Mark Pack

Meanwhile, in other news…

By Mark Pack | Thu 13th January 2011 - 9:10 pm

Let’s start with some updates on stories we’ve previously covered here on The Voice.

Conservative London Assembly member Brian Coleman has backed down from his attempt to ban questions to him at London Fire Authority meetings.

The Press Complaints Commission (PCC) is to investigate the Daily Telegraph, following complaints from Tim Farron and others that the newspaper had gone on a fishing expedition rather than having the sort of public interest case which justifies journalistic subterfuge. On the substantive policy issue at stake, Ofcom look set to recommend that the Sky bid should be referred to the Competition …

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Alex Marsh

Opinion: Should we be concerned about the Government’s attempted quangocide?

By Alex Marsh | Thu 13th January 2011 - 1:20 pm

Quangos – Quasi-autonomous non-governmental organisations – occupy a strange place in the British political landscape. They tend to proliferate because governments can’t resist seeing new commissions for this or advisory panels for that as essential, while rarely deciding that existing bodies have outlived their usefulness. Yet, the term “quango” inhabits the same discursive space as “bureaucracy”. There is an engrained association with waste, inefficiency, red tape and pointless interfering. In many people’s minds, and frequently in political rhetoric, “quango = bad” by definition. (For a discussion of a similar equation regarding bureaucracy, see here on my blog.) So, the …

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Posted in Op-eds and Parliament | Tagged , and | 7 Comments
Mark Pack

Clegg agrees to let more coalition differences show in public

By Mark Pack | Thu 13th January 2011 - 11:55 am

The degree to which ministers should let differences within the coalition shown in public was much debated in the second-half of the year, and I’ve blogged several times about the advantages of doing just that. So the latest news from Nick Clegg on this is very welcome:

The Liberal Democrats plan to air future disagreements with their Conservative partners in public as Nick Clegg attempts to assert a more distinctive identity for his party in a new phase for the coalition…

In a shift of tactics for the coalition, which was launched by the two party leaders in the Downing Street garden

…

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Ed Long

Opinion: fix our school system and stop uni-bashing

By Ed Long | Thu 13th January 2011 - 11:01 am

As a former constituent and activist in Bermondsey and Old Southwark I greatly enjoyed campaigning on behalf of Simon Hughes and have a lot of respect for his approach to policy and the hard work he puts in, especially meeting face to face with local voters and community groups. I was shocked, however, to read quotes from Simon on the front page of Saturday’s Guardian calling on universities to ‘cut intake’ from independent schools in order to match nationally ‘representative’ proportions: 7.2% was his quoted figure for the proportion of students we ought to aim at coming from an …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , , , and | 34 Comments
Helen Duffett

‘Cowley Street’ may not be ‘Cowley Street’ for long

By Helen Duffett | Thu 13th January 2011 - 9:53 am

Liberal Democrats HQ, Cowley Street
Photo credit: Loz Flowers on Flickr.

The Liberal Democrats are looking for new headquarters in Westminster, and plan to vacate their current offices at 4 Cowley Street.

From Property Week:

4 Cowley Street is a Grade II listed building which was originally constructed in 1905 as the London headquarters of the North Eastern Railway Company and provides just over 7,000 sq ft of offices.

A similar amount of space is being sought on a single floor and several properties have already been

…

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Posted in Party policy and internal matters | Tagged | 28 Comments
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Mark Pack

The email the party could have sent to members and supporters

By Mark Pack | Thu 13th January 2011 - 8:55 am

When doing my series of posts at Christmas about the party’s challenges for 2011 one issue I picked up on was using members and supporters as a campaigning resource:

The party is not exactly short of opponents to overcome when it comes to implementing Liberal Democrat beliefs in government, yet we are not using the party’s grassroots strengths to help win those struggles.

The Conservative Party is, to take one example, split on civil liberties. Many key figures take a similar view to the Liberal Democrats, yet there are also many opponents of what a Liberal Democrat majority government would

…

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Posted in Online politics and Op-eds | Tagged , , , and | 9 Comments
Paul Walter

PMQs: Who’d be a Prime Minister?

By Paul Walter | Wed 12th January 2011 - 11:11 pm

Prime Minister’s Question time is getting rather repetitive. But by hook and by crook, Ed Miliband is determinedly clawing his way forward. Today’s was quite an impressive performance from the Opposition leader. He is obviously doing his homework. He certainly gets an “E” for effort.

Cameron’s snarling responses continue rather gratuitously, albeit leavened with some good points.
Today’s session was dominated by banking. Miliband attacked Cameron for breaking promises on bankers’ pay, bank taxation and transparency. It is all Labour’s fault that the government can’t stop large RBS pay awards – they wrote the contract, riposted Cameron.

There then followed a points draw …

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Posted in PMQs | 29 Comments
Stephen Tall

Hmmm, Guido – forgotten to declare your interest?

By Stephen Tall | Wed 12th January 2011 - 7:55 pm

It’s rare for Paul Staines, the founder of the Guido Fawkes blog, to express warm and positive views — yet today’s an exception, with the launch of the No2AV campaign’s website winning his plaudits:

Promising stuff from the No2AV campaign as their website goes live today, plenty more to come too apparently.

Indeed, so excited was Paul that he completely omitted to declare his own interest in No2AV’s website. Instead we have to turn to The Guardian to find out that it was designed by MessageSpace, whose majority shareholder — the company’s website tells us — is “Global and …

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Stephen Tall

LDV survey: The new Lib Dem MPs who’ve impressed party members the most

By Stephen Tall | Wed 12th January 2011 - 7:18 pm

Lib Dem Voice has polled our members-only forum to discover what Lib Dem members think of various political issues, the Coalition, and the performance of key party figures. Over 660 party members have responded, and we’re currently publishing the full results.

LDV asked: Which of the newly elected Lib Dem MPs has genuinely impressed you to date?

Our sample of party members could tick as many (or few) of the 10 ‘newbie’ MPs as they liked. Here are the top five:

  • 45% – Julian Huppert, Cambridge
  • 17% – Tessa Munt, Wells
  • 17% – Duncan Hames, Chippenham

…

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Posted in LDV Members poll | Tagged , , , and | 7 Comments
The Voice

Vincent McKee suspended from the Liberal Democrats

By The Voice | Wed 12th January 2011 - 3:53 pm

Following today’s story on Sky News alleging that Dr Vincent McKee has committed fraud,

A Liberal Democrat spokesperson said:

With the support of the Federal party, the regional party launched an immediate investigation.

Mr McKee has been suspended from the party, pending the outcome of further investigations. The party will work with all other authorities involved in this matter.

Posted in News | Tagged and | 42 Comments
Helen Duffett

Eric Illsley to resign as MP before being sentenced

By Helen Duffett | Wed 12th January 2011 - 2:45 pm

From the BBC:

Eric Illsley is quitting as an MP after pleading guilty on Tuesday to dishonestly claiming parliamentary expenses.

The MP for Barnsley Central had come under pressure to step down after admitting £14,000 of expenses fraud.

Labour leader Ed Miliband was among those to urge Illsley, who has yet to be sentenced, to quit.

Illsley has apologised to his constituents, saying he “deeply regretted” his actions.

Illsley’s office issued this statement from him:

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Posted in News and Parliamentary by-elections | Tagged and | 8 Comments
Tom Paul

Opinion: Liberal Democrats should stop using the word ‘progressive’

By Tom Paul | Wed 12th January 2011 - 2:18 pm

The decline of Labour as a coherent intellectual force is one of the defining features of recent British politics. No doubt the next few years will see a healthy process within Labour to seek to heal the wounds and to re-focus. I suggest that under the banner of ‘progressivism’ this process has started.

2010 saw commentators for the first time in the UK judging political propositions on the basis of whether they are ‘progressive’ or not. Ed Miliband’s own analysis is that in government Labour “…lost that sense of progressive mission.” But what on earth does progressive mean? What kind of …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , and | 31 Comments
Mark Pack

The Royal Family, freedom of information and the rest of the story

By Mark Pack | Wed 12th January 2011 - 1:25 pm

At the weekend The Independent ran a piece very critical of the Liberal Democrats in government:

The Royal Family is to be granted absolute protection from public scrutiny in a controversial legal reform designed to draw a veil of secrecy over the affairs of the Queen, Prince Charles and Prince William.

Letters, emails and documents relating to the monarch, her heir and the second in line to the throne will no longer be disclosed even if they are in the public interest…

The decision to push through the changes also raises questions about the sincerity of the Liberal Democrats’ commitment to government transparency.

And …

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Ed Maxfield

Opinion: campaign spending – did the Lib Dems get it right?

By Ed Maxfield | Wed 12th January 2011 - 11:29 am

You can, famously, prove anything with statistics. But the figures for General Election expenditure, released by the Electoral Commission in December, raise some interesting questions for Lib Dem campaign managers.

It was an extraordinary election in many ways. The TV debates, Cleggmania,the economic crisis and the MPs expenses scandal. All of this perhaps made it a particularly difficult election for the party to manage. Marshalling scarce resources in an unpredictable environment is a tough challenge.

The Lib Dems were always going to be out-gunned on the national stage but did we allow ourselves to be out-gunned and out-manoeuvred …

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Mark Pack

Forgotten Liberal heroes: Margaret Wintringham

By Mark Pack | Wed 12th January 2011 - 10:25 am

Listen to Liberal Democrats make speeches and there are frequent references to historical figures, but drawn from a small cast. Just the quartet of John Stuart Mill, William Gladstone, David Lloyd George, David Penhaligon corner almost all of the market, especially since Bob Maclennan stopped making speeches to party conference. Some of the forgotten figures deserve their obscurity but others do not. Charles James Fox’s defence of civil liberties against a dominating government during wartime or Earl Grey’s leading of the party back into power and major constitutional reform are good examples of mostly forgotten figures who could …

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Johnny LeVan-Gilroy

Opinion: Alarm Clock Britain – identifying the vote is right, but reforming capabilities is key

By Johnny LeVan-Gilroy | Wed 12th January 2011 - 9:55 am

Yesterday the Deputy Prime Minister gave his pitch to a demographic which has played a pivotal part in many electoral successes. Underlining this, Nick Clegg sought to identify to the party’s base where he envisages the party’s best chance of strategically positioning itself for 2015 is.

It appears that a key factor Nick Clegg must have taken in account in drawing up ‘Alarm Clock Britain’ is which demographic Lib Dem policies will affect best. As well as this, underneath appears to be a coded message to the growing concerns within all parts of the party as to ‘where are the voters …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged | 26 Comments
Mark Pack

Party reviewing internal election rules: you have until 21 January to send in your views

By Mark Pack | Wed 12th January 2011 - 8:55 am

In November I blogged my suggestions for how the party’s internal election rules should be changed. In brief – fewer restrictions on candidates and voters being able to talk about the contests and who they support, more leeway for online campaigning and a series of steps to encourage more debate and discussion within the party about the elections and merits of candidates. The last point was fuelled by my experience of standing (successfully) for the Interim Peers Panel – and being asked almost no policy questions by voters in the process.

Following the federal committee, interim peers panel and …

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Posted in Party policy and internal matters | Tagged and | 4 Comments
Mark Pack

Control orders: BBC reports likely outcome of government review

By Mark Pack | Tue 11th January 2011 - 9:53 pm

The BBC that in place of control orders the government is intending to have powers to do the following:

ban suspects from travelling to locations such as open parks and thick walled buildings where surveillance is hard
allow suspects to use mobile phones and the internet but only if the numbers and details were given to the security services
ban suspects from travelling abroad
ban suspects from meeting certain named individuals, but limited to people who are themselves under surveillance or suspected of involvement in terrorism

Under the planned new orders, the security services would lose the power to impose overnight curfews, force suspects

…

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Posted in News | Tagged and | 12 Comments
Stephen Tall

Tuition fees: what Lib Dem members think now (3 of 3)

By Stephen Tall | Tue 11th January 2011 - 4:58 pm

Lib Dem Voice has polled our members-only forum to discover what Lib Dem members think of various political issues, the Coalition, and the performance of key party figures. Over 660 party members have responded, and we’re publishing the full results over the next few days.

It’s almost three months since Lib Dem Voice last asked party members what they thought about tuition fees. So we asked three questions to gauge members’ views now the dust has settled … a little.

Part I: Demonstrations against the fee rises
Part II: 51% to 49% backing for Coalition’s policy on tuition …

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Posted in LDV Members poll | 20 Comments
Stephen Tall

Tuition fees: what Lib Dem members think now (2 of 3)

By Stephen Tall | Tue 11th January 2011 - 12:28 pm

Lib Dem Voice has polled our members-only forum to discover what Lib Dem members think of various political issues, the Coalition, and the performance of key party figures. Over 660 party members have responded, and we’re publishing the full results over the next few days.

It’s almost three months since Lib Dem Voice last asked party members what they thought about tuition fees. So we asked three questions to gauge members’ views now the dust has settled … a little.

Part I: Demonstrations against the fee rises

Part II: 51% to 49% backing for Coalition’s policy on tuition fees

…

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Posted in LDV Members poll | 21 Comments
Helen Duffett

Eric Illsley MP pleads guilty to expenses fraud charges

By Helen Duffett | Tue 11th January 2011 - 11:52 am

From the BBC:

Former Labour MP Eric Illsley has admitted he fraudulently claimed more than £14,000 in parliamentary expenses.

He pleaded guilty to three false accounting charges over claims for council tax, maintenance, repairs and utility bills for his second home.

Illsley, appearing at Southwark Crown Court, previously denied all charges.

He was re-elected as Labour MP for Barnsley Central in May, but had the party whip withdrawn after being charged and now sits as an independent.

The hearing has been adjourned for four weeks, for a pre-sentence report. If Illsley receives a prison sentence of less than a year he may remain an MP, but if he is sentenced for longer, he will be disqualified from being an MP under the Representation of the People Act 1981.

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Mark Pack

Which Way’s Up? The long-term future of the coalition

By Mark Pack | Tue 11th January 2011 - 10:25 am

The rapid appearance since the formation of the Coalition of Conservative MP Nick Boles’s book Which Way’s Up? is a tribute to the speed with which Biteback turns round books – recognising that the previous slothful pace of much political publishing meant books were no longer able to capture the political weather. Boles’s book, by contrast, certainly does that and attracted immediate headlines about his support for a two-term coalition and for an electoral pact.

The heart of the book, however, is about policy rather than political tactics. Boles himself has long been a Conservative moderniser – “a Cameroon before …

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Posted in Books and Op-eds | Tagged , , and | 13 Comments
Mark Pack

Andrew Stunell reveals details of government plans to get empty homes put to use

By Mark Pack | Tue 11th January 2011 - 8:55 am

Liberal Democrat Communities Minister Andrew Stunell has been laying out details of how the Coalition Government is intending to get more empty homes put to use housing people. As the press release says:

Councils will receive powerful new incentives, with the coalition matching the council tax raised for every empty property brought back into use. Local authorities will be given the freedom to spend this money as they see fit. The government is also investing £100m in a fund for Housing Associations to bring empty homes back into use.

There are around 300,000 empty homes across the UK, and local residents are being encouraged to work with the council to identify where these homes are, so that their local community can start benefitting from the extra cash that can be used to improve their local area.

Andrew Stunell himself said,

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Stephen Tall

Tuition fees: what Lib Dem members think now (1 of 3)

By Stephen Tall | Tue 11th January 2011 - 8:25 am

Lib Dem Voice has polled our members-only forum to discover what Lib Dem members think of various political issues, the Coalition, and the performance of key party figures. Over 660 party members have responded, and we’re publishing the full results over the next few days.

It’s almost three months since Lib Dem Voice last asked party members what they thought about tuition fees. So we asked three questions to gauge members’ views now the dust has settled … a little.

Part I: Demonstrations against the fee rises

Lib Dem Voice asked our sample of party members: In the last few …

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Posted in LDV Members poll | 2 Comments
The Voice

Clegg points to “clear liberal direction” of government, as Lib Dems highlight Labour’s economic woes

By The Voice | Mon 10th January 2011 - 8:27 pm

Nick Clegg used a prime-time slot on this morning’s Today Programme to make clear his view that the public will take a “more rounded view” of the Lib Dems’ achievements in government by the next election. As BBC News reports:

said the effect of the spending cuts would be “difficult”, adding: “But I think at the same time there are signs that the repair job we are doing on the government finances and the general creation of greater confidence in the economy might also start showing itself as well.

“I think it will be a crucial year – a crucial year, yes, of some very challenging circumstances for millions of people in this country, but I hope the beginning of a real turnaround as we move forward and as we successfully implement the repair job on the economy.” …

Asked whether the Lib Dems had been unsuccessful in implementing their manifesto commitments since forming the coalition, he replied that they had gone into the arrangement with the Conservatives “with our eyes wide open”. He said policies such as electoral reform, raising the point at which people pay basic-rate income tax and introducing a “pupil premium” to help children from the worst-off families had been largely due to his party’s efforts. Mr Clegg added: “I think this shows a clear liberal direction to this government, on the whole.”

He said: “These are the big benefits in British life which I acknowledge in a sense don’t present themselves immediately to people. Over the course of this parliament I believe people will take a more rounded view of what this government is doing.”

You can listen to a brief excerpt from Nick’s interview here:

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Mark Pack

Brian Coleman: the secret shrinking violet

By Mark Pack | Mon 10th January 2011 - 8:03 pm

It’s not often that Conservative London Assembly Member Brian Coleman comes over as a shy, quiet, introverted man who likes to shun the public spotlight.

But I’m sure that’s why he is proposing to ban members of the London Fire Authority from asking him questions at future meetings. Nothing to do with wanting to avoid scrutiny for his actions, I’m sure.

Just as it was his shrinking violet nature that previously made him ban both questions and TV cameras from a meeting.

But a little unfortunate given the national Conservative Party’s frequent message about how important transparency and accountability is, don’t …

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Posted in News | Tagged , and | 3 Comments
Mark Pack

Another No2AV Labour MP turns out to be voting yes to fairer votes

By Mark Pack | Mon 10th January 2011 - 7:37 pm

Last week, Stephen highlighted the rather gaffe-prone No2AV campaign’s list of Labour MPs planning to vote No in May’s referendum on changing the voting system from first past the post to the alternative vote. It’s since turned out that five MPs were wrongly included in the list, with one – Barry Sherman – going as far as to say he was actually planning to go out and campaign for a Yes vote.

Today a second one of the supposed No supporters has turned out to also be campaigning for a Yes vote. This time it’s Albert Owen, MP for …

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Posted in News | Tagged , and | 4 Comments
Stephen Tall

LDV survey: 86% of Lib Dem members oppose any electoral pact with Tories

By Stephen Tall | Mon 10th January 2011 - 3:28 pm

Lib Dem Voice has polled our members-only forum to discover what Lib Dem members think of various political issues, the Coalition, and the performance of key party figures. Over 660 party members have responded, and we’re publishing the full results over the next few days.

Overwhelming ‘No!’ to Lib Dem-Tory electoral arrangement

LDV askd: There have been some suggestions that, if the Coalition holds until 2015, the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats should consider some form of electoral arrangement: perhaps the Conservatives might not stand against all Lib Dems and vice versa, or there could even be joint ‘Coalition candidates’. What …

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Posted in LDV Members poll | 33 Comments
Mark Pack

Control orders, tax exiles and extraordinary rendition: political vocabulary as messaging

By Mark Pack | Mon 10th January 2011 - 1:55 pm

“Control orders” could be called “secret detention directives”. “Tax exiles” could be called “tax fugitives”. “Extraordinary rendition” could be called “government-sponsored kidnapping”.

In all three cases a fairly benign phrase has been adopted by both sides of the debate, despite the phrase very much favouring one. Having a bit of order doesn’t instinctively sound too bad. Exile even has a whiff of the honourably martyr about it. And “extraordinary”? Well, that’s usually a good thing, isn’t it? Especially if we’re talking about “rendition”, i.e. a word that is well outside common usage.

Does it matter? Not if an issue is at the …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged | 4 Comments
Stephen Tall

LDV readers vote Aung San Suu Kyi your Liberal Voice of the Year

By Stephen Tall | Mon 10th January 2011 - 12:28 pm

Congratulations to Aung San Suu Kyi, who has won Liberal Democrat Voice’s fourth annual Liberal Voice of the Year award – an award which publicly acknowledges the campaigning work of non-Liberal Democrats in promoting liberal values.

She gained a plurality of votes, with 22%; the runner-up was Prime Minister David Cameron (assisted by some right-wing push-tweets), with 20%, followed by fellow Tory Ken Clarke, with 12%.

  • 22% (238 votes): Aung San Suu Kyi – for her courageous stand against political abuse in Burma
  • 20% (216): David Cameron – for his commitment to forming the Liberal-Conservative Coalition Government

…

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Posted in LDV Awards | Tagged and | 11 Comments
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