Today is the deadline for nominations for the Party Presidential contest, for the various Federal committees and for the ALDE Party Council delegation so, if you haven’t got your forms and artwork in, time is running out (the deadline is 5 p.m., just to save you looking it up).
As far as we know, there remain six candidates for the Party Presidency, and you can click on each name to see their initial statement.
And, for a view on what the Party Presidency entails, here are my thoughts from February…
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5 Comments
From what I’ve read so far, it has to be Christine for me.
Mark Pack First Preference Vote for President (providing he does not stand for MP)
Richard Kemp to be MP in Liverpool
Luciana Berger to be MP in Finchley
What worries me about the position of Party President is something that was brought up in the comments to Mark’s thoughts in February. Obviously, an MP (or a Peer) has a financial advantage over an ordinary Party member in that they are paid by Parliament. There was the suggestion that there should be a President’s Fund to level the playing field by covering the expenses incurred in being President and I wonder whether this was given any consideration by TPTB.
As it happens, I think that both Ros and Sal did a very good job as President, but I would not want this to be seen as a fief for national politicians (and certainly not as a staging point on the way to Party Leader as more than one previous President has done).
Richard Underhill:
Please explain your thinking. Do you think the Party President should not be and elected representative? If so, why?
My own thinking had been the reverse and that a position as Party President could provide additional recognition in an election campaign. I am suggesting this is a significant secondary factor rather than a primary factor.
@Martin. We are not short of talented spokespeople and, in an election period, the amount of broadcast coverage we get is limited anyway.
The primary role of the President, even if it isn’t the most visible part, is organisational: chairing the Federal Board, acting as line manager to the Chief Exec etc.