Tag Archives: john pardoe

Opinion: Farewell to Lib Dem News

As a former Editor, I’m sad to see that Liberal Democrat News is now compiling its final issue.

The idea of a weekly newspaper began in 1947.There were numerous attempts to axe it. I fought off at least two, and it was only thanks to the likes of David Steel, John Pardoe, and the ALC, that the treasurer was persuaded otherwise in the 1970s. Then, the party was financially bust, despite Trevor Jones delivering a string of remarkable by-election successes that

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , , and | 6 Comments

LDVideo | Party political broadcasts from the 1960s: Bonham Carter, Thorpe, Grimond & friends

Round 2 of our trip down PPB memory lane. Yesterday we trawled the 1950s, and today it’s time for the 1960s to take centre-stage…

Liberal Party election broadcast 1964 (with Frank Byers, Mark Bonham Carter, Jeremy Thorpe and Margaret Wingfield — alas, with some sound issues)

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Putting community politics back into election campaigns

This is the chapter I contributed during the last Parliament to ALDC’s Community Politics Today publication. The John Pardoe quote applies all the more now the party is in coalition government and the general advice to local campaigners is in my view even more important now than it was then:

It’s a common complaint – that modern Liberal Democrat election campaigns have lost the original campaigning and ideological spirit of community politics. Instead, so the critics say, campaigns have become a dumbed-down recitation of techniques, campaigning by numbers, where the only objective is votes and only the ballot box …

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged and | 2 Comments
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Recent Comments

  • Chris Webb
    Excellent piece. I really like the "I'm a Liberal because..." idea, and will prod my local association along just those lines....
  • Mick Taylor
    Hi Chris. A brave man to take on a seat on Lambeth. I suspect that the great increase in casework is at least partly caused by the huge cutbacks in Local Govern...
  • William Wallace
    Roz: This is exactly what we need to get us all thinking. I would add that we need to rethink our approach to political economy. Liberal democracy is easiest t...
  • expats
    @ Catherine Hodgkinson 24th Aug '26 - 2:16pm Trump keeps stating, without ever producing proof, that his Tariffs are working.. However, .Pulitzer Priz...
  • David Allen
    @cim Good post. I guess what we're both identifying is that neither an "establishment" nor an "insurgent" position is good enough. The trick must be to pro...