Tag Archives: ed davey

Caron Lindsay

Ed Davey: The Conservatives can be beaten anywhere

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 19th December 2021 - 2:03 pm

You have to hand it to Ed Davey. The poor man has had Covid since Monday but he hasn’t let it stop him contributing to and celebrating our historic by-election victory in North Shropshire.

He might have been stuck indoors but he maraphoned like a trooper.

Perhaps the only benefit of his self isolation is that he is unlikely now to get a Council Tax Bill from Shropsire Council given how much time he has spent there in the past month.

Covid is not much fun, even when you are fully vaccinated and boostered as Ed is, but he has stepped up to …

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Caron Lindsay

North Shropshire: It wasn’t too good to be true after all!

By Caron Lindsay | Fri 17th December 2021 - 8:16 pm

A few minutes ago, I had that very satisfying feeling of adding Helen Morgan to my Twitter lists of Lib Dem MPs and Lib Dem Parliamentarians. A wee thing, but an immensely satisfying moment.

I am not at my best at the moment. It turns out that I’m not as good as I used to be at this staying up till 4:40 am then doing a day’s work malarkey. But I can’t stop smiling. This has been a very good day.

And that bursting of the Boris bubble made me smile. I enjoyed it much more than the Blue Wall bashing from June.

Exactly 6 months ago, hundreds of Lib Dems were wandering around Chesham and Amersham on a Summer’s evening trying to turn people out to vote. I was taking part in the phone knock-up. In a few hours’ time, we would welcome Sarah Green as our 12th MP. Even in our moment of glory after that, if you had told us that within 6 months, we’d be welcoming Helen Morgan as our 13th after winning North Shropshire, we’d have laughed.

When Owen Paterson announced his resignation on 4th November, the party had some decisions to take about how to approach this by-election. Within two days, we had leafletted half the constituency with a very clear message setting out that we were the challengers. Establishing yourself in that position is key. We knew that the local party was totally up for a fight and that was a key part of the decision to start looking for kitchen sinks.

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Caron Lindsay

How will you help Helen win North Shropshire tomorrow?

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 15th December 2021 - 9:43 pm

I’ve not long finished hosting the eve of poll Maraphone for Helen Morgan in North Shropshire. It was a busy night – breakout rooms and everything. And it took Eastbourne PPC Josh Babarinde a whole hour to find anyone who would admit to voting Conservative tomorrow.

And what was absolutely amazing was that Ed Davey came along and joined us for a while. The indefatigable campaigner wasn’t going to let a wee tussle with Omicron get him down. He has been to North Shropshire so often they will probably send him a Council Tax bill and he is clearly gutted that he can’t be there tomorrow. But to come and hit the phones despite feeling poorly is above and beyond the call of duty.

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Mark Valladares

8 December 2021 – today’s press releases

By Mark Valladares | Wed 8th December 2021 - 10:30 pm
  • PM press conference: Inquiry must look into all Downing Street parties
  • Covid pass app crashes days before vaccine passports introduced

PM press conference: Inquiry must look into all Downing Street parties

Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey has called for the Cabinet Office inquiry to be extended into all parties that took place in Number 10 last year, along with any that took place in other government departments.

It comes after Boris Johnson confirmed at a press conference today that he has only asked Cabinet Secretary Simon Case to look into the party that took place on December 18 last year, not an earlier gathering …

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Mark Valladares

7 December 2021 – today’s press releases

By Mark Valladares | Tue 7th December 2021 - 11:40 pm
  • Davey: PM must fess up over Xmas party
  • Williamson party: Met Police must investigate

Davey: PM must fess up over Xmas party

Responding to a new leaked video which shows the Prime Minister’s former press secretary joking about a party in Downing Street last Christmas, Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey MP said:

People will rightly be furious with Boris Johnson, not just for holding a party during lockdown, but also for refusing to own up to it. Once again he shows it’s one rule for us and one rule for him, with the Conservatives continuing to take people for granted.

Whilst millions

…

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NewsHound

Ed Davey says Lib Dems challenging Tories hard in North Shropshire

By NewsHound | Sun 5th December 2021 - 10:31 am

With just 12 days to go before the by-election, called after Owen Paterson resigned amid allegations that he had used his parliamentary position to lobby for companies that paid him, Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey spoke to BBC Midlands Today yesterday from Oswestry.

We are getting a sense that it is very close between us and the Conservatives. We are clearly challenging them very hard and Helen Morgan, our candidate, is going on really well. We are focussing on the issues people really care about like ambulance waiting times. Frankly, people feel taken for granted by the Conservatives. So, we

…

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NewsHound

Ed Davey says Tories show utter disregard for small businesses and calls for tax cut

By NewsHound | Sat 4th December 2021 - 7:35 am

It is Small Business Saturday. Writing in City AM, Lib Dem leader Ed Davey says the Peppa Pig episode showed that Boris Johnson does not take the business community seriously. He says small businesses need help fast and calls for tax cuts which would benefit the smallest companies by an average of £5,000 each. He also wants the Employment Allowance to be quadrupled to £16,000, allowing a small business to employ five people without national insurance contributions.

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NewsHound

Ed Davey: Sajid Javid care package for unpaid carers “insulting”

By NewsHound | Fri 3rd December 2021 - 11:40 am

Cash for unpaid carers amounts to 87p a year, Ed Davey told the Independent yesterday. This comment followed the publication of the government’s long delayed white paper on reforming funding for social care.

Ed Davey said that the funding on offer over a three-year period was an “insulting” response to the sacrifices made by millions of people who have cared for disabled or ill family members and other loved ones during the pandemic. They are now at “breaking point” after months without respite.

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Caron Lindsay

Ed Davey challenges Boris Johnson to do more for farmers

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 1st December 2021 - 8:30 pm

Ed Davey took the opportunity at Prime Minister’s Questions today to challenge the Prime Minister to do more to support farmers. He mentioned three places in particular. Feel free to take a wild guess about which parliamentary constituency they are in.*

Farmers across our country are crucial to our nation’s prosperity, as has been shown, once again through the pandemic, but many are now on the brink. Farmers across the country, in villages such as Hodnet, Baschurch and Woodseaves and countless others, are about to see their payments cut by at least 5%, starting this very month. The Prime Minister promised a new support system, rewarding more sustainable farming, but in the meantime he seems prepared to see many British farms go bankrupt. There is an easy solution: stop cutting the current system’s essential payments until the new scheme is fully rolled out. Will the Prime Minister do that, and help our struggling farmers before it is too late?

The Prime Minister’s response will be of very little comfort to farmers who are struggling.

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Caron Lindsay

Momentum builds for Lib Dems in N Shropshire as Ed Davey visits again…

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 21st November 2021 - 12:46 pm

So the Lib Dems are certainly dominating with tweets on North Srhopshire and also with campaigning on the ground.

The campaign is really taking off as party members from all over the country visit. If, like me, you can’t travel at the moment, see under the cut for details of how you can be part of this.

There won’t be many from further away than Alistair Carmichael who has been in Wem this weekend instead of at home in Orkney.

This has all the hallmarks of the Great Lib Dem By-Election campaigns. It’s hard work and lots of fun!

And Ed Davey is enjoying himself, he’s back for his third visit in two weeks:

He spoke to the local paper, telling them:

When I am talking to people on their doorsteps I would think about a third of them are telling me about problems they had faced themselves.

I have been told of eight to nine-hour waits for ambulances – that really shocked me.”

The Liberal Democrat leader raised the issue of the closure of North Shropshire ambulance stations in the House of Commons.

London Ambulance Service changed its mind about closing down stations. Here West Midlands Ambulance Service has already closed Oswestry and Market Drayton,” he said.

And here are some of the others who have flocked to the constituency this weekend:

 

 

But there might be all sorts of reasons that you can’t get there. Read on to find out how else you can help.

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Caron Lindsay

Look who’s turned up in North Shropshire…

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 7th November 2021 - 8:02 pm

Look who spent their Sunday in North Shropshire…

Ed made around 16 visits to Chesham and Amersham earlier this Summer. He is the first party leader to show up in the by-election caused by the resignation of Owen Paterson over allegations of paid advocacy.

The Lib Dem campaign seems to have got off to a very good start. My spies tell me that we have delivered a LOT of leaflets this weekend. Given that we didn’t know this by-election was happening until Thursday lunchtime, that is impressive.

We haven’t selected a candidate yet, but I suspect that will happen very quickly.

Ed told local activists in Whitchurch:

Boris Johnson’s Conservatives are pumping sewage into our rivers and sleaze into our politics. People in North Shropshire including many lifelong Conservative voters are sick of having their concerns ignored and being taken for granted.

It is clear that the Liberal Democrats are the challengers to the Conservatives in North Shropshire. Labour and the Greens cannot win here.

For too long, the Conservatives have left North Shropshire lagging behind with the local NHS facing real difficulties. A Liberal Democrat by-election victory would send a powerful message to the Conservatives that the people of North Shropshire need to be listened to.

He was accompanied by Helen Morgan, our candidate in the 2019 General Election, who said:

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Caron Lindsay

Davey: Government is taking carers for granted again

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 3rd November 2021 - 11:52 am

Carers UK today release a report showing that one in five unpaid carers fear they may not be able to cope financially over the next 12 months.

And along with that, carers face increasing strains on their health and wellbeing.

From the report:

The COVID-19 pandemic has seen 81% of carers take on increasing hours of care, often with less or no outside support. This has had a significant and detrimental impact on carers’ health and wellbeing; over two-thirds of carers (69%) reported that their mental health has worsened, and 64% of carers said their physical health has got worse as a result of caring in the
pandemic. Our results confirm that the pandemic is continuing to have a
negative impact on carers’ own health and wellbeing and they are facing
additional health inequalities.

Ed Davey, himself a lifelong carer for parents, grandparents and now his disabled son responded to the report:

With the cost of living spiralling this winter these damning figures show the struggle that many unpaid carers face.

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The Voice

WATCH: Wendy and Ed take part in cross party Make Votes Matter video

By The Voice | Wed 3rd November 2021 - 10:34 am

Wendy Chamberlain and Ed Davey represent the Liberal Democrats in a new video for the Make Votes Matter campaign:

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NewsHound

LibLink: Ed Davey: China will dictate the success of COP 26

By NewsHound | Tue 2nd November 2021 - 9:46 am

When it comes to major global climate change talks, Lib Dem leader Ed Davey has way more experience than Boris Johnson. As Climate Change Secretary, he knows how to bring people across the world together and make progress.

He has written in the Standard about the challenges facing those who want to reach a binding agreement to limit carbon emissions and therefore temperature rises.

China is key. Unless they come on board, it will be very difficult to make the necessary changes. Ed says how he did it the last time:

Having led the UK’s negotiations at three previous COPs, I know the Chinese are tough. In my time we used air pollution to reel China into the fold. Smog is a national crisis in China, killing hundreds of thousands every year, if not millions.

When I appeared on China’s equivalent of BBC’s Question Time, solving air pollution was the only question. How had we eradicated London’s smogs? So we made the link: tackle local air pollution and, at the same time, global air pollution. China was won over for the Paris Treaty. But what we need this time is far, far bigger. For Glasgow to succeed, the UK must lead the task to persuade China to go much further — to reduce and end coal usage far earlier and far faster than it currently plans.

He says that there are carrots as well as sticks:

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Paul Walter

Ed Davey replies robustly to a Tory MP’s enquiry about our selection procedures

By Paul Walter | Tue 26th October 2021 - 11:10 am

Philip Davies MP recently wrote to Ed Davey enquiring about the Liberal Democrats’ internal selection procedures.

Ed’s reply is a joy to behold! It is worth reading the correspondence in full.

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Caron Lindsay

Ed Davey takes on “sexist dinosaur” Philip Davies with humour

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 23rd October 2021 - 10:30 am

It’s not often I’ve felt the need to thank Philip Davies, the Conservative MP for Shipley for anything. I am kind of glad, though, that he felt the need to write to Ed Davey on House of Commons paper to complain that we didn’t use an all-women shortlist when we selected Bobby Dean as our candidate for Carshalton and Wallington, because Ed’s blistering, beautifully crafted response showed a new side to him.

Davies’ attitude is surprising given that he’s actively campaigned against measures to protect women for some time. Back in 2017, Laura Bates wrote a brilliant article in the Guardian outlining some of the worst. She said:

He has previously described feminists as “zealots”, voted against equalities legislation, argued against equality targets in the workplace and once tabled a private member’s bill that would have repealed the Sex Discrimination Act 2002. Last year, he spoke at a conference organised by the Justice for Men and Boys party, which is known for presenting petty “whining feminist” certificates to women’s rights advocates, and promoting inflammatory, misogynistic articles on its website such as one entitled “13 reasons women lie about being raped”.

Charming.

Now, I have always been in favour of all-women shortlists, but the fact is that they were so successful that we are not allowed to use them any more because our Parliamentary party in Westminster is 2/3 women. I don’t think it is fair, given the huge democratic deficit women face. There are only 222 women out of 650 in Parliament. It just isn’t good enough when your all-time high is 34%.

Ed just let Davies have it in return:

Writing on party paper, way more appropriate for the purpose than Commons stationery, Ed reminded us all of Davies’ prior views and expressed and pleasure that he may have finally seen the light:

I can only imagine that your interest has been triggered by a “Road to Damascus” moment and a realisation that we live in 2021 not 1821. Making a transition from sexist dinosaur to someone who champions the rights of women will not be easy for you. The list of people you need to apologise to is long.

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The Voice

Lib Dems oppose new oil drilling site

By The Voice | Thu 21st October 2021 - 12:39 pm

Ed Davey is quoted extensively in the Independent on the plans to build a new oil drilling site in Surrey at Horse Hill, which is not far from Gatwick Airport.

Surrey County Council’s decision to permit the development will be reviewed in the Court of Appeal next month after challenges by local residents. The Government is expected to defend the decision – just days before COP26.

Ed has written to Alok Sharma, the climate minister:

This new oil field is the equivalent to ministerial colleagues breaking your cricket bat just as you walk out to the crease at Cop26.

Your job is to hold China to account for their new oil infrastructure – how can you do that when your government is building its own?

As the minister responsible for Cop26, you must put party allegiances aside, and call for the government to oppose this new oil field and immediately call in the planning application.

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The Voice

WATCH: Sir Ed Davey pays a moving tribute to Sir David Amess

By The Voice | Tue 19th October 2021 - 8:57 am

During yesterday’s House of Commons tributes to Sir David Amess, our leader Sir Ed Davey made this moving speech.

To a hushed chamber, Ed showed great sympathy to David Amess’ Concervative colleagues. He quoted from local Lib Dem councillors in Southend constituency. And he recalled the killing of Andrew Pennington and the injuring of Nigel Jones.

It is a very moving, dignified and heartfelt tribute.

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The Voice

Ed Davey calls for extension of Warm Homes Discount scheme to help poorest with soaring energy costs

By The Voice | Sun 10th October 2021 - 11:30 am

On Trevor Phillips on Sky this morning, Ed Davey did a fantastic job of taking down the Conservatives over their “cruel” cuts to Universal Credit.

As a former Secretary of State for Energy, he speaks with some authority on rising fuel prices and how to help the poorest through that.

He called for the Warm Homes Discount, currently worth £140 to those on certain benefits or low incomes to be doubled or tripled and for eligibility to be extended.

He also highlighted how he had continued the insulation programmes in place when he took over, but the Conservatives had failed to keep that work going.

He was also asked about the story this morning that the UK Government had not paid France what it owes for border work. Ed spoke about how people needed safe and legal routes to come to this country to settle as refugees or to be reunited with family.

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The Voice

Ed Davey calls for Royal Commission to look at ways of ending men’s violence against women and girls

By The Voice | Fri 1st October 2021 - 10:13 am

Following yesterday’s sentencing of Sarah Everard’s murderer and further revelations about the Metropolitan Police, Ed Davey, has called for a Royal Commission into male violence against women and girls and for misogyny to be immediately declared a hate crime.

Ed said:

Enough is enough. Since Sarah Everard’s tragic death, 80 women have allegedly been killed at the hands of men. It is time to treat this issue with the most serious response possible.

The undermining of the authority of the police around the safety of women means that only the most senior form of inquiry into this matter will do.

Alongside immediate action to make misogyny a hate crime, a Royal Commission is the best way to bring long lasting change.

The Conservatives promised a Royal Commission in their 2019 manifesto to look into the criminal justice system, in their first year in office. While they failed to deliver then, they should now establish a Commission with a more focused remit, specifically into men perpetrating violence against women and girls.

Violence by men against women and girls is like a pandemic and should be treated with the same attention and urgency. After so many heartbreaking events this year alone it beggars belief that too many women still feel unsafe just walking alone. We can’t live in a country where half of the people in it feel unsafe and under threat both in the street and for too many, tragically, in their own homes.

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The Voice

Ed Davey: Prioritise NHS and care workers for fuel

By The Voice | Tue 28th September 2021 - 7:35 am

The government must ensure that health and care staff, teachers and other essential workers are given priority access to fuel, Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey has said.

The former Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change warned that the government mustn’t “allow their incompetence to damage people’s health and undermine our children’s education.”

It comes amid a warning from the British Medical Association that as pumps run dry “there is a real risk that NHS staff won’t be able to do their jobs”.

Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey said:

Nurses and doctors are struggling to get to work, vulnerable people

…

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NewsHound

Davey on the energy crisis and a Tory winter of discontent

By NewsHound | Wed 22nd September 2021 - 11:40 am

Ed Davy makes a storming attack on the Conservative administration into today’s Guardian. The mounting cost of heating bills and food price-hikes due to increasing transport costs and the energy crisis means the poorest people will be hit the hardest. Davey says no one should be surprised that Boris Johnson has dismissed these problems. He wants us to believe it’s a global problem, with nothing unique to the UK. And he wants us to think it will all be over quickly. He is wrong. This is just the latest example of the Conservative party taking people for granted.

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The Voice

WATCH: Ed Davey’s speech in full

By The Voice | Sun 19th September 2021 - 3:04 pm

WATEd Davey has just spoken to Federal Conference. He had a specially invited live audience of around 100 people at a venue in Canary Wharf.

Here is the text in full:

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NewsHound

Ed Davey profiled on BBC Radio 4

By NewsHound | Sun 19th September 2021 - 7:30 am

In his usual, often sardonic, style, Ed Davey has profiled by Mark Coles. In this 15-minute broadcast, we hear things we knew and things we probably didn’t. The profile begins with his birth on Christmas Day. Being orphaned. Neighbours leaving food on the doorstep. His school but good exam performance. Setting up a debating society. Being a prog rocker. Falling asleep at parties. In a gap year working in the local pork pie factory before interrailing and on to Oxford for PPE. Despite bad green jumpers, MI6 tried to recruit him. Rescuing woman from path of ongoing train.

And then …

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The Voice

The Guardian on Lib Dem strategy: Bringing down the “blue wall”

By The Voice | Sat 18th September 2021 - 9:00 am

In an almost effusive leader column, today’s Guardian praises Ed Davey, Lib Dem strategy and calls the Chesham and Amersham victory stunning. It says the Liberal Democrats are determined to make that win just the first step in bringing down the Conservatives’ “blue wall”. Boris Johnson can’t be ejected from Downing Street without a Lib Dem revival. Although Ed Davey will not be telling delegates to go back to their constituencies and “prepare for government” there are good reasons to believe something is happening, including the May by-election results.

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NewsHound

Ed Davey to rule out a coalition with Boris

By NewsHound | Fri 17th September 2021 - 11:26 am

The Financial Times today reports that Ed Davey will use his conference speech on Sunday to position the party as an unambiguously anti-Tory force. He will vow never help to help put Boris Johnson back into Downing Street.

When asked if the Lib Dems would facilitate a Tory government at the next election, Davey replied: “No.”

Davey defended the decision to hold a virtual conference, arguing that planning was done well in advance before it became apparent what the coronavirus situation would be.

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The Voice

Senior Lib Dems mark 9/11 anniversary

By The Voice | Sat 11th September 2021 - 7:00 pm

Senior Lib Dems have been reflecting on 9/11 and its aftermath:

 

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Caron Lindsay

Lib Dems slam Government as National Insurance rises and triple lock suspended

By Caron Lindsay | Tue 7th September 2021 - 7:15 pm

Lib Dem MPs have slammed the Government for breaking two election promises in as many hours.

Today Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak announced that they were going to pay for social care in about the most regressive way possible, by placing the burden on National Insurance. That takes in more lower paid people. The £130 it will cost for someone on £20,000 a year doesn’t sound much, but, believe me, the poorest households will feel every single penny. There were fairer ways of doing this, but you can’t expect that from a Conservative Government.

Emma Kennedy had it right on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/EmmaKennedy/status/1435264489235140616?s=20

Ed Davey said of the plans for social care:

These broken manifesto promises are betrayals that will haunt Boris Johnson’s premiership. Whether it’s young working families, carers or small business owners, those catastrophically failed by the Conservatives during the pandemic are now being asked to pick up the tab.

The Liberal Democrats will oppose these unjust plans in Parliament tomorrow and urge all Conservative MPs to do the same. For the past two elections we have been clear about how to fix the social care crisis in a fair and progressive way. The Government must do the sensible thing and sit down with other parties to find a consensus, instead of drawing up divisive policies on the back of a fag packet.

And then we have the Lib Dem triple lock being suspended for a year. The brainchild of our Pensions Minister Steve Webb during the coalitiion years, after miserly 75p rises during Labour’s time in office, it guarantees pensioners a rise in the State Pension equivalent to the greater of average earnings, 2.5% or inflation.

Now, there will be some who will say that a rise of 8% would have been too much and unfair on the young who are bearing the brunt of the pandemic. This is where I would like to see us embrace the power of and to help both. Too many pensioners are living in poverty – 1 in 5 and most of them are women. They will feel the impact of this and not in a good way. Maybe the Government should raise pension credit by 8% to give hem some targetted support.

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Caron Lindsay

Afghans and their loved ones pay the price of a UK PM who doesn’t care

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 29th August 2021 - 11:47 am

Jo Swinson was right about many things. Just after she became leader in 2019, she told Iain Dale that the worst thing about Boris Johnson is that he just doesn’t care about anything other than himself.

Nowhere has that been more obvious than in the way he has behaved over the evacuation from Afghanistan.

The way you act when you are in a leadership position is a powerful signal to those below you about how important you think something is. If you are passionate about getting something done, it’s very clear.

There’s a reasonable expectation that, at times of crisis, your leaders are going to look a bit like they are devoting everything to sort things out. You want to see a bit of worry, empathy, stress on their faces. We, instead, have a carefully dishevelled Prime Minister looking like he doesn’t have a care in the world, asking stressed staff at the Foreign Office if they are the ones being inundated by emails. I mean, I am sure that if Armando Iannucci had suggested that scene for The Thick of It, they’d have binned the idea as being too far-fetched. Ed Davey said that the video showed Johnson in his true light:

These flippant remarks show Boris Johnson in his true light, uncaring and unable to master the detail during this awful crisis.

The emails he refers to are from desperate family and friends worried that the Taliban will kill their loved ones.

Perhaps if Boris Johnson had understood and planned for the dangers of the Kabul evacuation, thousands of people would not be at crisis point.

Wendy Chamberlain added on Twitter:

Our MPs have been really good at supporting their staff with the emotional impact of this work with Ed taking time to message his appreciation.  Their caseworkers work alongside MPs supporting worried loved ones and all of them really care about the people they are trying to help.

And then we discover from the Observer today that many of the emails sent to the Government from MPs were not even read.

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Mary Reid

LibLink: Ed Davey says private capital must switch from dirty to clean

By Mary Reid | Fri 27th August 2021 - 3:25 pm

Now here’s an interesting thought. Why not ban any new listings of fossil fuel companies on the London Stock Exchange?

Ed Davey flags up this idea in an interview with The Guardian today to mark his first year as Party Leader.

Under the plan outlined to the Guardian by the Lib Dem leader, Ed Davey, another immediate policy would be to stop new bonds being issued in London to finance oil, coal or gas exploration.

Fossil fuel firms already listed in the UK would then have two years to produce a coherent plan about how they would reach net zero emissions by 2045, or risk being struck off the LSE.

In the longer term, pension funds would have to disinvest from fossil fuels by 2035, with all companies with fossil fuel assets removed from the exchange by 2045.

Ed said:

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