Tag Archives: iain dale

The Voice

Toksvig to stand for Lib Dems?

By The Voice | Wed 22nd November 2006 - 12:33 pm

Top Lib Dem blog Hot Ginger & Dynamite reports that Iain Dale reports that Sandi Toksvig may stand for the Lib Dems at the next General Election.

UPDATE: Local officials have confirmed Toksvig did NOT apply for Meon Valley, and that she is not on the approved candidates list.

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Mark Pack

BBC exposes Tory MP’s links to funding scandal

By Mark Pack | Sat 11th November 2006 - 7:50 pm

J KirkbrideThe role of the Midlands Industrial Council in funding Conservative party activity has been bubbling away as a controversy for some time.

In essence, by giving money to the MIC rather than directly to the Conservative party, it has allowed big donors to remain anonymous. The MIC in turn, after receiving these anonymous donations, funds Conservative campaigning. After public pressure, they’ve published a one-off list of their currently active members – but won’t say who else has given money in the past or that they’ll publish names of new donors in the …

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Posted in News | Also tagged | 13 Comments

Mark Oaten speaks to Iain Dale

By the founding editor | Tue 7th November 2006 - 12:33 pm

OatenLast night conservative commentator Iain Dale conducted an hour long interview with Liberal Democrat MP Mark Oaten on 18 Doughty Street. You can find it at:

http://www.18doughtystreet.com/blog/?page_id=174

The first 25 minutes cover Mark himself, the remainder of the time discussing broader liberal politics.

Have you watched it? What do you think? There’s a short audio-only teaser below. Click ‘play now’.

Posted in News | Also tagged | 9 Comments

Sandra Gidley attacks Liberal Democrat manifesto writers

By the founding editor | Thu 2nd November 2006 - 1:11 pm

Iain Dale has pointed out an interesting exchange in Westminster Hall on Monday.

Mr. O’Brien: It has been reported to me, although the hon. Lady (Sandra Gidley) might want to suggest that it is a misquote, that at the last Liberal Democrat conference—amazingly, I was not there—the hon. Lady called her party’s policy of free personal care “dishonest”, because people thought that their accommodation costs would also be paid for, which is certainly not the case.

…

Sandra Gidley: The hon. Gentleman has quoted me correctly. I think that we should have been more open about what our policy did. That is …

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Posted in News | 6 Comments

Do you have lots of time on your hands? Want to go on Internet telly? 18 Doughty Street needs YOU

By the founding editor | Mon 23rd October 2006 - 12:13 pm

An e-mail from Iain Dale of Internet Telly (it’s the future) station, 18 Doughty St:

I’m keen to get a list of LibDem bloggers who would be available on Monday evenings, which is where I have a panel of bloggers from all three parties to discuss blog issues and the week ahead. Can you advertise it on LibDem Voice and ask people to email me [email protected]? We’d need people from 8.30pm till 10pm.

Vox Politix is the least rabidly Tory of the programmes I’ve watched so far, and unlike most of 18 Doughty St’s other programming it isn’t …

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Posted in News | 14 Comments

Can you spare £30, gov? Lib Dems biggest donor was “entirely fraudulent and had never traded”

By the founding editor | Thu 12th October 2006 - 11:28 am

Times OnlineThe Times reports today:

“THE business that gave the largest financial gift to the Liberal Democrats was entirely fraudulent and had never traded, a High Court judge ruled yesterday.”

and:

“The Electoral Commission, which polices political donations, said last night that it will study the judgment in detail. It has the power to ask the courts to force parties to surrender gifts. Under election law, corporate donations may be accepted only from companies “carrying on business” in Britain.”

Rather hilariously, Iain Dale interprets this as “LibDems Stare Bankruptcy in the face.” Two things on that.

1) If we were forced to repay all of the donations, that would require each Lib Dem member to fork out about £30 to get the party out of a hole. I’d open my chequebook now. The major party donors would do the same, I’m sure.

2) Our party is the only one of the big three that ended its last reporting period solvent. Unlike Labour and the Conservatives, we don’t have eye-watering debts beyond our wildest dreams. We can find £2.5m in extreme circumstances.

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Posted in News and Op-eds | 21 Comments

Big applause to Ros Taylor

By the founding editor | Fri 29th September 2006 - 2:30 pm

The Guardian’s Ros Taylor, hated by Guido Fawkes (and thus I am immediately a fan), has been writing spoof diaries from all the party conferences. They are genius.

Their mastery is that they are always just believable if you don’t read them too closely. So far, to my knowledge she has caught out me (though I mercifully didn’t blog it!), blogger and flirt of the year Stephen Tall, and even the Blogosphere’s very own Iain Dale. There but for the grace of God…

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Alex Foster

Alex and the Blogging Queen

By Alex Foster | Wed 20th September 2006 - 5:26 pm

Alex Foster took the opportunity of eight minutes alone in a quiet corridor with Iain Dale to check his linguistic skills – and received an interesting proposition.

Posted in News and Podcasts | 2 Comments

Ditch the pigeon?

By the founding editor | Thu 14th September 2006 - 11:02 am

Iain Dale has seen the Tory logo future, and it’s… scribbled.

Some months ago I was sat in a pub in Bath, with a friend who was hovering on the brink of becoming a Liberal Democrat party member. He’s on board with our policies, believes in personal liberty, cherishes civil rights. A natural Lib Dem. “There is just one thing I wish you guys would change, though”, “what’s that?”, “your stupid logo – what’s that all about, then? it’s been around for ages.”

Libby. The Bird of Liberty. In her day she was young, thin, and beautiful, then time passed and she put on weight, and there were even rumours she had passed on.

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Posted in News | 28 Comments

Countdown to conference

By the founding editor | Sun 10th September 2006 - 11:30 pm

“What are you doing in here? are you bored?” – the words of a friend of mine as he slumped in to the adjacent chair at the back of the conference hall in the Blackpool Winter Gardens in September last year.

My friend had been on one of his annual conference rituals – the exhibition freebie run. The star prize of an Electoral Commission anorak had eluded him, but he was content enough with his Local Government Association biro and mints, and his BBC keyring.

He’d done better than me – my trawl of the exhibition had turned up only a copy of the latest DELGA newsletter and a cold stare from someone I’d chatted up the night before, tempted back to my hotel room (for a stimulating discussion of the General Election manifesto, obviously), and promptly fallen asleep on.

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Posted in News | Also tagged | 9 Comments
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