hugh Grant as Jeremy Thorpe spoke the immortal lines: “All that new blood coming through – Clement Freud, Cyril Smith. Exciting Times”.  Of course the lines are fictional but the point is well made. We now know a very great deal about those “exciting times” and how abusers hid in plain sight behind a 70’s larger than life, English eccentric, man of the people image.

All the more astonishing then that Lord Steel said on Monday’s Newsnight that the allegations against Smith were “so far scurrilous hear-say”. 

This when the CPS has already admitted that Smith should have been prosecuted in 1970 or again in 1998 and 1999. On September 16 2017 the Chief Executive of Rochdale Borough Council gave an apology to the victims. The late, great Liz MacKean’ s  extraordinarily moving Dispatches documentary from September 2013 is still available. MacKean hears from those who say they were abused by Smith. I defy anyone not to at least give those witnesses a hearing.

The Independent Inquiry into child sexual abuse (IICSA) issued its interim report about Rochdale on April 25. In no way shape or form does the interim report implicate any Liberal or Liberal Democrat figures in abuse conducted by Cyril Smith. But, terrifyingly, it makes it clear that it is very likely that Smith abused over many decades. It hears from those who say they were abused by Smith in the 90s at Knowl View School and is astonished by the decision to make him Chair of Governors in 1994. Smith’s abuse does not just relate to allegations in the 60s when he was a member of the Labour Party.

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Caron Lindsay

Vision, compassion and inspiration: Roger Roberts’ essential elements for immigration

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 9th June 2018 - 8:55 am

Roger Roberts spoke in the House of Lords this week on resettling vulnerable migrants and asylum seekers.

Here is his speech:

I appreciate very much the opportunity to take part in the debate introduced by my noble friend Lord Scriven. We all know that, ultimately, the answer lies in Syria and the Middle East, and somehow bringing together a new understanding there. The whole area is the victim of history. Countries like ours, France, Turkey and now Russia want to impose the most individually advantageous solutions on this part of the world. The United Nations appears impotent in the face of

…

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Newsmoggie

Friday fun: Can you tell what Christine Jardine thinks of Scottish Labour’s stance on Brexit?

By Newsmoggie | Fri 8th June 2018 - 2:55 pm

This week, Christine Jardine appeared on Politics Scotland. She didn’t seem that impressed with what Labour MP Paul Sweeney had to say. And she didn’t even say a word:

She took apart the Tories on their Brexit shambles though

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Michael Meadowcroft

Review: A very English Scandal

By Michael Meadowcroft | Fri 8th June 2018 - 1:30 pm

I was glued to the screen for the three instalments of “A Very English Scandal” – not least because I was at party headquarters during the later years of Jo Grimond’s leadership and am the last remaining active member of the small cabal that tried, somewhat quixotically, to prevent Jeremy Thorpe becoming leader in January 1967. I was also a party officer in the later stages of his leadership. Our opposition to Jeremy at the time had nothing whatever to do with his homosexuality, which simply did not figure in any discussion. It was entirely to do with his lack of political depth and his capricious authoritarianism which was difficult, and at times unpleasant, to accommodate. I was glad that there was coverage of Thorpe’s principled stand on anti-colonialism which was always commendable. A lot of the reminiscences since the film stress his undoubted communication skills and his showmanship but, alas, these are not key attributes of leader. Also, it is clear that there was the most remarkable compartmentalisation with the Norman Scott saga being contained entirely within the parliamentary party separate from the problems we had to cope with at headquarters. My obituary of Jeremy Thorpe can be found here. 

Taken as a whole the programmes covered the period well. There was inevitable compression of the material which sometimes gave a skewed perspective, and Russell Davies’ “dramatic licence” led him to treat some of the rumours and speculations of the period as facts. The one serious misrepresentation is that of Emlyn Hooson who is portrayed as a sly politician always seeking an opportunity to topple Thorpe in order to take over the leadership. He certainly wanted to be leader – he stood against Thorpe in January 1967 – but I know of no evidence that he took any action with a view to causing his resignation for selfish purposes. I went back over all my files and publications and there is no such indication in any of them. In fact, Emlyn’s leading role in discrediting Norman Scott at the now infamous meeting with Scott in February 1971 had the effect of entrenching Thorpe’s leadership. Emlyn was, in fact, a man of considerable intellect and principle.

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