Tag Archives: Rock the boat

Presidential candidates respond to Rock the Boat

By Katherine Bavage | Mon 3rd November 2014 - 5:00 pm

Readers may not all be familiar with ‘Rock the Boat – Lib Dems against sexual harassment’ given our semi-unofficial status within the party. We are not a formal association or SAO and we are mostly organised through networking and a private facebook group.

Launched in early 2013 in response to the first Channel 4 allegations about Lord Rennard’s behaviour, the group was a response from grassroots members to a fervent desire that the issues raised be thoroughly addressed in the party.

Posted in Party Presidency | Also tagged daisy cooper, liz lynne, presidential election 2014 and sal brinton | 11 Comments

Lord Rennard: Lib Dems continue investigation into peer while party official apologises for lapse

By The Voice | Sat 26th July 2014 - 8:45 am

The Guardian reports today on the latest developments in the Lord Rennard case, specifically:

A senior Lib Dem official has personally apologised to Lord Rennard “over the fact the party told the media an appeal against his suspension had been rejected before the peer himself was informed of the ruling.” (See LDV’s brief report, ‘Lord Rennard remains suspended’ (15th July).)

The party has abandoned its investigation into Lord Rennard for not apologising to the four women, who maintain he touched them inappropriately, as recommended by Alistair Webster QC’s inquiry,

…

Posted in News | Also tagged alistair webster and lord rennard | 30 Comments

Opinion: So who are those Rock the Boat people?

By Grace Goodlad | Wed 22nd January 2014 - 11:30 am

Eleven months ago the Liberal Democrat world was tipped on its axis when Channel 4 broadcast reports from women making serious allegations of sexual harassment against one of the Party’s most senior, loved and respected figures. As the sorry tale unfolded it was clear that the party had failed to deal with the complaints they had made and had failed to let anyone involved in the terrible situation get justice. It became clear that we, as an organisation, had a cultural problem and no idea of how to get our house in order.

As one would expect – if you know Lib Dems at all – the grassroots spoke, and James Shaddock set up a Facebook group called “Rock the Boat.” It grew rapidly and now has over 400 Liberal Democrat members. The idea was that sometimes you have to say or do uncomfortable things to stop sexual harassment – whether that is to speak out about your own experiences, write policy motions, tell your friends if you think they are behaving inappropriately, or even reflect on your own actions and behaviours and perhaps change them after some soul searching and analysis. Sadly, eleven months ago it became quite obvious that when people had spoken up on sexual harassment, they had been told “Don’t Rock the Boat” – hence the name.

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged equality and sexual harassment | 15 Comments

Opinion: Why we’re rocking the boat in Brighton this weekend

By James Shaddock | Fri 8th March 2013 - 3:36 pm

I’ve been thinking a lot about leadership in relation to the party over the past few weeks in the wake of the allegations about the conduct of Lord Rennard, which he denies.

Why did no one tackle this effectively at the time? Why did it take several brave women talking to the media for us to finally deal with such a serious problem?

Credit where credit is due, Tim Gordon, the party’s Chief Executive has been impressive so far but is it enough?

Not for me or other Liberal Democrats members. That is why we set up

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged equality and sexual harassment | Leave a comment