Tag Archives: tim farron

Caron Lindsay

Tim Farron disagrees with Nick on minority Government

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 19th June 2014 - 3:04 pm

Tim Farron MP speaks at the rallyNick Clegg has been saying a lot recently that it’s coalition or nothing – the Liberal Democrats aren’t interested in propping up a minority Government because we’d get all the blame and none of the chance to do any actual good.

I can see the logic to that point of view, certainly. However, Tim Farron, in an interview with the New Statesman has directly contradicted Nick, saying that we shouldn’t rule anything out:

When you go into negotiations with another party you have to believe,

…

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The Voice

Clegg picks Farron and Farron picks Clegg

By The Voice | Mon 16th June 2014 - 5:15 pm

We hear there’s some football tournament going on at the moment.

Yesterday’s Sunday Politics had a fairly puerile political sticker item yesterday. I really think there are better uses of Adam Fleming’s talents. Anyway, it was quite amusing to see how Nick Clegg and Tim Farron reacted to the stunt.

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The Voice

Tim Farron says thanks to Liberal Democrat candidates: “Everything you do can and will make a massive difference to the outcome on Thursday”

By The Voice | Tue 20th May 2014 - 1:10 pm

The Party President sends his thanks to the 2,730 Liberal Democrats standing in the local elections.

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The Voice

LibLink: Tim Farron: Let’s extend the pupil premium to young carers

By The Voice | Mon 28th April 2014 - 11:57 am

imageOn his recent column on the ALDC Members’ website, Tim Farron has made the case for the Pupil Premium to be extended to young carers:

One of the biggest Lib Dem wins of this Coalition Government has been the Pupil Premium. The Pupil Premium was designed as extra support for kids in our schools who need a little extra help to get the best start in life.

I don’t need to tell you about it; you’ve supported it from an idea in our manifesto to its implementation. I’m preaching to the converted. It’s

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The Voice

Farron on Murnaghan on Lib Dems standing up for Britain’s interests, the price of government and whether the UK is a Christian country

By The Voice | Sun 27th April 2014 - 11:36 am

Screen Shot 2014-04-27 at 11.32.57Tim Farron has just been on Sky’s Murnaghan show, talking about a variety of issues from the European elections – what can the Lib Dems do to stop annihilation was the introduction. Here are the highlights:

The first question was whether we are paying price for going into government

If you stand for election there’s an occupational hazard you might get elected and that is what you should want if you believe passionately that Britain and the world should operate in a different way.

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The Voice

Farron on Cyril Smith allegations: there is a “need to answer serious questions as to who knew what and when”

By The Voice | Sat 26th April 2014 - 8:00 pm

Tim FarronLib Dem party president Tim Farron has said a police inquiry is the best way to deal with allegations – previously covered here and here by LDV – that former MP Cyril Smith committed a series of sexual assaults and that this was covered up by the authorities. Here’s how the BBC reports his comments:

Police are investigating allegations that the former MP for Rochdale, who died in 2010 aged 82, sexually abused boys at homes and hostels in the town. Mr Farron said the police inquiry was

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NewsHound

LibLink: Tim Farron: European Parliament makes it easier for you to know what’s in the medicines you are taking

By NewsHound | Sat 26th April 2014 - 12:55 pm

European Parliament chamber, StrasbourgRoughly a third of people take part in the European elections. That turnout reflects that people don’t necessarily feel engaged with the European Parliament. Yet this body, whether it be on e-cigarettes, abolishing (with Liberal Democrat support) mobile phone roaming charges or even the medicines your doctor prescribes, makes laws that affect our daily lives. Tim Farron has been highlighting its important work in this medical field in an article over at the Huffington Post.

First of all, he outlines the problem:

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NewsHound

LibLink: Tim Farron – In 2010, we promised to deliver the Pupil Premium. In 2015, I want us to promise to deliver the Student Premium

By NewsHound | Wed 16th April 2014 - 3:01 pm

Tim Farron speaking - Some rights reserved by Liberal DemocratsLib Dem party president Tim Farron has given his personal backing to the Lib Dems promising a Student Premium – modelled on the well-received Pupil Premium – at the next election. First proposed by his colleague Stephen Williams, Tim writes the Student Premium “could potentially change the game in terms of student uptake, especially from disadvantaged backgrounds”. Here’s an excerpt of his article for the April issue of the magazine, Politics First:

The Pupil Premium is being delivered only because the Liberal

…

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The Voice

Tim Farron reveals all about the day he impersonated Nigel Farage

By The Voice | Sun 13th April 2014 - 11:27 am

NickTimHere’s how Lib Dem party president Tim Farron recounted to his local paper, The Westmoreland Gazette, his assistance to Nick Clegg for the second Nick v Nigel debate:

In an empty central London theatre, the Lakes MP donned the trademark purple tie of the Euro sceptic for a practice debate with the Lib Dem Deputy Prime Minister ahead of the real thing.

Aides revealed that to prepare for the role as the UKIP leader, Mr Farron watched recordings of his public speaking with Farage winning plaudits for his man-of-the-world directness.

Mr Farron’s aides

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Caron Lindsay

Tim Farron “will withdraw party’s support for Bedroom Tax”

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 2nd April 2014 - 9:54 am

Bedroom tax demo , all the photos taken with a iphone 5Ok, so we’ll overlook the Guardian’s inaccurate headline. Have they learned nothing from years of watching our policy making process? Tim Farron doesn’t have the power to do what the Guardian says he’s done:

The Liberal Democrat president, Tim Farron, will withdraw his party’s support for the bedroom tax on Wednesday, saying it has caused “huge social problems.”

I think he’s right, of course. It might just about be ok if there were suitable smaller properties for people to move into, or if …

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Caron Lindsay

It’s #NickvNigel Round 2 and we have bingo and billboards

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 2nd April 2014 - 8:00 am

Nick v Nigel Round 2 poster

Today the second debate on EU membership takes place between our Nick Clegg and UKIP leader Nigel Farage.

The image you see before you will be beaming down on commuters and shoppers in Tottenham Court Road, one of London’s busiest areas from around now. At least I think that’s the case. I’m only from Scotland.

It’s also fair to say that no social media timeline will be safe from the image of Cameron and Miliband missing

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NewsHound

LibLink: Tim Farron – We need to capitalise on our scientific excellence

By NewsHound | Sun 16th March 2014 - 1:15 pm

University of the West of England, laboratory, science. Some rights reserved by JiscTim Farron has been writing for the Adam Smith Institute – there’s a sentence we didn’t expect ever to write – about turning the UK’s universities into entrepreneurial hubs. The Lib Dem party president is familiar with the sector, having worked in higher education at Lancaster University before entering Parliament. Here’s an excerpt:

Britain has a historically poor record of turning our scientists into entrepreneurs. Too often we have favoured the image of the mad professor or boffin, absent-mindedly beavering away in their lab, oblivious to the wider world around them. We must root out this gross caricature and start talking about the scientists of the future, like Dr Judith Spitz, who as well as not being male and grey haired, jumped at the opportunity to take her skills in speech and language therapy into the corporate world to become Chief Information Officer of Verizon.

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The Voice

Tim Farron and Julian Huppert write: Why we need a Digital Bill of Rights

By The Voice | Sat 8th March 2014 - 4:52 pm

farron huppertLib Dem MPs Tim Farron and Julian Huppert explain why Britain needs a Digital Bill of Rights…

Momentum is a big force in politics; sometimes an unstoppable force. And this week we’ve seen momentum gathering pace for a change to our surveillance state.

On Tuesday, Nick Clegg set out his plans for change, backed up by a full Obama-style review of our outdated and woefully inadequate surveillance legislation and oversight bodies.

On Wednesday we hosted a lively surveillance discussion in Westminster with Alan Rusbridger, Editor-in-chief of the Guardian, MPs, peers, civil …

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Caron Lindsay

Farron: It’s Lib Dems v UKIP in European elections

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 2nd March 2014 - 9:43 am

Last year on the eve of Spring Conference, we reported Tim Farron’s controversial interview in House magazine in which he described activists as cockroaches and said the party was in a critical state. He certainly got into a bit of trouble from Them Indoors, but, as Stephen Tall pointed out:

The language is colourful: that’s Tim for you. He could give dull, measured interviews that are risk-free. But it’s not his way. And I don’t think many activists would want him to be anything other than himself. It is precisely because Tim is un-spun, a straight-talker who takes his role

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Caron Lindsay

Can everyone please just play nice? Briefing against other Liberal Democrats and insulting party activists is never going to help.

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 1st March 2014 - 4:33 pm

carmichael and teddy bearWe’ve had some pretty strange and random articles appearing all over the place about who might replace Nick Clegg. The least strange and random was of course this by my co-editor Stephen Tall.

People who know Graeme Littlejohn have generally been laughing their heads off at the notion that he’s been brought in as Danny Alexander’s Head of Office as some Machiavelli who’s going to win him the leadership. That’s been in a couple of papers now and I’m just wondering who on earth is spreading this stuff. Actually, I do have some ideas, but these are better kept to myself for the time being.

Yesterday, it was the turn of Scottish Secretary Alistair Carmichael to get the Leadership Speculation Treatment, by Thomas Byrne over at the New Statesman.:

Carmichael has managed to avoid falling prey to the left/right divide emerging more clearly in the party as it gets used to power. “He could be a compromise candidate… post-coalition we need someone to hold the party together. Alistair might be the guy,” one Lib Dem told me. As chief whip for the Lib Dems before becoming Scottish Secretary, he will know where the bodies are buried. Not only did this position make building a relationship with all the MPs in the party compulsory, it also meant he commanded their respect. Don’t mess with Carmichael.

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NewsHound

Tim Farron says Liberal Democrats are likely to oppose “Bedroom Tax” in 2015

By NewsHound | Fri 28th February 2014 - 2:32 pm

Tim Farron has said that he expects that Liberal Democrats will oppose the so-called “Bedroom Tax” in 2015. In an interview with Inside Housing, he has said that in its current form it was causing hardship and depriving housing associations of the money to build much needed new homes. While he praised the Liberal Democrats who had secured more money for discretionary housing payments to mitigate its effects, he acknowledged that reforms were needed.

He said:

I would be disappointed if we did support it in its current form.

I do not expect our party to support this policy unreformed, we must

…

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Stephen Tall

Eastleigh one year on: the by-election which secured Nick Clegg’s leadership

By Stephen Tall | Fri 28th February 2014 - 8:00 am

A year ago today, Mike Thornton was declared the new Lib Dem MP for Eastleigh.

Clegg Thornton Eastleigh

I’ve just been re-reading my first reflections on the result, written minutes after Mike’s narrow victory over Ukip was confirmed. As I pointed out then, despite the horrendous circumstances surrounding the by-election – Chris Huhne’s resignation, the allegations against Chris Rennard – Eastleigh was a good seat for the Lib Dems to contest owing to our long-standing, entrenched local strength there.

The other night’s victors, I noted, were Ukip: “There must also now be …

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Stephen Tall

Après Nick: which Lib Dem MPs are best-placed to become the next Lib Dem leader?

By Stephen Tall | Sun 16th February 2014 - 12:00 pm

Today’s Independent has an interesting story speculating on the Lib Dem leadership contest to come if the 2015 election result triggers Nick Clegg’s resignation. It’s one of the features of this parliament – perhaps linked to it being a fixed-term in which we know the dates are all known – that there hasn’t been nearly as much gossip about future leadership bids in any of the three main parties.

Anyway, the Indy story seeks to make up a little for that absence: Nick Clegg’s rivals for the Lib Dems leadership told to rev up. The premise of the article …

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The Voice

A longer read for the weekend: Nick Harvey on how “the whole model of local Government funding is now fundamentally broken”

By The Voice | Sat 15th February 2014 - 2:30 pm

There was a mini-Lib Dem rebellion this week, when five MPs – Tim Farron, Nick Harvey, Andrew George, Stephen Gilbert and Adrian Sanders – all voted against this year’s funding settlement between the Treasury and local government.

As the New Statesman’s George Eaton points out here, “By the end of 2015-16, the budget of the Department for Communities and Local Government will have been reduced by a remarkable 60.6 per cent, with several years of austerity still ahead.” But Whitehall will have been emboldened by this recent ICM poll highlighted by the BBC showing 60% of the public …

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Posted in Local government and Parliament | Also tagged , , and | 9 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Farron: “No excuse for David Cameron to block recall of MPs but he has done”

By Caron Lindsay | Fri 14th February 2014 - 1:21 pm

The Guardian reports that the proposal to recall MPs who have committed serious wrongdoing has been blocked by David Cameron against the wishes of Nick Clegg.

A Lib Dem source said news that the legislation had been dropped was broken to the party’s MPs at a meeting on Tuesday. “Tom Brake, the deputy leader of the house, stood up and told MPs it was off the agenda. It seems that the Tories have argued that there is too much to deal with and something had to give. But it didn’t wash: they are pandering to their backbenchers,” he said.

Under the plans,

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The Voice

Legal action to be launched by Lord Rennard unless Lib Dems lift membership suspension

By The Voice | Mon 10th February 2014 - 3:50 pm

The BBC reports:

Lib Dem peer Lord Rennard has written to his party giving it until Thursday to lift his suspension, the BBC understands. If it fails to do so Lord Rennard is threatening to seek costs from those involved in his suspension, including party president Tim Farron.

The former Lib Dem chief executive was suspended after four female activists accused him of sexual harassment. He denied the claims, but was asked to apologise by an internal investigation. The investigation, led by senior barrister Alistair Webster QC, concluded the claims against Lord Rennard were credible but could not be proven beyond

…

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Tim Farron MP

Tim Farron MP writes…No politician should be able to sleep at night while children don’t have access to primary school

By Tim Farron MP | Mon 3rd February 2014 - 10:58 am

Fifty years ago, Lyndon Johnson stood before a joint session of Congress and declared war. “It will not be a short or easy struggle,” he warned the lawmakers. “No single weapon nor strategy will suffice, but we shall not rest until that war is won.” He was talking about a war on poverty – he was saying that a politician can change the world.  That through their words and deeds, they can make a difference and make the world a better place.

President Obama (Number 44 – LBJ was 36) stood up last Wednesday night and gave his annual State of …

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The Voice

Tim Farron’s email to Lib Dem members explaining the suspension of Lord Rennard

By The Voice | Mon 20th January 2014 - 4:35 pm

The following message from Lib Dem party president Tim Farron has just been emailed to members:

It has been a difficult few days for the party. Many of you have contacted me directly to express your anger and disappointment at Lord Rennard’s refusal to apologise following the recommendations of the investigation into his behaviour. As President, I wanted you to hear from me.

Along with Nick Clegg, I made my view absolutely clear – Lord Rennard’s refusal to apologise is unacceptable. Most importantly, Lord Rennard is actively rejecting calls to apologise from party members and is refusing to comply with a formal

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Caron Lindsay

LibLink: Tim Farron’s Winning here blog

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 19th January 2014 - 10:06 am

Party President Tim Farron has taken to writing a monthly blog on the Association of Liberal Democrat Councillors and Campaigners’ website. It’s for ALDC members only, but if you have even the slightest link to any election campaign this May, I’d strongly recommend that you join them. People who do what they say have more chance of winning. They have so many good campaigning resources that they really are invaluable.

Back to Tim’s blog. He talks about why councillors and community campaigners are so important:

You have the track record of action, the record of success and the community knowledge to

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Newsmoggie

LibLink: Tim Farron: European Arrest Warrant is a vital weapon in the fight against crime

By Newsmoggie | Wed 15th January 2014 - 4:48 pm

Farron the Ubiquitous (he is, but that’s not a complaint) has been writing for the Huffington Post again, this time, as befits the man in charge of the European Election campaign, on the European Arrest Warrant.

First, he reminds us of the high profile cases where the warrant has brought British criminals back to justice.

Hussain Osman fled to Italy after the failed 21 July 2005 London bombings, during which he placed an explosive at Shepherd’s Bush tube station. Just one week later, he was tracked down and arrested by Italian police on a euro-warrant issued by a British court before

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The Voice

Internal investigation into allegations against Lord Rennard

By The Voice | Wed 15th January 2014 - 1:36 pm

Statement of Alistair Webster QC’s conclusions
Following allegations made in a Channel 4 documentary early in 2013 I was appointed under Rule 7.6 of the English Party’s membership rules to investigate and determine whether or not it was appropriate to charge Lord Rennard with acting in a way that had brought the party into disrepute. The charge, if proved, might warrant his expulsion from the Liberal Democrats or other sanction under the Party’s rules.

Let me be clear from the outset that the evidence suggests that Lord Rennard’s behaviour has caused distress to a number of women, so much so that they came forward several years after the events in question.

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Newsmoggie

Farron: Tories are “nimby” over garden cities

By Newsmoggie | Sat 11th January 2014 - 12:08 pm

From today’s Telegraph:

A secret Whitehall report recommending that two new cities are built in southern England to combat the housing shortage is being suppressed by David Cameron, The Telegraph can disclose.

The document was drawn up after the Prime Minister gave a speech supporting the idea nearly two years ago. It was described this week by Nick Clegg, his deputy, as a “prospectus” for future developments.

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NewsHound

Farron and Huppert submit Lib Dem Conference motion to curb surveillance

By NewsHound | Thu 9th January 2014 - 1:28 pm

Today’s Guardian reports that Tim Farron and Julian Huppert are behind a move to get Liberal Democrat conference to adopt policy which would stop intrusive mass surveillance of personal data.

Judicial oversight of state surveillance and a regular release of the number of data requests made by the security services should be among the issues examined by a government “commission of experts” into all the recent allegations raised by the whistleblower Edward Snowden, theLiberal Democrats are to propose.

They will also call

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Mark Valladares

The ten most active MPs on Twitter are…

By Mark Valladares | Fri 20th December 2013 - 11:40 am

Courtesy of John Rentoul, news reaches us of a list of the ten most active MPs on Twitter in 2013.

top tweeters

Yes, it’s our Tim and our Julian at the top of the list, with an honourable mention for Greg Mulholland.

Tim has managed an incredible fifty tweets a day this year, and probably should avoid piers for a while. And for anyone out there who wonders, it is him, and not a staffer, as those of us who have discovered that, by mentioning Tim in a tweet, you …

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NewsHound

LibLink: Tim Farron – Only a fool could trust in the ‘oversight’ provided by the intelligence committee

By NewsHound | Thu 12th December 2013 - 9:18 am

Over on Politics.co.uk party president Tim Farron has a piece on the ramifications of the story that has dominated much of the past year: the extent of the powers held by states to snoop on our communications. Tim sets out some thoughts about the oversight of these systems, which he thinks are presently inadequate.

Here’s an excerpt:

Our democratic process is built upon a system of checks and balances. Those who exercise power over the individual are held to account by others. For all the faults of the Westminster bubble (and there are many), the quiet revolution in the way select committees

…

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