Liberal Democrats who are frustrated at the modest media impact of our 72 MPs in the first month since their triumphant election should remember how long it takes to recruit new staff, discover the intricacies of parliamentary life and the surrounding media, put their diverse skills to effective use, and decide which specific issues they are going to make their own. In the last Parliament our 11 MPs had to cover the full range of issues thrown at them, with a skeleton supporting staff, with each by-election winner making a welcome difference to the load. When our Lords group met together with our new MPs, Ed Davey generously thanked us for the policy support and advice we had provided (with our larger numbers, though very limited staff) in combatting Tory legislation in the past 3 Parliaments. A much larger Commons Party, with significantly-increased staff both in MPs’ office and attached to the Whips’ Office, will transform our capabilities.
Few of us will yet have discovered the wealth of experience and expertise our new MPs bring to their new, fulltime, responsibilities (I’m still discovering constituencies that I didn’t realise we’d won…). Clearing some papers today, I discovered a memo on the government’s data strategy that Tim Clement Jones and I had written four years ago with a Liberal Democrat expert called David Chadwick – and realised that I’ve already met our new MP for Brecon and Radnor, and that he’s an established expert in a delicate field of public policy. A rapid look through our MPs’ short biographies shows a wealth of local Council experience, with all that provides for grappling with issues of social care, public services, environment and housing. I see that Gideon Amos, our Taunton MP, is also an architect and town planner by profession.
I know of Calum Miller’s experience and reputation (before winning Bicester and Woodstock) in the civil service from my daughter, who worked alongside him in the Treasury, and from a former permanent secretary who asked me some months ago how his campaign was going. Several new MPs have served in the armed services. Chris Coghlan (Dorking and Horley) also spent time in the Foreign Office, while Monica Harding (Esher and Walton) worked in several countries for the British Council. Others have experience from small and large business, working for charities, expertise in sustainable development and renewable energy, teaching, the health sector. Olly Glover (Didcot and Wantage) has appropriately worked for the railways. Danny Chambers (Winchester) is a vet. Ian Sollom (St.Neots) has a PhD in Astrophysics – which he can discuss with Layla Moran, a former physics teacher. And to my delight Charlie Maynard (Witney) has an established interest in micro-hydropower – an issue that I have long wanted to pursue myself, walking along Pennine rivers past abandoned watermills and weirs and thinking of the wasted energy resources, but lacked the time or skill to take up.
Policy development in political parties goes in five-year cycles. The chaos of the past 9 years, with four elections and a referendum, have made long-term reflection difficult. Now we have a chance to redefine Liberalism in the wake of current challenges, against the context of Conservatives contesting what on earth they mean by Conservative (or British) values and a Labour government which appears to be attempting not to address wider political issues. As the next election approaches, we will necessarily focus on the issues that matter most directly to voters we are wooing.
The wealth of experience our new MPs bring will contribute to a broad post-election discussion, vital to attracting new members and activists and to positioning ourselves in the political debate. There is of course a wealth of experience, expertise and opinion outside Parliament in our diverse party, which I hope will also be brought to bear. Active Liberal Democrats around the country should be feeding ideas through different (formal and informal) groups on different areas of policy and on overall principles.
But from the moment that Parliament returns in September our parliamentary party will be faced with government proposals, Bills and budgets, and unexpected domestic and international crises to which they will be asked to respond. We now have a far stronger parliamentary platform from which to do so, and happily a very impressive group of new MPs to give those responses.
* William Wallace is Liberal Democrat spokesman on constitutional issues in the Lords.
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14 Comments
William, it’s great to have such good MPs but we need also now have greater involvement of the associated organisations within the party and recruit more activists in local parties. Associated organisations are struggling to get enough activists and have gone through at least a few years being neglected by the policy committee and MPs. The latter is understandable considering pressures on MPs time; that should now ease but contact between others within the party on policy development should surely include those in the relevant associated organisations. This should happen long before working parties are set up or motions are prepared for conference and to enable contact between ordinary members and the party heirarchy.
Local parties too, have struggled to get enough activists but hopefully the national picture will help that if local parties put effort into recruitment of supporters as well as members. I have long thought that one of the weaknesses of politics in the UK in recent decades has been the lack of people who will do things in local parties but are not themselves necessarily wishing to become councillors or MPs. In the distant past large numbers of these people kept politics going and in particular helped ensure the politicians kept in touch with people’s needs and views.
I am also delighted to read this article and find out what our new MPs are good at.
However one of the few good points that Matthew Goodwin makes is that our politics is dominated by graduates in a way that it wasn’t before in the previous century.
And the problem here is that this feeds into the “Metropolitian Liberal Elite” narrative, that the political classes do not understand or take seriously the people they govern.
I am not saying it should be all or nothing; we need both Parliamentarians with an academic background AND others from non-graduate professions, say a bricklayer or a nurse.
That all said we do have MPs who although graduates themselves are well grounded from having non-graduate parents and fought their way up against the odds; people like Bobby Dean, Victoria Collins and Josh Barbarinde.
@Geoffrey Payne
Isn’t the preponderance of graduates among MPs inevitable given how the proportion of people studying to graduate level has increased over the years?
@Geoffrey Payne. Nursing a non graduate profession ? I’d say you’re in a lot of bother there.
Agree with @Nigel Jones. There must be a wealth of expertise on a range of subjects within the party membership which lies unused. Lord Wallace makes somewhat perfunctory reference to this fact in his penultimate paragraph, but with no suggestion how this knowledge and experience will be utilised. Perhaps we need to look again at the Policy Working Party system and make open consultation with the membership (not difficult in this day and age ?) a mandatory element.
Chris Cory: In a Liberal Party the last thing active members should do is to wait to be asked to intervene by the leadership (which until now had hardly any staff to help with such matters, and is still going to be stretched to cope with contending priorities). There are many associated organizations in the party to encourage debates – they will be looking for more members at our conference. Or set up your own group, and invite others to join. When I was researching digital policy I asked around to find expert members, asked ALDES for help, and ended with a really good group. I only discovered that one of them was Daisy Cooper’s husband when she walked past the camera while we were Skyping.
And we can all use LibDem Voice to float ideas and themes, can’t we? And to get in touch with like-minded party members…
@Geoff Payne…
Sadly Geoff that’s the way it’s gone . Uni grad to think tank to MPs assistant to PPC – seems all to often the case across parliament…You’d struggle to find more than a few manual workers these days . Dare I say it Lee Anderson is one of the few being an ex miner …I couldn’t envisage any of them wondering what it’s like to go the corner shop for a £10 electric top up ..
@Ross O’Kelly – I stand corrected. 71% of nurses are graduates. Of course no reason why a non-graduate nurse shouldn’t become an MP.
@Nonconformistradical – even taking into account the rising numbers of graduates, there are disproportionately few who are MPs.
@Nonconformistradical – even taking into account the rising numbers of graduates, there are disproportionately few non-graduates who are MPs.
I don’t think the route that Martin describes is typeical of Lib Dem MPs (though that cap would fit for a lot of Labour ones like Wes Streeting!). When you read what the 72 have done prior to becoming elected there is a wide range of occupational experience and backgrounds.
Given recent event I hope most of them will think twice about using X (twitter) and either not open an account or if they have one – close it!
I don’t think the route that Martin describes is typeical of Lib Dem MPs (though that cap would fit for a lot of Labour ones like Wes Streeting!). When you read what the 72 have done prior to becoming elected there is a wide range of occupational experience and backgrounds.
Given the talent we have gained, some of this should be directed to enhancing our national presence in the media. By exposing these new MPs to the public on the national stage we can build our reputation as a credible, powerful and growing Party. This can only help those constituencies where we are thin on the ground to build their support and infrastructure.