Tag Archives: simon wright

Stephen Tall

Ashcroft battlegrounds poll: Lib Dems set to lose four marginal seats to Labour

By Stephen Tall | Sun 6th July 2014 - 2:45 pm

lib lab Labour Liberal Democrat logoThe second of Conservative peer Lord Ashcroft’s polls of Lib Dem marginal seats was published this week, focusing on four of our battlegrounds with Labour: Norwich South (held by Simon Wright), Bradford East (David Ward), Brent Central (Sarah Teather standing down, Ibrahim Taguri selected), and Manchester Withington (John Leech). Also included was Brighton Pavilion, which Caroline Lucas won for the Greens from Labour in 2010.

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Posted in News and Polls | Also tagged , , , , , , , , and | 41 Comments
The Voice

Duncan Hames steps down as PPS to Nick Clegg and Simon Wright takes over

By The Voice | Tue 24th December 2013 - 7:16 pm

Following this afternoon’s wonderful news about the safe arrival of Andrew Lennox Marshall Hames,  the Belfast Telegraph reports that his dad, Duncan Hames, has decided to step down from his position as Parliamentary Private Secretary to Nick Clegg so that he has “more time to spend with our new baby”:

Mr Hames said: “When I told Nick that I would be wanting more time to spend with our new baby, I knew he would understand.

“Now that our son, Andrew, is with us, I am stepping down as the Deputy Prime Minister’s PPS.

“I truly appreciated the opportunity to see the coalition

…

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Posted in News | Also tagged , and | 1 Comment
Caron Lindsay

Liberal Democrat Job Watch – 24 July 2013

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 24th July 2013 - 2:45 pm

Fancy working for the Liberal Democrats? There are a fair few jobs to choose from over on Work for an MP website which includes both party jobs and jobs with parliamentarians.  There are opportunities in the north, south and east of mainland UK.

North

There are two jobs in Scotland. Jo Swinson is looking for a caseworker in her East Dunbartonshire office:

An empathetic, organised, highly efficient individual is sought for the role of Caseworker to Jo Swinson MP. The role is permanent, based on a working week of 37.5 hours. The position is based within a lively and dynamic team in

…

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Posted in News | Also tagged , , , and | Leave a comment
George Kendall

You are invited to Simon Wright’s birthday party – Saturday 15th September

By George Kendall | Fri 7th September 2012 - 3:53 pm

Saturday the fifteenth is Simon Wright’s birthday. To help him celebrate, he’d like nothing better than hordes of Liberal Democrats to join him in Norwich.

We’ll be playing such party classics as: find a deliverer, how many leaflets can you deliver in an hour, and pass the residents survey. If you’re not familiar with these games, training will be available.

As the local party will be providing a free lunch and a free supper, they need to know how many will attend. They also need numbers because they need to know how much to print for the party games.

If you’d like to …

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Posted in News | Also tagged | 4 Comments
Simon Wright MP

Simon Wright MP writes… Creationism won’t be taught as fact – Fact!

By Simon Wright MP | Thu 19th July 2012 - 4:24 pm

New Free Schools will not be able to teach Creationism as fact. That sums up precisely what the rest of this article is about. If you just wanted a firm answer as to whether free schools will be able to teach Creationism in science classes, then feel under no pressure to read on. I won’t be offended.

A debate has arisen on this subject following rumours that the new Exemplar Free School intends to teach its students that Creationism is scientific fact. I can confirm, however, that this is not the case.

The 2013 Free Schools application process specifically says creationism, intelligent …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged and | 35 Comments
Paul Walter

PMQs: Miliband 1 Barn Door 1

By Paul Walter | Wed 14th December 2011 - 12:53 pm

It was the last pre-Christmas Prime Minister’s Questions today and we saw the return of Nick Clegg loyally sitting at the PM’s right-hand side.

Ed Miliband started on the economy, and the news that unemployment is up again. He quoted David Cameron’s words when he came to office, saying that jobs would be “uppermost”. “What’s gone wrong?” asked the opposition leader.

Cameron’s main thrust during the 2010 election campaign was that new private sector jobs should lead the economic recovery and more than replace lost public sector jobs. Miliband did a good job of exposing that this bright idea has allegedly failed. …

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Posted in PMQs | Also tagged , , , , and | 10 Comments
Sarah Teather

Poverty and achievement: breaking the link – Sarah Teather’s speech to conference

By Sarah Teather | Mon 19th September 2011 - 3:50 pm

Sarah Teather, Liberal Democrat Minister of State for Children and Families, gave this speech yesterday to Liberal Democrat conference:

“Education… beyond all other devices of human origin, is the great equalizer of men, the balance-wheel of the social machinery.“

The quote is from HoraceMann, the great 19th century American reformer. But it speaks to the instincts of liberals here with as much resonance as then.

The scandal is that though it should be true, it isn’t.

You will hear many people talk this week about the shocking state of the nation’s finances that was Labour’s legacy. I want to talk about another …

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Posted in Conference | Also tagged , , , , , and | 2 Comments
Stephen Tall

The 7 Lib Dem MPs unaffected by the Boundary Commission proposals

By Stephen Tall | Tue 13th September 2011 - 6:20 pm

The last 24 hours’ political news has been dominated by the Boundary Commission for England’s proposals for new parliamentary constituencies — and in particular the reduction from 533 to 502 in accordance with the Coalition Agreement to reduce the size of the House of Commons.

I’m a self-confessed politics geek, so I find this stuff interesting. But I was surprised that it should be the lead news item on BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme this morning — does the public care as much as us anoraks? I doubt it.

True, some members of the public will have particular concerns about …

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Posted in News | Also tagged , , , , and | 25 Comments
Paul Walter

PMQs: Nadine Dorries leaves the PM speechless

By Paul Walter | Wed 7th September 2011 - 1:23 pm

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Posted in News and PMQs | Also tagged , , , , , , and | 8 Comments
George Kendall

Come help Simon Wright in Norwich South on Sept 3rd

By George Kendall | Fri 19th August 2011 - 11:04 am

Remember Norwich South on the 6th May 2010, when Simon Wright made that astonishing breakthrough to take the seat from a former Labour Cabinet minister?

We all know that success like this is only sustained if we keep working outside election times.
So Eastern Region are holding an Action Day on Saturday, September 3rd.

There will be surveying and recruitment, and a chance to talk over lunch with other campaigners, including Simon Wright.

So do join us.

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Posted in Events | Also tagged , and | 6 Comments
Helen Duffett

End of term report for Lib Dem MPs’ Class of 2010

By Helen Duffett | Sat 16th July 2011 - 10:51 am

As the House of Commons rises this Tuesday, the BBC’s Gavin Stamp gives new MPs of all parties his end-of-term report.

Here’s what he has to say about the new Lib Dem intake:

New entrants were small in number but still accounted for almost one in six of the Parliamentary party.

No new MPs made it into the ranks of ministers or were asked to head up a series of backbench committees designed to help the party retain an independent voice on issues outside the coalition.

However, Gordon Birtwhistle and Duncan Hames became parliamentary private secretaries, the latter also finding time to

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Posted in Parliament | Also tagged , , , , , , , , and | 2 Comments
Paul Walter

PMQs: The Pillsbury Doughboy takes on Motherhood and Apple pie – and loses

By Paul Walter | Thu 3rd February 2011 - 11:32 pm

For the second time in three weeks, a LibDem asked the first question at Prime Minister’s Question time. Bob Russell asked, first of all, for the PM to list his engagements for the day. As usual, there was the same response as there has been for virtually every week since Noah was in short trousers. “This morning I had meetings with ministerial colleagues and others and, in addition to my duties in the House, I shall have further such meetings later today.” Same question, same answer, every blinking week. It is hard not to have a mite of sympathy with …

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Posted in PMQs | Also tagged , , , , , and | 33 Comments
Simon Wright MP

13 Norwich by-elections on one day – can you help?

By Simon Wright MP | Mon 16th August 2010 - 11:20 am

In just one month voters in Norwich will be going to the polls again

Here in Norwich, we’re fighting not 1, not 2, not even 10 council by-elections this summer. We’ve got 13.

We won Norwich South at the General Election by just 310 votes. These elections are set to be just as close. Many people came to help us in May, and we’re appealing for even more people to come and help us now. We’re especially looking for people to make a few phone calls from home.

Back in December, following a drawn-out and bitter process that split political parties …

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Posted in Council by-elections | Also tagged | 7 Comments
Stephen Tall

Lib Dem MP Simon Wright delivers his Mpinions

By Stephen Tall | Fri 16th July 2010 - 12:40 pm

Simon Wright, the Lib Dem MP for Norwich South who did the nation a service by vanquishing Charles Clarke, is the first of the newbie MPs to take part in a viral video campaign called ‘Mpinions’. Here’s the spiel from its creators:

Mpinions is allowing new MPs to properly introduce themselves to you and all in a few easily-digestible minutes! Consider it the speed dating of the political world! The video campaign itself will be running until the end of August and is being sponsored by The Electoral Reform Society and supported and promoted online by the Hansard Society, Operation

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Posted in Online politics and YouTube | Also tagged | 2 Comments
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  • User AvatarDavid Evans 29th Feb - 12:47am
    Gordon, as you say "There is a better way – but there are also strong vested interests who would rather go down with the ship...
  • User AvatarTom Harney 29th Feb - 12:44am
    Thank you Geoff for your comment. However there is a real Tom Barney, and I do not claim to be him.
  • User AvatarTom Harney 29th Feb - 12:34am
    I can only agree with what has been expressed here. This would have been a golden opportunity to focus on poverty in our society. We...
  • User AvatarDavid Evans 29th Feb - 12:30am
    Galen, Indeed it would, and people have been saying just that for years. Unfortunately, neither Labour nor the Conservatives will let it happen while they...
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    I have never been to Australia, but would like to comment on the idea that an additional 1 degree in average temperature is insignificant. It...
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    "The Party needs a mechanism by which its local issue members can work side by side with the new, bigger picture members," Well that's a...