Two pieces of good Lib Dem news from Cambridge

By Stephen Tall | Fri 14th November 2014 - 10:09 am

Here’s the first piece of good news… Viki Sanders gained a seat from Labour in a crucial city council by-election last night (comparison with 2012 result):

Viki Sanders (Liberal Democrats): 933 votes (36%, +1%)

It’s a result which augers well for Julian Huppert‘s campaign to hold the Cambridge constituency the Lib Dems first won in 2005, a tough marginal which Labour has in its sights.

Here’s the second piece of good news… “Cambridge don leaves Liberal Democrats £950,000” announces BBC News:

The Lib Dems have received their second biggest donation ever, from an academic who bequeathed the party £950,000. George Watson, a former professor at Cambridge University and one time Lib Dem candidate, died in 2013, aged 86. His gift was the single biggest sum reported in the Electoral Commission’s table of party donations for the third quarter of 2014. … Professor George Watson, a former fellow in English at St John’s College Cambridge, stood for the Liberal Party in the 1959 election.

The Lib Dems have received £9.86 million in individual donations since 2010, not far behind Labour’s £12.69m (but a long, long way behind the Tories’ £65.01m). Compare that with the previous four years (2005-09)… the Lib Dems received £7.54m, Labour £27.77m and the Tories £62.01m from individual donors. Both the Lib Dems and the Tories have improved their fundraising from individuals, while Labour’s has more than halved.

To find out more about The Liberal Democrat Legacy Fund simply click here.

* Stephen was Editor (and Co-Editor) of Liberal Democrat Voice from 2007 to 2015, and writes at The Collected Stephen Tall.

11 Comments

David Blake 14th Nov '14 - 10:40am

He was an important person in development of policy in the early sixties – when our party actually did some thinking.
theakes 14th Nov '14 - 11:03am

In the County elections last year we got 44% I think in St Ediths,, are the ward boundaries exactly the same? Cons vote up by 10% on 2013, Lab down 4%
David Evans 14th Nov '14 - 11:32am

Theakes – In the district elections in May 2015, we held Queen Ediths with 1362 votes and 43% of the vote. I think we are back to a full slate of three Lib Dems in the ward again. Good News.
Daniel Henry 14th Nov '14 - 11:54am

David, can you also tell me what the lottery numbers were that week in May? 😉
David Evans 14th Nov '14 - 12:00pm

No, but if Cambridge have a bit of spare cash I will give them my predictions for May 2015. 😉 😉
Iain 14th Nov '14 - 12:34pm

Queen Edith’s is not in Cambridge constituency, so, while this is good news, it does not ‘bode well’ for Huppert per se.
ATF 14th Nov '14 - 1:02pm

@Iain

Yes, but the team is local and the result shows what can come from effective campaigning.
JohnTilley 14th Nov '14 - 3:15pm

Well done Cambridge on election victory!

BTW all at LDV Towers, George Watson was not just any old academic.
He was the author of the excellent Unservile State Paper entitled ‘Is Socialism Left?’ which is still relevant today.
Well worth a read and available from Amazon —
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0900520329/?tag=libdemvoice-21
Iain 14th Nov '14 - 3:18pm

@ATF
Certainly, agreed
I was just stating that it isn’t in the constituency as the implication in the article is that it is
ATF 14th Nov '14 - 3:24pm

@Iain

A fair point.

@JohnTilley

Thanks for the tip, John. Sounds like a remarkabke career. Would be fitting if donation was used in such a way as to ensure Julian Huppert’s success next year.
Belinda Brooks-Gordo 15th Nov '14 - 2:57pm

John, is right George was an exceptional man. I know as he lived in my then ward – Castle, in Cambridge. George knew how pivotal the gift of a legacy had been to getting David Howarth, who also lived in the ward, elected.

It was uplifting to learn at conference how much difference this makes to the party overall. We can all make a legacy, and it costs us nothing right now, but it is wonderful to know that we can go on helping the cause of Liberalism after we have gone.