Tag Archives: ming cambell

Stephen Tall

How – or will – Nick Clegg replace Norman Baker in the home office?

By Stephen Tall | Tue 4th November 2014 - 8:45 am

jenny willottNorman Baker’s decision to quit as Lib Dem home office minister — citing significant differences with his boss at the department, the Tories’ Theresa May — means a vacancy has opened up. How will Nick Clegg fill it? We’re unlikely to have long to wait, but here are what I see as his options…

Nick could simply promote a current MP. If he does so, then the obvious choice would be Jenny Willott. She covered Jo Swinson’s maternity leave at the business department, earning good reviews along the way. A promotion …

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Posted in News | Also tagged , , , , , , , , and | 27 Comments
Stephen Tall

Lib Dem party membership: the occasional ups and mostly downs since 1988

By Stephen Tall | Sun 3rd August 2014 - 8:45 am

The Lib Dems published the party’s 2013 accounts this week. The report included the latest membership figures, which showed for the first time since 2010 an increase on the previous year’s: up 2% to 43,451. Here are the Lib Dem membership figures since the modern party’s formation as the successor to the Liberal Party and SDP in 1988:

lib dem membership figs since 1988 - as at july 2014

For interest’s sake, here’s the increase/decrease in party membership under each leader:

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Posted in Party policy and internal matters | Also tagged , , , and | 16 Comments
Stephen Tall

Ming Campbell’s successor selected: Tim Brett to fight North East Fife for Lib Dems in 2015

By Stephen Tall | Tue 18th March 2014 - 4:45 pm

tim brettFormer Lib Dem leader Ming Campbell announced last October he’d retire as MP for North East Fife at the next general election, after eight elections (five of them successful) and 28 years.

His successor has now been announced: Tim Brett, leader of Fife Council Liberal Democrats and former chief executive of Ninewells Hospital, will contest the seat for the Lib Dems. Here’s what his biography on the Scottish Lib Dem website says about him:

Tim has lived in NE Fife since 1985 and has been a Councillor since 2003. He held

…

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Posted in Selection news | Also tagged , and | 7 Comments
The Voice

Is the Lib Dem Euro-referendum pledge being dropped?

By The Voice | Tue 1st December 2009 - 4:00 pm

Cast your mind back a few months.  Speaking on Radio 4’s You and Yours on 16th June 2009, Nick Clegg said the only way to sort out the debate about EU membership was to

have a referendum in this country as to whether we stay in or stay out. What we can’t do is to be a member of a club and complain about it from the sidelines.

That Lib Dem policy may have started out as a quick fix to get the party out of a tight spot, but as it’s been stuck to, it’s become seen by many as …

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Posted in Europe / International and Op-eds | Also tagged | 25 Comments
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  • Matt (Bristol)
    This article is arguing for a version of kindness that is as idelogically charged and specified as a socialist party's notion of justice. It's nice to be nic...
  • Simon Robinson
    This is a very good article in terms of highlighting the dilemma facing any chancellor. There are few good ways to raise money, and endless demands to spend mor...
  • Tony Vickers
    I had expected Sir Vince to mention Land Value Tax as Honorary President of ALTER. Especially because the PM is a fan of the idea and there’s no “red line�...
  • David Blake
    I agree with much of what Richard Cripps says - and I've been a member for 54 years. If I wasn't already a member I'm not sure that what the party has become w...
  • Richard Dickson
    Thanks for this. Kindness - to people, businesses, whole communities, our environment and to nature, to our past, present and future - requires us also to be br...