The news that Alex Carlile is going to sit as a crossbench peer rather than a Liberal Democrat is perhaps not surprising. His views on civil liberties and his passionate advocacy for the state to have greater surveillance powers often put him at odds not just with the Lords group but with the wider party. PoliticsHome says:
Lord Carlile felt the party “was not taking a strong enough line in support of surveillance,” a senior Lib Dem source told PoliticsHome.
“He was unhappy with our stance on the Snooper’s Charter,” the source added. “We made a big thing about voting against the Data Communications Bill and he didn’t like that at all.”
A Lib Dem spokesperson said: “We are disappointed but not surprised at Lord Carlile’s decision.
“He has been at odds with party policy on a number of occasions in recent years, especially over civil liberties.
“We are grateful for his years of service to the party and wish him well in future. “
Why now, though? Nothing has really changed. He’s had these views for a very long time and the party has opposed them for a very long time. I have certainly thought for some time that it would be better if he was a cross bencher but I didn’t have any expectation that it would happen. In fact, for even voicing such an opinion, I was accused of “grisly soviet intolerance” by the Noble Lord in the comments to that article.