Tag Archives: sir menzies campbell

In pictures: Leaders from the archives

Just delving about in the Getty Images archive, I happened upon these great images of our current leader and some of our past leaders*. Please click on the images to read the captions.

* includes predecessor parties.

Posted in Photo feature | Also tagged , , , , , , and | 2 Comments

LibLink: Sir Menzies Campbell: Commons reform is fitting tribute to Kennedy

Sir Menzies Campbell has written an article for the Sunday Times in which he argues that the House of Commons should be reformed to reflect Charles Kennedy’s style of politics.

It is hard to match the extraordinary and justified tributes made this week on the too-early death of Charles Kennedy. But perhaps the most fitting thing to do now would be to see what can be learnt from his style of politics in order to create a more appreciative understanding between politicians and the people they represent.

He talked about Charles’ ability to communicate, his sense of humour which was mischievous but never cruel and his tolerance and respect for others.

He went on to outline the specific reforms that could be enacted in the Commons to make it reflect those values:

Posted in News | Also tagged and | 3 Comments

Happy Birthday to Sir Menzies Campbell

image

 

What at does a Liberal Democrat MP do on his birthday?

Come in and phone bank at Scottish Liberal Democrat HQ, of course.

He was rewarded with  cake.

Happy Birthday, Ming.

Posted in News | 1 Comment

Sir Menzies Campbell: “We will not allow Nigel Farage to set our moral compass”

On the Today programme this morning, Liberal Democrat MP for North East Fife Sir Menzies Campbell debated the decision by the Government to give sanctuary to some of the most vulnerable Syrian refugees with Conservative MP Brooks Newmark who was less enthusiastic, it’s fair to say, about the idea.

Of course it’s a question of humanity and we should not allow the argument about immigration to stand in the way of our responsibility and we should not allow Mr Nigel Farage to set our moral compass in this matter.

Newmark said that if Britain was giving more money than other EU countries, we shouldn’t feel obligated to take in refugees as well.  You could hear the exasperation with such an insular, uncompassionate attitude in Sir Menzies’ voice:

These are not mutually exclusive. The fact that Britain has given £600 million is something of which we can legitimately be proud. We’ve also been part of the political effort going on at the moment in Geneva to try and find a political settlement out of this terrible morass. But none of that, however praiseworthy it is, can be regarded as being inconsistent with exercising the kind of humanity which legitimately might be expected of a permanent member of the Security Council of the United Nations.

Posted in News | Also tagged , and | 8 Comments

Sir Menzies: “Unfortunate” that coalition will not let Syrian refugees come to UK

The Independent reports Sir Menzies Campbell’s comments on the decision by the Coalition Government not to join other countries in allowing 10,000 refugees fleeing the Syrian conflict where, let’s not forget, chemical weapons have been used. Sir Menzies was not complimentary, that’s for sure:

It’s unfortunate, to put it as mildly as I possibly can, that we have closed our minds to that possibility when other countries in Europe have taken a much more generous position.

The Independent’s view is that Sir Menzies represents the Liberal Democrat view:

Mr Campbell’s view represents that of many of his colleagues in the Liberal Democrats

Posted in News | Also tagged , and | 4 Comments

Did this Lib Dem duo from Scotland reveal Mrs Clinton’s (not-so-well-cloaked) presidential ambitions?

The Herald brings intriguing news of a recent dinner held in honour of a select group receiving honorary degrees from the University of St Andrews, including recently-departed US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton:

The former First Lady was in good spirits. As appropriate for the star of the show, she arrived a little late, but made a point of going round all the other 17 graduates to shake them by the hand and say what a privilege it was to be graduating in their company.

The cast-list was impressive and included Sir Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the worldwide web, Nobel laureate

Posted in News | Also tagged and | 1 Comment

Syria: what do Liberal Democrats want?

Last night we brought you Nick Clegg’s view on Syria, which can be summarised as follows:

  • if we stand idly by we set a very dangerous precedent
  • the use of chemical weapons is a repugnant crime
  • we will not stand idly by when chemical weapons are used in complete breach of international law
  •  Government “is not going to act outside the remit of international law”
  • we want to stand up for the standards and norms in the civilised world

In the last couple of days Paddy Ashdown and Sir Menzies Campbell, two of the most respected voices this country has on foreign affairs, have been …

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , , and | 46 Comments

Sir Menzies Campbell says Egypt violence must end after “barbaric” events

In an interview with the BBC News Channel, Sir Menzies Campbell said that the international community, led by the US, should work to bring an end to the violence in Egypt. He described yesterday’s events as barbaric.

He said that the US was best placed to use its leverage, based on its funding to the Egyptian army, to initiate the process towards a sustainable political settlement. While in the long term there were strong arguments for those funds to be reduced, doing so at the moment might do more harm than good as it would remove the ability to set conditions.

He …

Posted in News | Also tagged , and | 12 Comments

Menzies Campbell talks to Today programme about Syria

Sir Menzies Campbell, Liberal Democrat MP for North East Fife and respected foreign policy expert talked to the Today programme yesterday about the situation in Syria. Last week he said that he didn’t think the EU arms embargo should be lifted. Now that it has been, he is now calling for a moratorium on arms exports to Syria so that a Conference can take place to try and get a peace process under way.

He told the Today programme yesterday:

I was one of those who expressed grave reservations about the idea of the EU embargo coming to an end which

Posted in News | Also tagged and | 3 Comments
Advert

Recent Comments

  • Tim Leunig
    The EU has been pretty clear that we could join the customs union - not sure they would be so keen to have us in the single market. Baby steps to rebuild trust ...
  • Tim Leunig
    "The cost of living is spiralling, wages are stagnant" - not so, average pay rises have been higher than inflation for over a year now - https://www.ons.gov.uk/...
  • Tim Rogers
    Jenny Barnes. Trouble is millions of people understand simple answers and vote for it....
  • Mick Taylor
    Mark Frankel is always 110% on the side of Netanyahu and the Israeli state, but his comments are not wholly wrong. I do feel angry that far too many people try ...
  • Steve Trevethan
    Might it be appropriate to promote whole nation-beneficial policies and their marketing, rather than concentrate on attacking other parties? Might it help to...