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Tag Archives: sal brinton

In pictures: Oxford West and Abingdon – 500th poster up for Layla Moran

By Simon Foster | Wed 29th April 2015 - 10:33 pm

Thing started well when we got the 300^th stakeboard up:

Photo 1 (Nathan Khan)

Then, there’s the posters. Activist Jan Morter decided that her stakeboard couldn’t be seen at night. So she decided to brighten up her street, which shone some light on the campaign:

Next there’s the ducks. Duck L’Orange, the duck of Liberal Tolerance and Justice, apart from having her own twitter account (follow @duckalorangeld) has apparently produced some offspring. A naming competition followed. After 2 ballots and 1 recount, Crispin Daisy Duck was declared the winner:

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged general election 2015, layla moran and oxford west and abingdon | 1 Comment

Sal Brinton refused access to bus because driver wouldn’t ask man with buggy to move

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 29th April 2015 - 2:32 pm

Just over a year ago, party President Sal Brinton wrote on here about her woeful experience of rail travel, saying she felt that disabled people were treated like packages. She outlined what had happened to her over a six month period:

Last Sunday, returning from the Scottish Lib Dem Conference in Aberdeen, I was left on an empty train on an empty platform at midnight at King’s Cross for over 15 minutes before I spotted someone on the first floor, and waved furiously to get her attention;
Refused permission on to a pre-booked train, because rush hour commuters rushed on the train ahead of me, and the train conductor didn’t want to move the commuters and risk being late – even though she watched them barge past the National Rail guy with the ramp and me;
Often been taken off the train by the conductor because the station staff weren’t notified I was on the train;
Having to be transported off the end of a rail platform, across the rail lines and up the other side, because many of our stations, even on main lines like Brockenhurst on the London to Bournemouth line, don’t have lifts;
And been told by Complaints Dept at First Capital Connect that lifts at Luton aren’t on the capital works schedule for some years and it is also acceptable not to have lifts there because they are available at Luton Airport station;

Yesterday, she had an equally unpleasant experience while trying to board a number 24 bus in London. She told the Evening Standard what had happened to her:

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Posted in News | Also tagged disabilities and public transport | 21 Comments

Baroness Sal Brinton writes…How Gallipoli marked one young life forever

By Sal Brinton | Sat 25th April 2015 - 7:30 am

Today marks one hundred years since Gallipoli and my brother and I will be at the Cenotaph to mark this special ANZAC day, as my grandfather, Arthur Coningham, a very young New Zealander, was there and survived. We never knew him because he died in an air accident in the Bermuda Triangle in 1948 but we know from family that his experience in the Dardenelles affected him greatly.

Arthur Coningham later went on to join the embryonic Royal Flying Corps (where he was known as Mary, thought to be a distortion of Maori), and became a fighter pilot. However, he nearly didn’t make it because of his early experiences as an ANZAC.

He was born in Australia in 1895, and after his parents’ notorious behaviour in a celebrated court case they moved to New Zealand where he grew up. His parents subsequently divorced, especially outrageous in the early 20^th Century, and the whole family really suffered, with all the children being bullied and humiliated. His mother was a hairdresser, doing her best to keep herself and her three children. He went to Wellington College on a Junior Free Place, where he excelled at sports, but wasn’t at all academic. When he left, he went to work on a sheep farm as he had no idea of what he might do.

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Posted in News | Also tagged anzac cove, gallipoli and world war 1 | 3 Comments

Sal Brinton appeals for help for Nick Harvey in North Devon

By Newspuppy | Mon 20th April 2015 - 8:13 pm

Party President Sal Brinton appeals to supporters in and around Devon to go and help Nick Harvey’s campaign, It certainly looks lovely, warm and sunny there.

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Posted in News | Also tagged sir nick harvey | 39 Comments

Sal Brinton and the grassroots

By Mary Reid | Mon 30th March 2015 - 4:39 pm

Yesterday Party President Sal Brinton was interviewed by Dermot Murnaghan for Sky News.

You can read the full transcript of the interview here, but here are some snippets:

DM: … you are in touch with the Lib Dem grassroots as President and we heard from Lord Steel, the former leader, saying there is no appetite amongst Lib Dems for another coalition.

SAL BRINTON: That’s not the grassroots that I’ve been talking to.

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Posted in News | 15 Comments

Sal Brinton joins the elite triple badge ranks of Team 2015 #mademy10 #ldconf

By Paul Walter | Sun 15th March 2015 - 12:41 pm

Earlier this morning, I photographed Lib Dem President Sal Brinton (above) as she made her third batch of phone calls at the Team 2015 phone bank. So she won her third badge at the Liverpool conference. It’s great to see Sal leading from the front.

Update: Quick addition from Caron just to say that sitting next to Sal is Kirsten Johnson who has become a fairly regular contributor to LDV.

Posted in Photo feature | 1 Comment

How you can help us make history in Ashfield

By Jason Zadrozny | Mon 9th February 2015 - 4:59 pm

I remember the feeling of despair. It was the early hours of Friday, 7th May 2010. Our team had failed to gain Ashfield by 192 votes. That’s 192 votes out of nearly 50,000. How annoying is that! I looked at our exhausted team and vowed to finish the job. A team who had worked their socks off and given their hearts, souls and just about everything else over an exhausting, yet strangely exhilarating campaign.

Everyone said we couldn’t do it. I suppose they were right – we didn’t. Starting the campaign nearly 15,000 behind and in 3rd place it was always going to be tall order. A 19.5% swing was an incredible achievement though. It was difficult to see at the time, but this was the moment our job really started…

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Posted in Campaign Corner | Also tagged ashfield and eastwood | 6 Comments

Sal Brinton: “We aren’t dead”

By Paul Walter | Wed 28th January 2015 - 11:55 am

New Statesman carries an interview with Liberal Democrat President, Sal Brinton. It’s wide-ranging discussion, with Sal in upbeat mood:

The key message is, if I talk to a candidate or other senior people do, make sure that you pass the word on. It’s like handing a torch on to say, ‘actually we aren’t dead, there’s a lot happening, there’s a lot good that we’ve got to talk about in government, and yes there have been things that have been very difficult for us’. But if people only hear about the bad side, and the side that the other parties want you to hear about, we will be missing a real trick.

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Posted in News | Also tagged 2015 general election and liberal democrats | 17 Comments

The Greens: the Lib Dem fightback begins

By Caron Lindsay | Fri 16th January 2015 - 7:35 pm

Yesterday’s news that the Greens had overtaken the Liberal Democrats in terms of membership – their 44713, compared to our 44680 – has, from what I’ve seen on my social media, galvanised our activists rather than demoralised them. And so we should be proud of ourselves. For a party in government in the most trying economic circumstances since the 30s to have grown for 6 quarters in a row is nothing short of miraculous. The Labour party couldn’t manage that and they had the most benign economic circumstances in years.

The Green’s figures include Northern Ireland which ours don’t so like for like it’s more neck and neck. (Update: Adam Ramsay on Twitter assures me that the Greens figures do not include Northern Ireland). I’ve also seen some people say that it’s not fair because the Scottish Greens and the Green Party of England and Wales are two separate organisations. There’s no point in splitting hairs, though.

The Party has been making a bit of a concerted effort to make sure that the Greens don’t have the stage for themselves. Tim Farron has written an article of the New Statesman in which he emphasises what the Liberal Democrats have done in government to protect the environment:

The Conservatives’ approach to the environment in Europe shows what sort of approach they would take if they are allowed to govern alone. In coalition, Liberal Democrats have fought to make sure that the environment has stayed at the top of the agenda. We’ve doubled the amount of energy generated from offshore wind and stopped the Tories from slashing support for renewable energy. And while senior Conservative politicians voice their doubts about man-made climate change, Energy Secretary Ed Davey has been busy paving the way for a global deal to cut carbon emissions. Without the Lib Dems, there would be nothing to stop the Tories from lurching to the right on the environment. The truth is, the only way to make blue go green is by adding yellow.

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged featured, general election 2015, greens, liberal democrats and tim farron | 182 Comments

Warning: This post may damage your health – but, it’s ok, Sal Brinton will make it better

By Caron Lindsay | Fri 16th January 2015 - 5:36 pm

It’s not often we put health warnings on posts, but we do need to today. It’s not the post that’s the problem, it’s more the programme we’re suggesting you watch. Last night’s Question Time had one of its most habitually annoying contributors, David Starkey and if you watch it here on BBC iPlayer, he will make you very cross indeed.

I was quite amazed that I managed to get through the whole hour without either wine or even swearing out loud, even though the historian did everything he possibly could to live down to his reputation and beyond. His personal nadir was when he was trying to make out that children could have some responsibility for their own sexual assaults. And calling Mehdi Hasan Ahmed wasn’t much better.

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Posted in News | Also tagged david starkey, mehdi hasan and question time | 30 Comments

++ And the new President of the Liberal Democrats is…

By The Voice | Sat 29th November 2014 - 5:25 pm

SAL BRINTON!

Many congratulations to her and well done to all three candidates for competing in an excellent campaign. This post will be updated with fuller details and reaction in due course.

Special thanks also to the staff and volunteers who have been counting in Liberal Democrat HQ since early this morning. It’s been a bit of a marathon with initial problems in getting the votes verified but they’ve all done a great job.

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Posted in Party Presidency | Also tagged daisy cooper, featured, liz lynne, party presidency and party presidential election 2014 | 46 Comments

Election for Lib Dem Party President: who will win, according to our exclusive survey

By Stephen Tall | Wed 26th November 2014 - 12:00 pm

Lib Dem Voice has polled our members-only forum to discover what Lib Dem members think of various political issues, the Coalition, and the performance of key party figures. The survey closed at 10am today. 747 party members responded – thank you – and we’ll be publishing the full results here.

Tim Farron’s four-year stint as Lib Dem Party President finishes at the end of this year. The contest to succeed him was a three-way election between three female candidates: Sal Brinton, Daisy Cooper, and Liz Lynne.

We asked a series of questions about the party presidency in our survey…

91% in our survey say they will vote! (That won’t be the turnout.)

Three candidates are standing for the post of Party President, an election which is being decided by a ballot of all party members. Do you plan to vote in this election?

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Posted in LDV Members poll and Party Presidency | Also tagged daisy cooper, featured, liz lynne and tim farron | 12 Comments

What do do if you haven’t had a ballot paper in the party Presidential Election

By Caron Lindsay | Tue 25th November 2014 - 9:19 am

Over the last few months, the party has had the best Presidential election contest it’s had in years, with first four, then three candidates travelling the length of the country to meet and engage with members and answer their questions.

Now it’s almost over. Voting closes tomorrow at noon.

Ballot papers were sent out at the end of October to all members by post. Each member had an option of returning the green ballot paper, or using the unique information in it to vote by post.

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Posted in News | Also tagged daisy cooper, liz lynne and party presidential elect | 4 Comments

The 3 Lib Dem party president candidates on what they’d do in my “It’s 8th May 2015” scenario

By Stephen Tall | Fri 7th November 2014 - 9:45 am

A couple of weeks ago I asked all three candidates for the Lib Dem party presidency a deliberately provocative question:

It’s 8th May, 2015. The Lib Dems have lost some MPs but are still a force to be reckoned with in the House of Commons. Nick Clegg announces he will step aside to let a new leader take over. No single party has an overall majority. What will you do in the next 7 days to maximise Lib Dem influence and keep the party united?

As I wrote then:

My guess is all three will be reluctant to be drawn by the premise of the question (Lib Dems losing MPs, Nick quitting). Fair enough, that’s how politics works. You’re not allowed publicly to think through the Plans B, C and D you need to be thinking through, or the media will tear you to shreds. So I’m not necessarily expecting their real answer.

The reason I’m asking it to them is simple. That scenario, above, is the most likely one to play out in six months’ time, and I really want them to be thinking now about how they handle it. Their response will likely determine not only the success of their time as party president, but also how the party handles it.

To their credit, all three answered. Quick snippets from each below, but well worth reading in full what they said, I think.

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Posted in Party Presidency | Also tagged daisy cooper and liz lynne | 10 Comments

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.

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Posted in Party Presidency | Also tagged daisy cooper, liz lynne, presidential election 2014 and Rock the boat | 11 Comments

Presidential Candidates’ Emails to party members

By The Voice | Sun 2nd November 2014 - 11:55 am

Last night, emails from all 3 candidates for party president were sent to party members. Ballot papers have started arriving on the doorsteps of the party’s 44,000 members. Members have the choice of either sending their ballot paper back in the reply paid envelope provided or voting online. You can’t do both, obviously. Checks are in place to ensure that people only vote once.

Here are the emails in full with links to the candidates’ websites:

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Posted in News | Also tagged daisy cooper, liz lynne and presidential election 2014 | 45 Comments

On making LDV more inclusive

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 29th October 2014 - 9:38 pm

Today has not been a good day. It’s not a good feeling when you discover that someone has left the party over something you did, as Lester Holloway has done. I hope that he reconsiders his decision.

The story begins on Saturday when I published this story about Lib Dem Campaigns supremo Victoria Marsom’s visit to Botswana at the culmination of a year long project to help our sister party in the elections there.

Lester said in the comments that he was unhappy with our interference in this African election. In the ensuing debate, onc eommenter, who as far as we know is not a member or even a supporter of the party, made a racist comment at around 11pm on Monday. I woke up to an email complaining about it at 8am on Tueadsy. I immediately removed the comment and had a fairly lengthy email conversation with a number of people who were copied into the email. I would have been quite happy to bin the comment completely, but I gave an additional option that it should be reinstated but with a very clear statement that comments of that nature are completely unacceptable. It was agreed that this is what we should do and two of the people who were copied into that email thanked me and seemed happy with the outcome.

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged comments, featured, lester holloway, moderation and racism | 105 Comments

Sal Brinton on how Liberal Democrats helped change law on revenge porn

By The Voice | Sun 26th October 2014 - 3:30 pm

If you have half an hour today, make sure you listen to the Week in Westminster, available here on iPlayer.

In it, Tom Brake debates the merits of fixed term Parliaments. The Tory argument against them seems to be more based in self interest and “we are sick fed up of the coalition and these pesky Liberal Democrats” than anything that actually matters.

Sal Brinton is also on talking about revenge porn which was made illegal in moves driven by Liberal Democrats including Sal, Olly Grender, Jonathan Marks and Liz Barker. Presenter Helen Lewis had initially said that the move was part of Chris Grayling’s move to combat internet abuse. Sal put her right, explaining that the impetus actually came from Liberal Democrats on the back of Hannah Thompson’s campaign. She was very diplomatic about the process of getting Government support for the move. You’ll have to listen to see how, in the last few minutes of the programme.

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Posted in News | Also tagged helen lewis, olly grender, radio 4, revenge porn, tom brake and week at westminster | 8 Comments

Voting for the next Lib Dem party president starts a week today

By Stephen Tall | Wed 22nd October 2014 - 9:05 am

A week today, Wednesday, 29th October, ballot papers will be sent to all c.44,000 Lib Dem members enabling us to vote for the next Party President in succession to Tim Farron, who’s held the post for the past four years. Other than the party leader, the presidency is currently the only other post in the Lib Dems determined by a vote of all its members.

Three candidates successfully secured nomination — click on their names to follow the links to their campaign websites:

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Posted in Party Presidency | Also tagged daisy cooper, featured, liz lynne and party presidential election 2014 | 4 Comments

All in a day’s Lib Dem conference: hustings, fringes, OMOV and sex work

By Stephen Tall | Sat 4th October 2014 - 7:00 pm

It’s felt like a slow start to conference – I’m habituated to the Friday night rally and meaty policy debates starting at bleary o’clock on Saturday morning. But with the rally moved to Saturday night, conference itself wasn’t opened until this afternoon.

However, that meant there was time this morning for the first official hustings of the Party Presidential contest, with Sal Brinton, Daisy Cooper, Linda Jack and Liz Lynne all present. In fact, there was possibly too much time – 90 minutes in a too-efficiently air-conditioned room at times dragged a little. No fault of the candidates themselves – they were all fluent and thoughtful – but they also all agreed on pretty much everything of substance. All pledged to be the independent voice of the membership and to speak truth unto leadership power.

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Posted in Conference | Also tagged craig harrow, daisy cooper, Danny Alexander, david williams, duncan brack, helen wallace, john curtice, linda jack, liz lynne, Mark Pack, omov, party presidential election 2014 and sex work | 8 Comments

Nick Clegg arrives at conference

By Paul Walter | Sat 4th October 2014 - 1:54 pm

My photo here shows Nick Clegg arriving at the conference in Glasgow at noon today. He chats briefly with the four Presidential candidates, from left to right: Sal Brinton, Linda Jack, Liz Lynne and Daisy Cooper. The four candidates were hot foot from the first Presidential hustings of the conference, which was packed.

Posted in News | Also tagged daisy cooper, linda jack, liz lynne and nick clegg | 4 Comments

EXCLUSIVE: Lib Dem Party Presidency – first members’ poll results are here

By Stephen Tall | Sat 4th October 2014 - 9:00 am

Lib Dem Voice has polled our members-only forum to discover what Lib Dem members think of various political issues, the Coalition, and the performance of key party figures. Some 735 party members responded – thank you – and we’re publishing the full results.

Tim Farron’s four-year stint as Lib Dem Party President ends this year. The contest to succeed him appears to be a four-way election between four female candidates: Sal Brinton, Daisy Cooper, Linda Jack and Liz Lynne.

They hold their first official hustings today, Saturday, 10-11am But don’t worry if you can’t make that – LibDemVoice is hosting a special “Who Wants to be Party President?” fringe meeting tomorrow, Sunday from 1-2pm, in the Crowne Plaza (Castle 2), where you can hear from all four, with past party president Baroness (Diana) Maddock chairing.

We asked a series of questions about the party presidency in our survey…

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Posted in LDV Members poll | Also tagged daisy cooper, featured, linda jack, liz lynne and party presidential election 2014 | 31 Comments

Race equality survey of presidential candidates

By Lester Holloway | Wed 17th September 2014 - 11:05 am

What do the candidates to be president of the Lib Dems think should be done to make the party more racially-diverse? I sent them a short six-question survey to find out.

The full survey results can be found on my blog here. Sal Brinton, Daisy Cooper, Linda Jack and Liz Lynne all agreed on many issues, with Sal and Linda proving the boldest in embracing new solutions to increase BAME (Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic) diversity, Liz being the most cautious and Daisy somewhere in between. But there wasn’t a whole lot to pick between them.

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged daisy cooper, featured, linda jack, liz lynne, party presidential election 2014 and race equality | 27 Comments

Alison Goldsworthy quits party saying it’s no place for “women who want to deliver change”

By The Voice | Sun 24th August 2014 - 11:55 am

In an interview with The Times newspaper (£), Alison Goldsworthy said that she had resigned from the Federal Executive of the Liberal Democrats, of which she was Vice Chair. She has since confirmed to us that she had resigned from the Party. This means that none of the four women who made allegations of improper behaviour against Chris Rennard remains a member of the party. Chris Rennard denies the specific allegations but issued an apology to the women in May in which he expressed his “his regret for any harm or embarrassment caused to them or anythingwhich made them feel uncomfortable.”

Alison described the events which led to her complaint:

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Posted in News | Also tagged alison goldsworthy, linda jack, liz lynne, lord rennard, party presidential election 2014 and party structure | 78 Comments

Liberal Democrat amendment making revenge porn a crime to be debated today – watch Hannah’s story

By Caron Lindsay | Mon 21st July 2014 - 2:29 pm

This afternoon, an amendment to the Criminal Justice and Courts Bill in the name of four Liberal Democrat peers, Jonathan Marks, Olly Grender, Liz Barker and Sal Brinton, will be debated in the House of Lords. Its effects would be to make it an offence to publish a sexually explicit image of a person without their consent, punishable by 6 months to a year in prison.

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged hannah thompson, jonathan marks, julian huppert, liz barker, olly grender and revenge pornography | Leave a comment

Sal Brinton to stand for party President

By Sal Brinton | Wed 9th July 2014 - 3:45 pm

The Liberal Democrats have had a really tough four years since the formation of the coalition. Even though we suspected it would be tough, being in Government has taken its toll. Too many councillors who have worked hard, campaigned hard, and faithfully served their communities well, have lost their seats. They embody Liberal Democrat principles in action all over the country, so we must rebuild our local government base as a priority.

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged presidential election 2014 | 13 Comments

Linda Jack to announce Lib Dem party president campaign

By Stephen Tall | Sat 19th April 2014 - 12:00 pm

Lib Dem activist Linda Jack will shortly announce that she will be a candidate for the post of Party President in the all-member election that will take place this autumn.

To date, two candidates have declared their intention to run: Baroness (Sal) Brinton and Pauline Pearce. I understand Linda will officially throw her hat into the ring after May’s local and European elections.

Linda Jack has twice been a parliamentary candidate for the party: in Luton North in 2005, and in Mid-Bedfordshire (up against Nadine Dorries) in 2010. She also …

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Posted in News and Party Presidency | Also tagged linda jack, party presidential election 2014 and pauline pearce | 35 Comments

First two Lib Dem presidential hopefuls declare themselves

By Stephen Tall | Sat 8th March 2014 - 9:30 am

Party president Tim Farron’s second (and non-renewable) term of office finishes at the end of this year, after four years in the role. He doubtless expected most of the challenges that come from the Lib Dems being in coalition with the Conservatives. He wouldn’t have expected to have to manage the fall-out from the allegations of sexual impropriety made against Lord Rennard a year ago.

The post of party president is the only Lib Dem role other than that of leader elected through an all-member ballot, and it will take place this autumn. This mandate (along with the requirement to deal …

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Posted in News and Party Presidency | Also tagged featured, party presidential election 2014 and pauline pearce | 8 Comments

Nick Clegg announces 2015 negotiating team

By Mary Reid | Tue 4th March 2014 - 11:34 am

Nick Clegg has announced the team who will handle coalition negotiations after the election in 2015 (if needed, of course). It will consist of Danny Alexander, Steve Webb, Sal Brinton, Lynne Featherstone and David Laws.

In his book ‘22 days in May‘ David Laws revealed that Nick Clegg had appointed the 2010 negotiating team in secret during the previous year. The team was not put together in haste after the election, as many had assumed, so there were really no excuses for the absence of women. Politically David Laws and Danny Alexander were drawn from the economic liberal wing of …

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Posted in News | Also tagged 2015 election, Danny Alexander, david laws, featured, lynne featherstone, nick clegg and steve webb | 42 Comments

Mayor Dorothy announces she’ll go for fourth term in Watford

By The Voice | Thu 26th September 2013 - 3:35 pm

Good news in Watford, where Dorothy Thornhill, who in 2002 became the first directly-elected Lib Dem mayor in the country, has announced she will run for a fourth term of office:

I am really pleased to announce that I am going to stand again as the mayoral candidate for the Watford Liberal Democrats in the 2014 mayoral elections.

Last night we held our official party meeting at St Luke’s Church, at which I was unanimously reselected. The turnout was great,

…

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Posted in Local government and News | Also tagged dorothy thornhill, elected mayor and watford | 3 Comments