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Stephen Tall

10 Years on from The Orange Book: What should authentic liberalism look like?

By Stephen Tall | Sun 19th October 2014 - 8:55 am

Orange_Book“10 Years on from The Orange Book: what should authentic liberalism look like?” That was the title of a Lib Dem conference fringe meeting in Glasgow, organised by the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), at which I was speaking alongside MPs Tim Farron and Jeremy Browne, Orange Book co-editor Paul Marshall, the IEA’s Ryan Bourne and ComRes pollster Tom Mludzinski. Here’s what I said…

I often describe myself as an Orange Booker. Like most labels it’s a short-hand. To me it simply means I’m a Lib Dem at ease with the role of a competitive market and who believes also in social justice. To many others in our party, though, Orange Booker is a term of abuse – Orange Bookers are thrusting, smart-suited, neoliberal Thatcherities, never happier than when mixing with red-blooded free-marketeers like the IEA.

What I want to do briefly is make a pitch for something that’s become quite unpopular among the party ranks: I’m going to make a pitch that the Lib Dems should be a party that’s unabashedly of the liberal centre.

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Recent Comments

  • Pawel Urbanski
    Jana - I like it. It is addressing the issue practically. The pitch is never empty and the operator loses nothing. The harder part comes later. Rules, even cont...
  • cim
    The constitutional preamble has two big problems with it as a statement of "what the Lib Dems are for" 1) As a statement of principle it doesn't distinguish ...
  • Jason Connor
    I think it's really disappointing to see another poster call those who disagree with them a numpty. That kind of patronising insult devalues their argument. The...
  • David Evans
    No! What are you thinking about?...
  • Catherine Royce
    I've been thinking about this alot too, because what is very clear, is that we are not being. It's about more than kindness; we are not a charity, politics is...