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Tag Archives: liberal democracy

The Mandelson debacle – Implications, Part 2 (remedies)

By Paul Reynolds | Wed 29th April 2026 - 8:55 am

On 25th April 2026 I wrote in LDV about the longer-term political background to the Mandelson debacle, referencing his time on Lambeth Council and the rise of the anti-left in the Labour Party, alongside the formation of the SDP, which partially sprung from there (see yesterday’s Guardian article).

The main conclusion of the LDV article was that Mandelson’s political orientation was shaped by opposition to the far-left in the Labour Party, (reinforced by the militant left’s control of Lambeth Council in the 1970s and 1980s). Mandelson’s close colleagues then, such as the subsequently ennobled Roger Liddle, Matthew Oakeshott, and the late George Thomson (associated with BBC and ITV governance), not only opposed the far left, they also objected to Thatcherism. They particularly opposed those of the left and right who were sceptical of internationalism and EU cooperation, especially dissenters from the quasi-corporatist European ‘social democratic consensus’. Mandelson stayed in the Labour party to fight the left, but Oakeshott and Liddle joined the SDP, the latter, being close to Mandelson, rejoining Labour after 6 years.

This group, and many Labour colleagues, believed that the Labour Party would never regain power again if it remained under far left control, hostile to ‘right-wing’ mainstream media and the big business and finance organisations behind them. Being cosy with international business helped get PM Blair elected in 1997, and softened media scepticism towards PM Starmer in early 2024. However, in cosying up to big business and finance, attitudes to economic elites and oligarchs began to border on adulation.

But there is a serious policy problem. The last 19 years has seen a transformation of the world economy, since the 2007-8 financial crisis. The rise of the Chinese economy has occurred alongside the rise of ‘financialisation’ and concomitant authoritarian bureaucratisation in the West; leading to increasing economic concentration and ‘stealthy monopolisation’. Asset prices rise in a bubble, as long term economic performance in the ‘real sector’ declines, and Western governments ignore the fiscal & debt sustainability tsunami.

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged economy and politics | 5 Comments

Charles Kennedy’s belief in people can save liberal democracy

By Jack Meredith | Tue 11th November 2025 - 8:27 am

At this critical juncture, liberal democracy is facing a profound global crisis. Populists, masquerading as the voice of ‘the people’, are gaining traction, while liberals are often perceived as mere mouthpieces for institutions. However, as Charles Kennedy eloquently articulated two decades ago, liberalism is not elitist; it is the most valid form of democracy, deeply rooted in compassion, honesty, and trust in ordinary people.

It’s time to reclaim populism for liberal democracy, wresting it from the grip of extreme factions. This could be a pivotal strategy in our efforts to revitalise liberal democracy, and it’s a task that cannot be delayed.

Charles Kennedy’s political rhetoric points us in the right direction. It was accessible, human, and moral rather than managerial. His opposition to the Iraq War wasn’t just a matter of policy, but also a display of courage against the establishment consensus. He believed that politics should speak to ordinary people first, and then to Westminster. Kennedy knew that the people are always wiser than the government thinks, and wanted the Liberal Democrats to acknowledge that. He argued that our party should offer democratic empowerment without resorting to demagoguery, reducing the role of central government control over public services and handing it to the people who understand the needs of their communities much better than Whitehall.

We can, and must, build upon the foundation Charles Kennedy laid for us. We must pursue a politics that puts power, dignity, and voice back in the hands of citizens, while protecting every individual’s freedom under the law. This includes instituting citizens’ assemblies to run alongside devolved governments, introducing participatory budgeting for local communities, which empowers local people to have a say in how their money is spent, and implementing anti-corruption laws, closing tax loopholes, and championing transparent governance in both public and private bodies.

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged charles kennedy | 1 Comment

William Wallace writes: The leader of the illiberal world is visiting Britain

By Lord William Wallace | Mon 15th September 2025 - 11:55 am

Trump’s state visit will throw a harsh light on the links between the American and British right. Proponents of Brexit sought to protect our sovereignty against continental Europeans, but have always been ready to follow the United States. Daniel Hannan’s book, ‘How We Invented Freedom and Why it Matters’ (2013) proclaimed the supremacy of the English-speaking peoples and the inferiority of others. Nigel Farage is almost as often in Washington as in Westminster. Those around Trump see Britain as a country that ought to be like their America, and that they plan to recapture for their version of freedom.

Much of the right-wing press and its comment contributors are far more familiar with Washington think tanks and American conferences than with political currents in any part of Europe. Climate change denialism, opposition to diversity programmes, dismissal of liberalism in all its aspects, blind faith in lower taxes and fewer public services, all flow across the Atlantic from West to East. Finance also flows, into the right-wing think-tanks of Tufton Street and other anti-liberal bodies. Charlie Kirk (sadly now shot in Utah) founded Turning Point UK in 2018 to extend his well-funded campaign to recapture American universities from the ‘liberal elite’ to British campuses. British politicians and conservative intellectuals are invited to National Conservative conferences; American anti-abortionists train British activists. Paul Marshall’s ‘Alliance for Responsible Citizenship’ brings together likeminded anti-liberals from across the English-speaking world, with prominent Republicans and hard-right Americans among its speakers. J. D. Vance’s visit to the Cotswolds this summer, where he met with several of Britain’s leading right-wing figures, showed that the American new right see Britain as part of their natural territory.

An extraordinary Op-ed in the Times on September 8th, by a British journalist – Dominic Green – who writes for the Spectator as well as the Wall Street Journal, set out the US Right’s approach to their ‘special relationship’ with Britain. ‘The frontier of the American empire is hardening as an economic, military and digital frontier. America expects Britain to do its duty and remain inside it.’ He reports ‘the view, now unanimous on the American right, that Britain is an accelerated case study in the willed decline of the West. … ‘The Americans cannot afford to lose Britain. That means they must pressure Britain into line, not just with Trump’s open disapproval at a press conference but by withholding intelligence or slow-walking economic preference.’

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged featured, international and trump state visit | 6 Comments

Fighting where we can’t win (yet)

By Peter Wrigley | Thu 25th January 2024 - 9:11 am

In the coming election the we will be focussing (sic) on the Blue Wall seats where we have a chance to beat the Tories. I have no quarrel with that, although it does leave those of us who have spent most of our lives fighting Labour feeling a little bit out in the cold. I accept that the priority in this election must be to restore our position in Parliament as the third party. The penalty of being fourth has become plainly evident in the last nine years when, however sensible and relevant our parliamentarians and spokespersons have been, the media have barely noticed.

However, if (when) the prioritising of the Blue Wall has proved a resounding success, that does not mean the rest of the UK can be neglected.

Liberal Democracy is in danger, not just in this country through the shredding of the “good chaps theory of government” by Johnson and his cronies, but in other parts of the world, not least in part of Europe, South America, and, perhaps most dangerously of all, in the USA. As one of the nations that has pioneered both Liberalism and Democracy, we, the inheritors of the tradition, have a duty to fight for its survival.

For this reason, I believe it is important to use the coming election, not to attract votes for token candidates of whom the electorate might never hear of again, but to attract activists who are inspired by our values – once they know what they are.

So we should not waste the “free post” which is the great gift of general election to distribute leaflets excessively highlighting the families, hobbies, virtues and worthiness of our candidates and how they will fight valiantly for the re-gilding of the town-hall clock and other hot local topics. Rather we need to spell out the values that are fundamental to Liberalism. I suggest the following five areas.

A Fairer Britain

Britain is one of the most unequal societies in the developed world. At the top are a few with immense wealth. At the base children live in poverty though most live in families with at least one working adult, our Health Service is starved of resources and our schools are crumbling and underfunded, limiting the chances of many for a fulfilling life. Our care services are totally inadequate.

We are still one of the riches countries in the world, so this is not acceptable.

Liberal Democrats would fund the health, education and care services properly and provide a much more generous social security safety net for those, deserving or not, who fall through the cracks.

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Posted in Op-eds | 47 Comments

Time to stand up for Liberal Democracy: Fringe launch 17:35 Friday

By Ian Kearns and Jon Alexander | Fri 17th September 2021 - 7:00 am

As we Liberal Democrats begin our annual conference, held entirely online for the second year, we must recognise that we do so in the context of existential threat to the political system that gives our party its name.

30 years ago, Francis Fukuyama declared the victory of liberal democracy, and “the end of history”. But now history is very much back, with authoritarianism on the rise in Britain and across the world.

This context, we believe, means that it’s now time for the Liberal Democrats to stand up as the party of liberal democracy – and for leader Ed Davey to set out a meaningful vision for the country, instead of relying solely on local action to make incremental “Blue Wall” gains. As Nelson Mandela famously said:

Vision without action is just a dream; action without vision just passes the time; vision with action can change the world.

A new collection of essays, Citizens Britain: towards the renewal of liberal democracy, will be launched at a conference fringe event today.

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged 2021 autumn conference | 1 Comment

Has Liberal Democracy failed us?

By Gillian Douglass | Mon 23rd August 2021 - 8:44 am

Listening to a BBC Radio 4 broadcast recently, somebody commented that liberal democracy has failed us. The context wasn’t clear. I thought about it for a while and have decided to put pen to paper.

In the context of Brexit, there could be an argument that liberal democracy has failed us, but I wonder if this idea is purely superficial. We are now experiencing shortages of workers in delivery, waste disposal, health and social care, food picking, etc. I have been personally impacted by the fact that some car parts are hard to come by and have been waiting for my car to be repaired since July 2nd. We knew all this would happen before we voted in 2016. We were told that there would be short-term (up to 10 years) of disruption before all would become well again. But how did we know?

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged featured | 55 Comments

Forty years in the making

By Rob Parsons | Sun 22nd November 2020 - 8:55 am

Liberal democracy is in crisis, particularly in the UK and the USA. In the UK we are perhaps bemused at how we could have come to elect such a corrupt, cronyistic and incompetent government, and in the USA there is much debate over how the Trump lump has not gone away despite four years of Trump’s Twitter tantrums.

There is a tendency to view this as a short term phenomenon – what went wrong four years ago, six years ago, even ten years ago. In my view this has been coming for forty years. It has not been inevitable but, during the neoliberal period (roughly from the 80s till today), social forces and personal decision making have moved us steadily towards the situation we now find ourselves in.

In a nutshell, the elevation to power of Thatcher and Reagan marked the start of what was seen to be a move towards freedom, opening up societies all over the world to the liberating forces of the market. This had two sides, globalisation, an ineluctable social force beyond the power of individuals to affect, and the strategy of global elites both old and new, to use globalisation to create new wealth and power for themselves. They have been very successful. So it turned out to be a move towards freedom for some, but by no means all. The elites used liberalism as their watchword, while ignoring the principle of liberalism that their freedom is only valid in so far as it does not compromise other people’s freedom.

At the same time there has been a steady corrosion of community and democratic values, partly because the new markets require it (they don’t work without precarious labour) and partly because of media elites who found that telling lies worked, and political elites who did not care to confront them. People sold on consumer capitalism found easy answers to all the ills in their lives in the lies told them by the media. Rupert Murdoch and Hugh Dacre, among others, spent decades preparing the British public for the Brexit lie. They have succeeded in making many people’s lives precarious and hoodwinking them into blaming others for that.

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged brexit, politics, populism and trump | 29 Comments

China and its challenge to Liberal Democracy

By Humphrey Hawksley | Wed 9th September 2020 - 5:00 pm

Anti-Chinese rhetoric is growing, and it is amazing how seamlessly our enemy number one has shifted from Islamic extremism to an expansionist China with barely the blink of an eye.

No longer do we have a War on Terror but the spectre of a new Cold War.

Accusations against Chinese President Xi Jinping are beginning to mirror those against Middle Eastern dictators when complexities of cultures and societies were concertinaed into cartoon-style characters of evil such as with Iraq’s Saddam Hussein.

We all know what happened there and, unless we are vigilant, we may be walking into another disastrous trap.

With gulag-style camps in Xinjiang and the crackdown against political dissent in Hong Kong, such criticism against China are justified.

The question is, however, what can liberal democracies do that is effective.

A first step is to look more at ourselves and reestablish liberal democratic values that in the past two decades have fallen into a sorry state of repair.

Liberal democracy was once heralded as a beacon for delivering security and freedom. Failure in the Middle East and North African conflicts has shredded that reputation.

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged china, foreign policy and freedom of speech | 12 Comments

Part 2: If we want to win elections we have to denounce austerity

By Stephen Richmond | Thu 7th March 2019 - 5:11 pm

So I was hesitant to get into ideological discussions but the argument often gets made that even if austerity is unpopular we must defend the small government “Classical Liberal” tradition. That argument needs to be answered- yes there has always been a laissez-faire strand of Liberalism, however, the idea that Liberalism only means small government and free markets is an idea that dates from around 1980.

Liberalism has a quite complicated and wide-ranging history from being initially associated with generosity (as in the word Liberality, a liberal act meant a generous one), to the alternative association of the French revolution (describing someone as a “Liberal” was an insult intended to suggest they were radical revolutionaries, there was no suggestion that Liberals were aiming for small government as such, just that they were anti-monarchist.). Liberalism went on to include large sections of the early Socialist movement, including such hailed Classical Liberals as John Stuart Mill. Early Liberalism was actually not very much to do with economics at all and was more part of the Whig and Republican movements that were about moving from a feudal system to the beginnings of democracy. (I heartily recommend Helena Rosenblatt’s ‘A forgotten history of Liberalism” for more of that story.)

It’s because of these political instincts and aims that when it became clear that unregulated markets were hurting people in the late 19th century Liberals changed policy rather than changing ideology. That’s where the social reforms of Asquith and Lloyd-George came from, leading into the Social Insurance systems of Beverage and the economic theories of Keynes. That’s how the Liberal party ended up to the left of the pre-merger SDP and how the Liberal Democrats ended up to the left of New Labour. It’s not an aberration, it’s just the natural place that Liberalism ended up.

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged economic liberalism, SDP, social democracy and social liberal forum | 50 Comments

If we want to win elections we have to denounce austerity

By Stephen Richmond | Thu 7th March 2019 - 12:19 pm

Part 1

“Never point out your own mistakes” seems like a good political maxim, so why should we ignore it on this occasion?

Of course, not everyone agrees that austerity was a mistake at all, and some say we should embrace our coalition record. That would be a monumental mistake. Trying to embrace austerity would be like Labour trying to embrace the Iraq war, it would be untenable.

Many people point out that all the major political parties were pushing austerity at the time: during the coalition Labour boasted that the government had, more or less, kept austerity to the levels Labour suggested. Clearly this wasn’t something the Liberal Democrats were solely responsible for. That doesn’t mean it wasn’t a mistake though or that no one knew it was a mistake at the time. While it’s true that many economists working for large banks were very clear that government debt was definitely the problem (and noticeably not the banks themselves!) academic economists took a rather different tack- their warnings were clear and broadly, as it turned out, correct. Even the IMF famously chided the coalition for being too reckless with austerity.

Estimates of GDP per household lost due to austerity in the UK vary with from some at £4000 per household and the Oxford economist Simon Wren-Lewis’ guess being more like £10,000 per household. There is no suggestion it did anything positive. (Simon Wren-Lewis’ book ‘The Lies We Were Told’ chronicles this beautifully. Also worth seeing is the recent report from the NEF featured in Bloomberg estimating the cost at £100 billion.) The famous academic paper (by Reinhart and Rogoff) that was used as political cover for austerity in 2010 turned out to be based on a simple maths error and was ultimately disgraced. Traditional macroeconomics won out- if interest rates go to zero, which they did, governments must either increase spending or hold back their own economies- we chose to hold back our economy.

It’s estimated that around 50,000 UK citizens died unnecessarily due to austerity during the coalition with more afterwards. Which is why it sticks in the throat a little when we’re told, and I’ve heard this a few times from more coalition supporting Lib Dems, that the coalition was “the best government since 1945!” I would gently point out that that the post-1945 era includes the Attlee government, which took on the ideas of Keynes and Beverage, both Liberal party members.

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged austerity, austerity economics and social liberal | 73 Comments

Why be a Liberal Democrat?

By Tim Caswell | Thu 27th December 2018 - 12:30 pm

My family had a century of Labour Party membership between us. I left after three decades, coming home, intellectually, emotionally and ideologically, by joining the Liberal Democratic Party.

After one year’s membership, as a candidate in a marginal ward, and part of the campaign to re-elect our popular Mayor, I am writing this in ancient Rome. A timely reminder that the name, “potholes” dates from when the Anglo Saxons dug up the clay from Roman roads to make cookware and that the history of ideas matters. In particular that England has been divorcing Europe since Henry VIII. In this context, why be a Liberal Democrat?

The first reason is the need to keep the ideas of Liberalism and Democracy alive. Our broken politics and failing democracy make this challenging. But the twentieth century taught us that the twin evils of totalitarian communism and nationalism will lead to barbarism every time that the freedom, tolerance and rule of law inherent in Liberal Democracy are abandoned. The works of Sir Karl Raymond Popper illustrate why.

In The Poverty of Historicism and The Open Society And Its Enemies, Popper shows us that when the pseudo-scientific certainty of authoritarian dictatorship defeats liberalism and social democracy, barbarism is inevitable. He also elucidated the ultimate liberal paradox: freedom of thought and speech is sacrosanct but there must be limits on the actions of the enemies of freedom from the left and right.

Second, we are the true children of the enlightenment. Rational, evidence-based policy is already abundant. Taken together with the philosophy above and coupled with a renewal and extension of democracy will offer the best chance of a progressive hegemony in the twenty-first century.

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged karl popper, liberalism and social democracy | 9 Comments

Why “Global Britain” must be rooted in our liberal democratic values

By Alina Rocha Menocal | Thu 13th December 2018 - 9:00 am

The world has changed a lot over the past 30 years, becoming both more open and democratic and more prosperous. Well-being indicators of those most in need, especially in terms of health and education, have improved dramatically. But we still confront tremendous challenges, ranging from climate change to growing inequalities, especially within countries, and from conflict and fragility to migration. In addition, a profound dissatisfaction with liberal democracy and perceptions about the way it works has set in, not only in the developing world but also in countries that have traditionally been considered the cradles of democracy.

So despite the progress, it can often feel like we are confronting the greatest period of uncertainty and instability we have experienced since the second world war. As happened after World War II, the collective problems we face today require collective ways to address them. The United Nations, the World Trade Organisation, the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, the European Union itself, are all founded in the experience of what happens when the world fragments. Coming together to create rules-based regional and global communities was the answer in the post-War era. This is why it feels strangely anachronistic for the UK to press on with Brexit now – especially when considering that the EU has been the single most successful multilateral effort of peace- and state building and the promotion of development and prosperity we have known.

Prime Minister May launched the idea of a “Global Britain” in October 2016 to counter fears that the UK would become inward-looking after Brexit. The UK has been a powerful and influential player in the world stage, playing among other things a leading role in shaping the Sustainable Development Goals. But it is also the case that the EU has been a major multiplier for UK development and foreign policy – just as the UK has been a multiplier for EU development and foreign policy – and both risk losing significant leverage. So regardless of whether Britain stays inside or leaves the EU, making “Global Britain” more than a slogan will require sustained leadership and continued investment and engagement in crucial international relationships and commitments, both with(in) the EU and beyond.

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Posted in News | Also tagged brexit, department for international development, international development and liberal democrat international office | 9 Comments

Why aren’t we doing much better?

By Richard Fisher | Mon 13th August 2018 - 11:15 am

This week’s damning editorial about current Lib Dem performance and prospects in The New Statesman will have struck a chord amongst many Liberal Democrat supporters and activists. I know that the world is unfair, and that we are mass-media-invisible, but nonetheless our lack of progress has to be a real present worry. Mucking up critical votes on what is supposed to be ‘our’ issue above all – opposition to Brexit – only compounds the sense of drift.

I’m glad that Caron Lindsay thought that Sir Vince Cable was ‘sparkling’ on Pienaar’s Politics recently but I fear that such appearances are not …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged strategy | 125 Comments

Reform the Reformers – Part 2, Challenges in Updating Liberal Democracy

By Paul Reynolds | Mon 23rd July 2018 - 4:45 pm

There are two types of people in this world. Those who divide the world into two types of people, and those who don’t.

The rise of left and right wing populism points reformers towards updating liberal democracy.

The remedies that left and right populists peddle are remarkably similar; one-party regimes, state control of the economy, dismantling the ‘separation of powers’, nationalism, and a rapid increase in state spending.

Less attention, however, is paid to the parallel rise of liberal, pro-democracy parties in government; Canada, Netherlands, South Korea, Malaysia, Ireland and elsewhere.

There are many lessons to be learned from liberal-democratic parties in these countries, …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged reform and reform the reformers | 12 Comments

Liberal Democrats are the party where everyone belongs

By Phil Wainewright | Mon 5th February 2018 - 2:45 pm

What do Liberal Democrats believe? We strive for a society where everyone belongs and is free to be themselves.

Inclusiveness comes first, because freedom alone is not enough. Liberal Democrats value individual liberty, but at the same time we recognise that none of us can be truly free without the support and consent of everyone around us. And society as a whole is stronger, healthier and happier when everyone is able to play their part. We all win when we work together, while respecting our differences.

This historic Liberal tradition is today a thoroughly modern political philosophy, perfectly in tune with the …

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Posted in Op-eds | 8 Comments

How long will we continue to ignore the obvious?

By Joe Zammit-Lucia | Fri 16th September 2016 - 1:08 pm

The Brexit referendum was a perfect demonstration of what many of us have known for a long time: emotion trumps reason – every time. In the referendum campaign, the Remain campaign mounted a campaign focused on ‘rational’ arguments – largely about the economy. All the visceral emotion was with Leave. It is not surprising Leave prevailed. What is also clear is that anger trumps fear – every time. Angry people are fired up. They rise up to do things – often destructive things. Fear paralyses. People cower in a corner and hope it all goes away.

The prevailing political mood at the moment is one of widespread anger. How should one handle it?

Last night at a political dinner, the view was expressed that what was needed was to try to dampen that anger, show people that they were being unreasonable and irrational and win them over to the moderate, tolerant, open, reasonable and rational values of liberalism. I cannot think of an approach that is more likely to fail than that one. It’s the equivalent of being faced by a furious spouse and responding with “Calm down dear and let’s be reasonable about all this.” We all know how effective that is.

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Posted in Op-eds | 14 Comments