Tag Archives: shirley wiliams

The Voice

Tributes to Shirley Williams

By The Voice | Tue 13th April 2021 - 12:00 pm

Many warm tributes have been paid to Shirley Williams, who sadly passed away yesterday.

Here are a selection of the tributes:

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Posted in Obituaries | Leave a comment
Michael Mullaney

The future of Social Democracy – a book to mark 40 years since the Limehouse Declaration

By Michael Mullaney | Tue 17th November 2020 - 10:54 am

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January 25th marks the 40th Anniversary of the Limehouse Declaration, when four former Labour Cabinet Ministers Roy Jenkins, David Owen, Bill Rodgers and Shirley Williams met to issue a statement that would shortly afterwards lead to the formation of the Social Democratic Party (SDP).

The SDP in alliance with the Liberal Party took 26% of the vote in the 1983 election and 23% of the vote in the 1987 election, two of our highest general election vote shares since the 1920s. The bulk of the SDP then merged with the Liberal Party in 1988 to go on to form the Liberal Democrat party we know today.

To mark this occasion the Social Democrat Group have arranged for the publication of a book of essays called The Future of Social Democracy.

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Posted in News | Also tagged , , , and | 20 Comments
The Voice

LibLink: Vince picks out Shirley Williams as the female parliamentarian that he most admires from the last 100 years

By The Voice | Tue 6th March 2018 - 12:12 pm


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To celebrate the 100th anniversary of women gaining the right to vote in the UK, House magazine have done an article where prominent MPs pay tribute to the female parliamentarian they most admire from the last 100 years.

They have the Speaker, John Bercow, paying tribute to Eleanor Rathbone. Andrea Ledsom writes about Nancy Astor. Cheryl Gillan and Emma Little-Pengelly talk of Margaret Thatcher. Baroness Smith and Angela Raynor pay tribute to Ellen Wilkinson, while Kirsty Blackman extols Winnie Ewing and Lord Fowler describes Baroness Swanborough (Stella Isaacs – the first female member of the House of Lords).

Vince Cable writes eloquently in tribute to Shirley Williams:

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Posted in LibLink | Also tagged , and | 15 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Alex Cole-Hamilton’s debut speech: EU is most important charter for freedom the world has ever seen

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 26th May 2016 - 3:48 pm

There is a reason I have spent so much time and energy over the past decade trying to get Alex Cole-Hamilton elected to the Scottish Parliament. I hope the video of his debut speech this morning will help you understand it too.

I had pretty high expectations, if I’m honest. The subject, the EU, is one of his strong points. Last year he won best speaker in the Charles Kennedy Memorial Debate on our continued membership of the EU. Alex managed to exceed even my lofty expectations today.

He paid tribute to his immediate predecessor and to Margaret Smith, who, as Liberal Democrat MSP for Edinburgh West until 2011, had played such a huge role in getting Free Personal Care through.

On Europe, he highlighted the role of the EU in preserving the peace. Only the last two generations of his family have been free from the losses of European war. As well as preserving the peace, the EU helps us tackle the challenges facing our world which know no borders, like climate change and human trafficking, he argued.  The case he made for the EU was persuasive, inspiring and optimistic.

The full text is below:

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Posted in News | Also tagged , , , , and | 7 Comments
Paul Walter

Shirley Williams predicts Labour MPs could come together with Lib Dems if Corbyn wins

By Paul Walter | Thu 13th August 2015 - 9:42 am

Speaking to the Huffington Post, Shirley Williams recalls the formation of the SDP in 1981, a key reason for which was the decision of left-wing Labour to campaign to take Britain out of the EEC:

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Posted in News | 69 Comments
Andy Burnham

A letter from Andy Burnham to Liberal Democrat members

By Andy Burnham | Fri 9th March 2012 - 9:00 am

I never expected to see the day when I could say, hand on heart, that I was more interested in events at a Lib Dem Spring Conference than the weekend’s football. But life’s full of surprises and that moment has arrived.

It is no over-statement to say that this weekend’s gathering in Gateshead could determine the future of our country’s best-loved institution.

As you prepare for the weekend, I wanted to make a direct appeal to the grassroots members of your party: please stand out against the current direction of reform and stand up for the NHS model we all have been …

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Posted in Conference, Op-eds and The Independent View | Also tagged , and | 62 Comments
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