Liberal Democrat Voice

Clegg: I will survive

By NewsHound | Fri 30th May 2014 - 10:01 am

Read the exclusive interview with Nick Clegg on his 'tough week' and his election reaction only in tomorrow's Star pic.twitter.com/1QbK0ZTAEz

— The Star, Sheffield (@SheffieldStar) May 29, 2014

Posted in News | Tagged nick clegg | 40 Comments

Advert

Local and European campaign review

By James Gurling | Fri 30th May 2014 - 8:49 am

As Chair of the Party’s democratically-elected Campaigns & Communications Committee, Nick Clegg has asked me to conduct a review into the Local and European election campaign and result. I will be joined in doing this work for Nick by a small group comprised of Cllr. Abi Bell of Hull City Council, Cllr Ruth Dombey – Leader of Sutton Borough Council, and George Lyon – former MEP for Scotland.

I have spoken to Nick and we have agreed that this review will be a full …

Posted in Campaign Corner, News and Party policy and internal matters | 51 Comments

Lord Rennard issues apology to four women: “regret for any harm or embarrassment caused to them”

By The Voice | Fri 30th May 2014 - 7:41 am

Channel 4 News last night revealed that Lib Dem peer and former chief executive Lord (Chris) Rennard has issued a written apology to four of the women who accused him of sexual impropriety. You can read it in full below.

Read the Lord Rennard Letter in full by Channel4News

Posted in News | Tagged alistair webster and chris rennard | 37 Comments

Kirsty Williams AM writes… Welsh Liberal Democrats oppose Labour’s e-cigarette ban

By Kirsty Williams AM | Thu 29th May 2014 - 4:52 pm

As a liberal I’m deeply sceptical of knee-jerk reactions to issues of public importance, especially when there’s a severe lack of evidence to support your claim. This was a view I thought I shared with the Welsh Labour Health Minister, Mark Drakeford, after he said in the debate on my minimum nurse staffing levels bill that “in pursuing public policy, legislation should almost always be a last, rather than a first resort.”

You can imagine my surprise, therefore, when the Welsh Labour Government announced plans to ban the use of electronic cigarettes in public places, along the same lines as the current smoking ban.

I called Welsh Labour’s plans into question as I led a debate in the Senedd on this matter earlier this month, asking the Health Minister to produce the evidence that he had to support this ban. Despite assuring me and other Assembly Members that there was “mounting evidence” which he’d make available to me “immediately after the debate”, it was two weeks until I received anything from him. This amounted to one single paper.

I’d hardly call that “mounting evidence”.

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged e-cigarettes, featured, Wales, welsh labour party and welsh liberal democrats | 42 Comments

Tim Pickstone: This is a rough time, but we need to get back out on the doorsteps this Summer

By The Voice | Thu 29th May 2014 - 2:45 pm

We’ve been searching for inspiring and helpful post-election emails this week. We covered Willie Rennie’s and Maajid Nawaz’s earlier. Here is what ALDC Chief Executive Tim Pickstone sent to members:

This has been, and remains, a tough few days to be a Liberal Democrat.

Losing elections is always tough. But in the last few days every single one of us has lost an election, and a good number of us have lost two.

Again we have had to lose too many hard working Liberal Democrat councillors. In too many cases now wards which were hard fought and won over many years or decades no longer have Lib Dem representation. There are council groups who have played a huge role in our Lib Dem family that either don’t exist now, or are down to a handful of members. Our MEP team that played such a huge role in our success across Britain are no longer with us bar one.

I know just how hard so many people worked and still didn’t win. I know many people will be feeling rough and we need to support each other.

We should, of course, congratulate the 407 Liberal Democrat Councillors (plus one Mayor and one MEP) who have won seats on Thursday. The vast majority of you are ALDC members. Winning anywhere is an achievement in current circumstances. so very well done.

Posted in News | Tagged aldc, local elections 2014 and tim pickstone | 27 Comments

Advert

Nick Clegg announces review into local and Euro election campaigns

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 29th May 2014 - 1:30 pm

On his weekly phone-in today, Nick Clegg announced that the Chair of the party’s Campaigns and Communications Committee, James Gurling, would lead a review into our election campaign and strategy which would take advice from a wide range of party members in all parts of the country where we did well and where we did badly.

I was very keen that the grassroots should be able to contribute to this and James Gurling replied to me on Twitter to say that this would be the case:

Posted in News | Tagged call clegg, internal party organisation, james gurling and nick clegg | 65 Comments

Before learning lessons from Ukip’s success, we first have to put that success in perspective

By Nick T | Thu 29th May 2014 - 12:19 pm

My LDV colleague Joe Otten yesterday kicked off what we hope will be a little mini series reflecting on the success of Ukip (and other extreme right parties across Europe) in last week’s European elections.

I agree with Joe that is something we should discuss with some seriousness – and I look forward to reading your contributions in the comments and in posts on the site.

But I think before we start to “learn lessons” we have to put the vote in some context.

It is difficult to think of conditions that could …

Posted in News | Tagged david aaronovitch, europe and ukip | 80 Comments

Liz Lynne to stand for Party President

By Liz Lynne | Thu 29th May 2014 - 11:01 am

After being asked by many people from different parts of our party, I have decided to stand to be Party President.

These last four years have been tough and no more so than in the last week. We have seen too many good friends and colleagues defeated as councillors and most recently as MEPs. I know what that feels like. I fought my first parliamentary seat in Harwich for the Liberal/SDP Alliance in 1987 and came second. I then went on to win the seat of Rochdale in 1992. Sadly, I narrowly lost in Tony Blair’s 1997 General Election landslide following boundary changes. I look back with pride on what I achieved in Parliament as our spokesperson on Health and then Social Security, including representing disabled people in the fight for equal rights.

Posted in News and Party Presidency | 24 Comments

Opinion: Lessons from the Netherlands on Lib Dem strategy

By Henk van Klaveren | Thu 29th May 2014 - 9:36 am

A few months after the UK Coalition Government formed in 2010, the Dutch Christian Democrats (CDA) formed a minority government with our sister party, the liberal VVD. To get a majority agreement, the VVD-CDA coalition made a confidence and supply agreement with right-wing Geert Wilders and his Freedom Party (PVV), which set out a number of policy concession to Wilders, e.g. on immigration. That was a decision with huge impact: the PVV was about as toxic as it could get for many CDA and VVD supporters. The fall-out …

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged coalition, holland, Mark Rutte and vvd | 53 Comments

How to rally your team in the wake of defeat

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 28th May 2014 - 10:00 pm

The north London wipeout in the local elections meant that the Camden team were decimated. Only one councillor remained in the borough. Maajid Nawaz, their PPC sent them an email in which he grieved with them and looked forward to better days, immediately taking tangible action to motivate them again.

Here are some highlights:

When I was first selected as your candidate, I had little clue how our local party machinery works. I had little appreciation for why you took such pride in your achievements

…

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged camden and maajid nawaz | 38 Comments

Was the LibDemVoice poll on Nick Clegg’s leadership a fix? #QTWTAIN

By Stephen Tall | Wed 28th May 2014 - 9:00 pm

(#QTWTAIN = Question To Which The Answer Is No, an abbreviation made famous by the Independent’s John Rentoul)

I decided weeks ago that, come what may, LibDemVoice needed to carry out a survey of party members immediately after the local and European election results were declared asking what people thought about Nick Clegg’s leadership.

I reckoned the election results wouldn’t be pretty and that there was a good chance the result of our members’ survey could be deeply unhelpful to the leadership. But I thought it important members were given a say sooner rather than later. So, as the Euro results came in, I drafted some questions, circulated them to the team for comment, revised them – and at 1am on Mon 26th May the emails started being sent out.

A handful of people who want Nick Clegg to stay thought I was being reckless and told me so. A handful of people who want Nick Clegg to go thought the survey was a fix to shore up his position and told me so. It was neither.

Posted in LDV Members poll | 44 Comments

Opinion: From a Lurker

By Helen Quenet | Wed 28th May 2014 - 7:00 pm

Watching the election coverage last week was painfully gut wrenching. My only involvement had been to cast my vote, as I have done all my adult life for the Lib Dems. I can only imagine the hurt and despair of those of you who have been eating and sleeping that campaign, put body and soul into them and been confronted with those results.

I wasn’t always a lurker, I was an active member as a student at Birmingham University …

Posted in News | 35 Comments

Opinion: The final frontier of the electorate

By Guy Russo | Wed 28th May 2014 - 6:30 pm

At the core of the problems we’ve faced over the last few days is the daunting realisation that something has to change. But in the ensuing skirmish over what to change, it has become apparent that it is not the leadership. The #libdems4change movement has not provided a political coup in the party. But it has provided a mental one, a revolution of hearts and minds. Not towards a new way of thinking, but towards a new vigour in pursuing our cause. In many ways, it had to happen.

I …

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged internet and political campaigning | 12 Comments

Opinion: Why I joined the Liberal Democrat Phoenix, not the Liberal Democrat Titanic

By Wayne Chadburn | Wed 28th May 2014 - 5:49 pm

No-one can deny that this has been a horrible week electorally for the Liberal Democrats. It might also be argued that to join the Liberal Democrats at this time is akin to landing on the Titanic prior to it hitting the iceberg. At least that is what has been said to me but to no avail. A few weeks ago I resigned my membership of the Labour party and joined the Liberal Democrats. Whilst the events of the last few days have saddened me and caused me considerable angst, not for …

Posted in Op-eds | 35 Comments

Opinion: Setting the record straight

By Helen Flynn | Wed 28th May 2014 - 4:48 pm

I was misquoted on BBC radio 4 on Monday. They said I had asked for Nick Clegg’s resignation. Would that it were as simple as asking for a leader to resign–as if that would change everything. But it isn’t. And I don’t feel in any way that I am being evasive or woolly by not asking for a change of leadership. What I am asking for is a root and branch review of our campaign strategy.

Let’s examine the facts.

We have just suffered a disastrous set …

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged future party, leadership and radio 4 | 24 Comments

Opinion: What does the evidence tell us about our strategy should be?

By David Howarth | Wed 28th May 2014 - 3:40 pm

As a party committed to evidence-based policy, we should be asking what the evidence tells us about the questions of strategy and leadership we now face. The discussion is currently impressionistic and getting fixated on the past. We need instead to stick to the evidence and to what it suggests we should do in the future. There are many examples one could give about the leadership issue, but here is one about strategy.

Nick Clegg has explained the party’s strategy like this: ”

We said in 2010 we were going

…

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged coalition, economy and party strategy | 56 Comments

Opinion: We need discipline and compromise from both leadership and members

By Paul Rowen | Wed 28th May 2014 - 2:42 pm

Last week’s local and European elections were truly awful.

Those of us who joined the Liberal Party back in the dark days of the 1970s remember the many false dawns and disappointments that followed local and General Elections.

We built our base bite by bite from the bottom up and fighting Labour it was tooth and nail.

The loss of all our Councillors in Manchester or seeing Liverpool reduced to just three Councillors or in my own Rochdale where we have gone from 33 to …

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged european elections 2014, leadership, lynne featherstone and nick clegg | 54 Comments

Opinion: No more casual flings

By Simon de Deney | Wed 28th May 2014 - 1:46 pm

One of our candidates, telling last Thursday, was told by his Green party counterpart that this particular ward, Clissold, was the Green Party’s one target in the whole of London. They had volunteers coming to Hackney from places as far flung as Orpington and Grimsby. So, how did they do? Well, they didn’t beat Labour, but they pushed us into third place. Clearly where they work, they win. Well, come second, anyway.

Only here’s the thing. Apart from the one ward, Cazenove, in which we kept all our councillors, the Green …

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged day of light, future party strategy and hackney | 28 Comments

Opinion: I’m fed up with process stories. Let’s work out how to win in 2015

By Allan Knox | Wed 28th May 2014 - 12:55 pm

Dear Liberal Democrats on Twitter, Facebook and Liberal Democrat Voice,

I am tired of process stories.

I don’t need another analysis of Annette Brookes’ email, Nick saying where we work we win, Lib Dems 4 Change setting up a website on 22 May or Matthew Oakshotte’s self-indulgent polling.

The simple truth is this. In the euro elections we lost 10 out of 11 seats and got 6% of the vote, the same as in 1989 when we had all just discovered we were Democrats. In addition we lost a wealth of MEP …

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged future party strategy and general election 2015 | 21 Comments

++Breaking: Lord Oakeshott resigns from the Liberal Democrats

By The Voice | Wed 28th May 2014 - 12:30 pm

The Guardian reports that Lord Oakeshott has dramatically resigned from the Liberal Democrats. Here is his resignation statement:

I am today taking leave of absence from the House of Lords and resigning as a member of the Liberal Democrats. I am sure the Party is heading for disaster if it keeps Nick Clegg; and I must not get in the way of the many brave Liberal Democrats fighting for change.

I leave, with a heavy heart, the party I helped to found with such high hopes

…

Posted in News | Tagged Lord oakeshott and vince cable | 95 Comments

Appeasement or Opposition?

By Joe Otten | Wed 28th May 2014 - 11:35 am

Nothing is more annoying, said one voter on the radio, than mainstream politicians telling us why we voted UKIP.

But at risk of causing further annoyance, it is important to try to understand the UKIP vote, what it represents, and to what extent it is right to respond with appeasement, like Labour’s Sadiq Khan, and many others of left and right, or opposition. To be fair to Khan, despite the apology, he largely makes the same arguments Labour have been making for years.

Uniting the issues of immigration, Europe, and …

Posted in News | Tagged europe, featured and ukip | 39 Comments

A day of light and ideas

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 28th May 2014 - 9:51 am

These last five days have been among the worst I have known in my almost 31 years of being a part of this wonderful party. I’d pretty much prepared myself for winning only a couple of MEPs. Even those limited ambitions proved to be wildly optimistic. Seeing massive Labour fiefdoms recreated in London and Manchester. t’s been bruising, brutal and fraught. Seeing friends and colleagues lose their jobs and seats through no fault of their own is heartbreaking. And to lose them to wrecking, scapegoating UKIP types …

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged day of light, european elections 2014 and local elections 2014 | 52 Comments

Mark Pack’s verdict on those ICM polls: “not sensible figures for anyone to draw a conclusion from”

By Stephen Tall | Wed 28th May 2014 - 9:20 am

My former co-editor here at LibDemVoice, Mark Pack, has been taking a detailed look in his latest Liberal Democrat Newswire at those ICM constituency polls commissioned by Lord Oakeshott. Here’s his take on them:

It’s not only the attempted anonymous funding of the polls that’s questionable. So too is the way they were worded. Even reputable pollsters such as ICM given their clients some discretion over question wording, and in this case it was a matter of misleading by omission rather than an outrageously worded question in its own right.

The

…

Posted in News | Tagged icm, Lord oakeshott and Mark Pack | 32 Comments

STV stages for a potential replacement leader

By Ryan Cullen | Wed 28th May 2014 - 12:31 am

Yesterday LibDemVoice published the results of the members survey carried out over the last two days, as we reported then we would be making the full results of the final question available. Below is the breakdown for each of the 42 stages, and if you are really interest you can download the ballot file to run through your favourite STV counter (mine is OpenSTV, but it’s chargable) eliminating candidates if you so wish.

Posted in LDV Members poll | 21 Comments

LDVideo: Nick Clegg – It’s time to come together and focus on 2015

By The Voice | Tue 27th May 2014 - 8:07 pm

Nick Clegg has recorded the following video, which has just been emailed to party members:

Posted in News | Tagged european elections 2014, local election results 2014 and nick clegg | 58 Comments

Cable: “Lord Oakeshott’s actions are totally inexcusable”

By The Voice | Tue 27th May 2014 - 5:57 pm

Business secretary Vince Cable has released the following statement in the last few moments:

Lord Oakeshott’s actions are totally inexcusable and unacceptable. I have made it very clear repeatedly that he does not speak or act for me.

Commissioning and publishing polls without the consent of the Member of Parliament, as in the case of Sheffield Hallam, is utterly reprehensible.

There are undoubtedly raw feelings in the wake of poor local and European election results. We need to respond in a measured way. Public speculation about the leadership is an unwelcome distraction and as I made absolutely clear yesterday there is no leadership issue as far as I’m concerned.

Posted in News | Tagged matthew oakeshott and vince cable | 51 Comments

Opinion: A change of leader will make no difference. A change of heart and pride just might.

By Ben Nicholls | Tue 27th May 2014 - 5:33 pm

As a young, recently-selected Lib Dem candidate for next year’s general election and in a winnable marginal seat, I’m rather more interested in what my fellow voters think – over 70,000 of them in my area – than a small number of disaffected Party members looking for a scapegoat after recent election results.

Standing in an area which includes smart middle-class patches as well as tougher urban ones, I’ve spent the past few weeks meeting hundreds of constituents. The words ‘Nick Clegg’ have been mentioned about three times. Nobody I’ve met really seems to mind who the leader is. They DO mind that the Lib Dems are no longer clear enough about what we stand for and that we once appeared human but increasingly sound like political robots.

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged coalition and romsey and southampton north | 36 Comments

EXCLUSIVE POLL: 54% of Lib Dem members want Nick Clegg to stay as leader

By Stephen Tall | Tue 27th May 2014 - 4:44 pm

Lib Dem Voice has polled our members-only forum to discover what Lib Dem members think about the performance of the Lib Dems and party leader Nick Clegg at the most recent set of local and European elections. 992 party members responded – thank you – and we’re publishing the full results today.

Here’s the summary – full results below – of what our survey of Lib Dem members thinks:

54% want Nick Clegg to stay as leader; 39% want him to stand down
Among the 39% who want Nick Clegg to stand down opinion is divided whether he should stay as Deputy Prime Minister (34%); whether his successor should become Deputy Prime Minister (35%); or whether the Lib Dems should withdraw from Coalition (27%)
51% are satisfied with Nick Clegg’s performance as party leader; 48% are dissatisfied
By 81% to 16% Lib Dem members support the Lib Dems being in Coalition with the Conservatives
Almost one-half (48%) think the Lib Dems European election campaign “was the right message, but communicated poorly”
Tim Farron is the first choice of leader in the event of a vacancy

Personal commentary from Stephen Tall:

Posted in LDV Members poll | 125 Comments

++Breaking news: Matthew Oakeshott commissioned the Guardian poll

By Mary Reid | Tue 27th May 2014 - 4:21 pm

The Independent has revealed that Matthew Oakeshott was the ‘Lib Dem supporter’ behind the ICM polling which we covered here.

In an article headed ‘Vince Cable allies accused of plotting to bring down Nick Clegg‘ it claims:

Lord Oakeshott has been a close friend of Mr Cable for many years and has made no secret of his desire to see the Business Secretary succeed Mr Clegg.

Posted in News | Tagged matthew oakeshott | 55 Comments

Bobby Dean MP writes: The resilient state

Sarah Olney bids to become candidate for Mayor of London

Going for four in a row in Scotland

Observations of an Expat: Canada

Clegg: I will survive

Local and European campaign review

Lord Rennard issues apology to four women: “regret for any harm or embarrassment caused to them”

Kirsty Williams AM writes… Welsh Liberal Democrats oppose Labour’s e-cigarette ban

Tim Pickstone: This is a rough time, but we need to get back out on the doorsteps this Summer

Nick Clegg announces review into local and Euro election campaigns

Before learning lessons from Ukip’s success, we first have to put that success in perspective

Liz Lynne to stand for Party President

Opinion: Lessons from the Netherlands on Lib Dem strategy

How to rally your team in the wake of defeat

Was the LibDemVoice poll on Nick Clegg’s leadership a fix? #QTWTAIN

Opinion: From a Lurker

Opinion: The final frontier of the electorate

Opinion: Why I joined the Liberal Democrat Phoenix, not the Liberal Democrat Titanic

Opinion: Setting the record straight

Opinion: What does the evidence tell us about our strategy should be?

Opinion: We need discipline and compromise from both leadership and members

Opinion: No more casual flings

Opinion: I’m fed up with process stories. Let’s work out how to win in 2015

++Breaking: Lord Oakeshott resigns from the Liberal Democrats

Appeasement or Opposition?

A day of light and ideas

Mark Pack’s verdict on those ICM polls: “not sensible figures for anyone to draw a conclusion from”

STV stages for a potential replacement leader

LDVideo: Nick Clegg – It’s time to come together and focus on 2015

Cable: “Lord Oakeshott’s actions are totally inexcusable”

Opinion: A change of leader will make no difference. A change of heart and pride just might.

EXCLUSIVE POLL: 54% of Lib Dem members want Nick Clegg to stay as leader

++Breaking news: Matthew Oakeshott commissioned the Guardian poll

Most Read

Op-eds

Recent Comments

Bobby Dean MP writes: The resilient state

Sarah Olney bids to become candidate for Mayor of London

Going for four in a row in Scotland

Observations of an Expat: Canada

Subscribe

Most Read

Search

Op-eds

Recent Comments