Tag Archives: norman baker

Stephen Tall

Adonis declares end of the road for road-pricing

By Stephen Tall | Thu 25th June 2009 - 6:00 pm

From today’s FT (well worth reading today for other reasons):

The government will “definitely not” proceed with a national road-user charging scheme if it wins the next election, the new transport secretary has said, in the most comprehensive renunciation so far of a policy adopted in 2004. …

In July 2004, Alistair Darling, then transport secretary, committed the government to a national system of pay-per-mile charging . The scheme was intended to replace charging for road use via taxes on fuel. As cars become more fuel-efficient, taxes produce less revenue per mile driven and any deterrent effect of tax

…

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Stephen Tall

At least the trains are running on time (Or are they?)

By Stephen Tall | Wed 27th May 2009 - 1:18 pm

The news isn’t all doom ‘n’ gloom, y’know – even in the Telegraph:

Trains are more punctual than ever, Network Rail has claimed, with more than nine out of 10 arriving on time over the past year. The figures are the best since the industry started collating punctuality statistics in 1992. Last month the performance was even better than the yearly average, with 93.5 per cent of services classed as running on time. The industry’s definition of punctuality is based on commuter services operating within five minutes of the timetable and for longer distance trains, 10 minutes.

However, Lib Dem …

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The Voice

Speaker to face yellow peril?

By The Voice | Fri 15th May 2009 - 5:46 pm

The Times reports:

Suspicions that the Liberal Democrats are to lead a move to oust the Speaker grew today after a top party figure hinted that a critical Commons motion could be lodged.

Vince Cable, the party’s deputy leader, disclosed that there would be a party statement about Michael Martin next week after Chris Huhne, the Home Affairs spokesman, made an outright call for the Speaker to go.

Mr Cable said that he and the Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg were expecting to make a statement on the issue of the Speaker on behalf of the party within the next few

…

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Opinion: How much do MPs actually eat?

By Hywel Morgan | Wed 13th May 2009 - 5:59 pm

Let us contrast two reported sets of figures for food costs claimed by Lib Dem MPs…

Norman Baker

July-Sept 2004: £287
July-Sept 2005: £307
Aug-Sept 2006: £178
Aug-Sept 2007: £157

Ming Campbell
Sept-Oct 2004: £800
Aug-Nov 2005: £1000
July, Aug, Sept 2006: £1000
July-Aug 2007: £650

We-the-taxpayer already pay our MPs a salary of at least £60,000 a year, and provide them with an allowance for a second home to cook and eat in.

I don’t think, therefore, there is any justification for a separate allowance for food costs. But if there is, one can anyone explain why one MP can feed themselves on around £100 per month …

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Ed Fordham

Opinion: Ed Fordham’s Career Choice

By Ed Fordham | Wed 13th May 2009 - 4:15 pm

Last night my Dad rang me all concerned about my career choices. I stood in the general election of 2005 and am planning to be the Liberal Democrat candidate for Hampstead and Kilburn at the next election – whenever it comes.

My Dad’s concern was pretty simple: why would I want to join a club of such scoundrels, hasn’t the career of politician been devalued and he was concerned that people get caught up in the maelstrom of the noise and the club-atmosphere and accept as the norm what in fact is wrong.

I believe politics is a calling …

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Stephen Tall

The LDV 2×2 Daily View (12/5/09)

By Stephen Tall | Tue 12th May 2009 - 9:34 am

Welcome to what’s intended to be a daily feature here on LDV: an early preview of the two big news stories of the day, and a click-though to two of the must-read Lib Dem blog posts just published. Each day a member of the LDV collective will take their turn to bagpipe fact into news*.

2 Big Stories

MPs’ expenses: paying bills for Tory grandees
The Telegraph has the most enjoyable schadenfreude story of the day, with the latest set of MPs’ expenses revelations this time focusing on the ‘estate-ocracy’ of Tory MPs. Particular faves include:

  • Douglas Hogg (aka 3rd Viscount

    • …

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    The Voice

    CommentIsLinked@LDV: Norman Baker triple bill on MPs’ expenses

    By The Voice | Mon 11th May 2009 - 11:30 am

    The Lib Dems’ very own sleazebusting terrier Norman Baker (who daylights as our shadow transport secretary) has three – count ’em – articles on MPs’ expenses in the papers. Excerpts as follows:

    Never in my 20 years in politics have I seen the public as angry as today (Daily Mail)

    Little did I know, when I submitted a Freedom of Information request back in 2005, what a Pandora’s Box was opening up. That modest request, simply asking for a breakdown of MPs’ travel costs by mode of transport, was fought tooth and nail by the senior MPs who comprise the House

    …

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    Mark Pack

    James Purnell accused of abusing expenses rules

    By Mark Pack | Sun 3rd May 2009 - 10:24 am

    An ironic twist in the latest MP expenses story – this time is it James Purnell, the minister in charge of ensuring that the rest of us don’t claim too much in expenses, who is accused of claiming back more in rental costs than he actually paid out. The Sunday Express writes:

    CABINET Minister James Purnell was under pressure last night to explain why he claimed £10,000 more in Parliamentary expenses than he paid in rent for his London flat.

    The Welfare and Pensions Secretary, tipped as a future leader of the Labour Party, pocketed £10,143 more than the rent he

    …

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    Stephen Tall

    BBC Question Time: open thread 30/4/09

    By Stephen Tall | Thu 30th April 2009 - 10:20 pm

    Stormin’ Norman Baker, the party’s shadow transport secretary and tenacious campaigner par excellence, is the Lib Dem representative on tonight’s Question Time (BBC1 and online, 10.35 pm).

    He’ll be joined on the panel by Labour’s environment secretary Hilary (“I’m a Benn not a Bennite”) Benn, Tory shadow health secretary since 2003 Andrew Lansley, comedian, columnist and disaffected Labour supporter Frank Skinner, and Plaid Cymru Welsh Assembly member Leanne Wood (who was once thrown out of the chamber for referring to HM The Queen as Mrs Windsor).

    Remember, if you’re tuning in, you can join the general debate on Twitter …

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    Posted in Lib Dem TV | Also tagged | 9 Comments
    Mark Pack

    Opinion: A new challenge for people wanting to clear up public life

    By Mark Pack | Mon 13th April 2009 - 5:50 pm

    What do Bob Quick, Damian McBride and Den Dover MEP all have in common? They have all been caught up in a public scandal (security lapse, smears, expense claims). They all have or are being booted out (Quick has resigned, as has McBride; Dover was expelled from the Conservatives and is stepping down as an MEP in June). But they all also may well do rather well financially after their departure.

    Bob Quick is getting a generous pension (£110,000 a year according to Paul Waugh). Damian McBride, as – technically, if not in his day-to-day behaviour – a civil servant …

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    Mark Pack

    Minister tackling offshore tax havens … uses an offshore tax haven himself

    By Mark Pack | Sun 29th March 2009 - 9:37 am

    As the Sunday Times reports:

    LORD MYNERS, the minister in charge of the government’s assault on tax havens, has used a blind trust to conceal £250,000 of his own money in an offshore shelter.

    Details of the secret holding have been obtained by The Sunday Times as G20 leaders gather in London pledging to stamp out tax abuses.

    Myners transferred 500,000 of his own shares in the Ermitage hedge fund, based in Jersey, into a blind trust when he became a minister in October …

    He owned the shares while overseeing price-sensitive policy decisions. During this time he met Jersey officials who now

    …

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    The Voice

    CommentIsLinked@LDV: Norman Baker – Iraq war inquiry is essential

    By The Voice | Wed 25th March 2009 - 6:41 pm

    Lib Dem MP Norman Baker has a letter published in today’s Guardian demanding an immediate and full inquiry into the Iraq war, which the Government has said will happen ‘as soon as possible’ after 31st July:

    It is welcome that Carne Ross reminds us (March 20) that intelligence available to the government before the invasion of Iraq made it “very clear” that Saddam was not a threat, but it’s hardly a revelation. The confidential Downing Street minute from 23 July 2002 records Jack Straw, then foreign secretary, telling the meeting of senior ministers and officials that the case for

    …

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    Mark Pack

    Peter Mandelson vs Norman Baker

    By Mark Pack | Sat 14th March 2009 - 11:22 am

    From the Daily Mirror:

    Lord Mandelson yesterday was at the centre of a secrecy row after refusing to reveal his business interests.

    The Business Secretary has placed all his shareholdings in a blind trust – meaning they cannot be seen by the public…

    Lib Dem MP Norman Baker said: “He must know what has been put in and we ought to know too or it subverts the announcement.” No10 said: “The point is Lord Mandelson doesn’t even know, therefore it doesn’t affect his decisions.”

    The Downing Street ‘rebuttal’ strikes me as particularly weak, because if you’ve put a whole load of investments in …

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    Mark Pack

    Conservative MP Chris Grayling under fire for his expense claims

    By Mark Pack | Sat 21st February 2009 - 10:19 pm

    The Sunday Mirror is highlighting Conservative MP Chris Grayling’s expense claims for his flat near Parliament:

    Top Tory Chris Grayling has claimed £104,183 of taxpayers’ money over six years for a London flat – even though he has a family home just 17 miles away from Westminster.

    And neighbours of the Shadow Home Secretary say they “rarely, if ever” see him at the Westminster flat where his postbox is packed with unopened mail.

    On the eve of becoming an MP in June 2001, Mr Grayling, 46, paid £127,000 for the one-bedroom flat in a six-storey block, which has views of Westminster Cathedral and is

    …

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    The Voice

    CommentIsLinked@LDV: Norman Baker – It might be legal, but it’s not right

    By The Voice | Fri 20th February 2009 - 6:22 pm

    Over at the Mirror, crusading Lib Dem MP Norman Baker writes (briefly) about the damage that the ‘drip, drip, drip of stories about MPs’ expenses’ is doing to Parliament. Here’s an excerpt (actually, it’s pretty much the whole piece):

    We can’t continue to have revelations that the public find so shocking. Jacqui Smith’s homes are a prime example. It’s not acceptable that she can claim her main home is her sister’s spare room. Saying it is within the rules is not good enough. House of Commons officials must be able to veto MPs’ declarations. They need to ask questions like where

    …

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    Stephen Tall

    Baker rejects air flight rationing

    By Stephen Tall | Sat 7th February 2009 - 10:20 am

    Today’s Telegraph reports that Lord Turner, the chairman of the Committee on Climate Change, has said people should be given personal flight limits to lower pollution from the aviation industry:

    “We will have to constrain demand in an absolute sense, with people not allowed to make as many journeys as they could in an unconstrained manner,” he told the Commons environmental audit committee. Lord Turner, whose committee is investigating whether the air industry can meet a target of reducing emissions to below 2005 levels by 2050, said the restriction may need to become permanent. He added: “It is at least possible

    …

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    Stephen Tall

    Labour backs Heathrow expansion – Norman and Susan lead Lib Dem opposition campaign

    By Stephen Tall | Thu 29th January 2009 - 9:31 am

    As BBC News reports:

    The government has won a vote over plans for Heathrow’s third runway – but saw its majority cut to just 19. … The Lib Dems supported the but the ministers argue scrapping the plans would seriously damage the economy. More than 50 Labour MPs had previously expressed concerns about the plans in other Commons motions but only 28 of them voted for the Conservative motion on Wednesday.

    It’s an all-too familiar scenario – Labour MPs queue up to sign Early Day Motions criticising their own party, then use their threat to withold support as bartering chips. All of which would be commendable if they didn’t then cash their chits for ridiculously small concessions, such as ‘a pledge to initially cap flights on the new runway’ .

    Lib Dem shadow secretary of state for transport Norman Baker, and local Richmond MP Susan Kramer were among those leading the campaign against the Heathrow expansion. Extracts from their Commons speeches below, with links to the full Hansard transcripts, follow:

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    Stephen Tall

    Stormin’ Norman on the warpath again

    By Stephen Tall | Sat 24th January 2009 - 10:37 am

    That tireless Parliamentary terrier, Lib Dem MP Norman Baker, has been doing what he does best, once again: demanding answers to awkward questions. The man who forced Peter Mandelson to quit the cabinet last time around has now turned his attention to two new bete-noires:

    1) Gordon Brown’s refusal to answer questions, which The Guardian’s Politics Blog notes – here’s what Norman said to the House of Commons, courtesy of Hansard:

    The issue of openness is crucial for democracy. We touched on it in the previous debate about MPs’ expenses. After all my years in politics, both

    …

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    Benjamin Mathis

    Opinion: Opposition is only half the fight – we must spell out our plan for Heathrow

    By Benjamin Mathis | Mon 19th January 2009 - 2:23 pm

    What follows is very much not dissent in the ranks or any kind of support for a third runway at Heathrow – if for no other reason than I don’t want to give John McDonnell any excuse to start wielding the Mace again. I fully support and agree with the Lib Dem campaign being ably led by Susan Kramer and Norman Baker against blighting south-west London and surrounding areas with yet more noise, pollution and congestion.

    But the Government has now announced its decision on a new runway and Terminal 6 and, while I hope we will be able to …

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    Stephen Tall

    Baker & Kramer lead Lib Dem opposition to Heathrow expansion

    By Stephen Tall | Fri 16th January 2009 - 9:40 am

    Yesterday Labour’s transport secretary Geoff Hoon announced to the House of Commons that the Government was giving the go-ahead to the expansion of Heathrow airport.

    The Tories are officially opposing the new third runway, though there are many splits in their ranks, from shadow cabinet members and Tory MPs, to Tory bloggers, to Oliver Dowden, their Director of Political Operations.

    Lib Dem opposition is wholehearted, embracing both those who believe the Heathrow business case is fundamentally flawed, as well as those who point to the environmental destruction that will result. Lib Dem shadow transport secretary Norman Baker and Susan – who’s leading the party’s campaign against the expansion – both responded to Mr Hoon’s Commons statement yesterday. The Hansard transcripts of their comments follows:

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    Stephen Tall

    Baker: “innocent train-spotters” hassled under anti-terrorism laws

    By Stephen Tall | Tue 6th January 2009 - 9:14 am

    Lib Dem MP Norman Baker has revealed that an astonishing 150,000 have been questioned by police at railway stations under the aegis of legislation designed to prevent terrorists. The Telegraph has the full story:

    The Prevention of Terrorism Act 2000 has been used to stop 62,584 people at railway stations and another 87,000 were questioned under “stop and search” and “stop and account” legislation. Liberal Democrat transport spokesman Norman Baker, who uncovered the figures, warned that Britain was heading towards a “police state”.

    He said: “Law-abiding passengers get enough hassle on overcrowded trains as it is without the added inconvenience

    …

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    Stephen Tall

    Which Lib Dem MP would you want to be the next Dr Who?

    By Stephen Tall | Wed 24th December 2008 - 9:20 am

    The news that David Tennant is quitting his role as The Doctor in the BBC series Dr Who has prompted a flurry of speculation in recent months about who might succeed him: David Morrissey, James Nesbitt, David Walliams, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Catherine Zeta Jones have all been suggested.

    To date – and perhaps not so very unsurprisingly – no Lib Dem MPs are yet in the frame for the job. But that didn’t seem any reason for Lib Dem Voice not to set our readers a different kind of Christmas quiz while we eagerly anticipate tomorrow’s special (BBC1, 6.00 pm): …

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    Alex Foster

    Baker takes on rozzers

    By Alex Foster | Mon 15th December 2008 - 4:49 pm

    Earlier in the year, we carried a piece raising concerns with the policing at the Kingsnorth climate camp.

    It’s not just our own councillors concerned with the conduct of the police at that event. A report in the Guardian suggests that people at all levels of governance from councillor to MEP have raised concerns.

    Norman Baker MP said, “I personally witnessed unnecessarily aggressive policing, unprovoked violence against peaceful protesters, an extraordinary number of police on site, and tactics such as confiscating toilet rolls, board games and clown costumes from what I saw to be peaceful demonstrators.”

    Now, according to a report …

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    Helen Duffett

    Norman Baker: Cabinet “split top to toe” on Heathrow third runway

    By Helen Duffett | Mon 15th December 2008 - 10:20 am

    I wrote a couple of weeks ago about the Conservatives’ indecision on a third runway at Heathrow.

    Now the Environment Secretary Hilary Benn has revealed the rift within the Government on the issue.

    In an interview with the Sunday Times,  Benn “said that Britain’s biggest airport had a ‘problem’ with air quality even before the construction of the proposed third runway.”

    Earlier this month Geoff Hoon, the transport secretary, reluctantly postponed the runway decision until the new year after some ministers expressed private doubts.

    Critics say the plan to increase aircraft capacity by almost 50% would boost emissions of harmful nitrogen dioxide and

    …

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    Posted in News | 7 Comments
    Helen Duffett

    Conservatives at odds over Heathrow third runway

    By Helen Duffett | Sat 29th November 2008 - 10:11 am

    Do the Conservatives oppose a third runway at Heathrow, or not?

    Iain Dale has this:

    There is growing disquiet among Tory MPs, and the Shadow Cabinet, about Theresa Villiers witchhunt against BAA. The Shadow Transport Secretary issued a press release yesterday headlined PROMISES FROM BAA CAN’T BE TRUSTED. The release went on to accuse BAA of breaking all its promises on a third runway.

    “BAA are right to admit that they have lost the trust of Parliamentarians and local communities over the third runway. However today’s letter is just the next in a long line of promises which may have

    …

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    Mark Pack

    What connects Norman Baker, Eartha Kitt, the assassination of JFK and a public meeting in Islington in 1981?

    By Mark Pack | Tue 11th November 2008 - 5:20 pm

    Why, the Daily Politico of course.

    Posted in News | 1 Comment
    Stephen Tall

    Huhne refers Osborne to Electoral Commission; Baker refers Osborne to Parliamentary Standards Commissioner

    By Stephen Tall | Thu 23rd October 2008 - 6:28 pm

    It’s been a busy day for two of the Lib Dems’ most tenacious shadow cabinet members today, with both Chris Huhne and Norman Baker urging investigations into Tory shadow chancellor George Osborne’s donation discussions with Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska.

    Chris Huhne wrote to the Chairman of the Electoral Commission, George Sam Younger*, asking him to confirm:

    that a donation by a foreign citizen not resident and on the electoral register in the UK ‘channelled’ through a conduit such as a UK trading company would be illegal. If so, there is a prima facie case for considering whether Mr Osborne and Mr

    …

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    Alex Foster

    Lib Dems react to Mandy news

    By Alex Foster | Sat 4th October 2008 - 8:21 am

    Here at Lib Dem Voice we don’t often cut’n’paste directly from party press releases, but sometimes it’s worth making the exception.

    Commenting on Gordon Brown’s cabinet reshuffle, in which Peter Mandelson is to return to a senior post, Chief of Staff to Nick Clegg, Danny Alexander said:

    “Gordon Brown is deluded if he thinks that Peter Mandelson can help him convince the British people that his party still has what it takes to govern this country.

    “Resurrecting ex-ministers from the political graveyard is not going to breathe new life into Gordon Brown’s zombie government.”

    Over at the Beeb, we have what is presumably a literary reference from Norman …

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    Mark Pack

    Question marks over David Cameron’s donors

    By Mark Pack | Sun 28th September 2008 - 1:03 pm

    From the Mail on Sunday:

    David Cameron faced embarrassment on the eve of his party conference last night after members of a secretive club of Tory donors were linked to the ‘short-selling’ of the collapsing Bradford & Bingley.

    As the bank was taken into the hands of the authorities ahead of its break-up or nationalisation, two members of Mr Cameron’s elite Leaders Group were revealed to have bet on its falling share price, which has dropped by 95 per cent in a year.

    A hedge fund managed by Michael Hintze, who has given £660,000 to the Tories since Mr Cameron took

    …

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    Posted in News | Also tagged | 15 Comments
    Alex Foster

    ‘Influential’ list continues

    By Alex Foster | Wed 17th September 2008 - 11:28 am

    Iain Dale’s list continues in the Telegraph, and the Voice team, variously drunk, hungover and sleep deprived have reacted most waspishly to nos 11-20:

    “Former Lib Dem MP? Don’t they mean ‘Lib Dem Peer’?”

    “Norman Baker is more influential than Ed Davey?!”

    “Graham Watson is no longer the Leader of the Lib Dem MEPs – he’s leader of ALDE. Andrew Duff is leader of the Lib Dem MEPs and he was in yesterday!”

    “Lembit, only 18?”

    Still, I suppose it’s got us talking, which is rather the point.

    Interestingly, it seems the Telegraph, like many other delegates, have been caught out by this …

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