It’s a fortnight since we launched our search for the Liberal Voice of the Year with the aim of finding the individual or group which has had the biggest impact on liberalism in the past 12 months. This is LibDemVoice’s fifth such annual award, and as is our tradition, we looked beyond the ranks of the Lib Dems to find the liberal who’s most impressed our readers and is not a member of our party.
We unveiled the shortlist here on New Year’s Day. In total, 903 readers cast a vote in the past two weeks. Here are the results in full:
32% (288 votes): Mark Littlewood
Mark Littlewood, a former head of media for the Lib Dems, campaigns for market reforms in his non-partisan role as Director General of the Institute of Economic Affairs.
13% (117 votes): The Occupy Movement
The Occupy Movement, an international protest group primarily directed against economic and social inequality, currently lists 2,562 Occupy communities worldwide.
13% (115 votes): Kenneth Clarke
Ken Clarke, Justice Minister in the Coalition Government, is a Tory MP frequently referred to as the sixth Lib Dem cabinet minister for his committed belief to prison rehabilitation and due legal process.
Other nominees:
- 11% (98 votes): Mohamed Bouazizi
- 10% (90 votes): Nick Davies and The Guardian
- 8% (74 votes): Ai Weiwei
- 6% (57 votes): Hugh Grant and the Hacked Off campaign
- 4% (33 votes): Hillary Rodham Clinton
- 3% (31 votes): Barack Obama
That’s a decisive victory for Mark Littlewood, a controversial figure among party members — he was the party’s head of media until he resigned in March 2007, and since then has become a doughty champion of free markets, most recently in his role as director general of the Institute of Economic Affairs. Somewhat ironically, the closest runner-up is The Occupy Movement.
Previous winners of the LDV Liberal Voice of the Year award:
2010: Aung San Suu Kyi, campaigner against political abuse in Burma.
2009: Peter Tatchell, international human rights campaigner.
2008: Campaigners on behalf of Jean Charles de Menezes (Justice4Jean.org) and Stockwell Shooting Inquest Jury.
2007: Shami Chakrabarti, Director of Liberty.
* Stephen was Editor (and Co-Editor) of Liberal Democrat Voice from 2007 to 2015, and writes at The Collected Stephen Tall.
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67 Comments
A pretty dire list. There was no one I could vote for. There was too much illiberal from everyone:(
Look at the stature of the previous winners, and then please tell me that you are be bloody joking.
At least he’s not a member of the party any more.
You may not agree with everything Mark says (I know I don’t), but it’s hard to deny that his thinking comes from recognisably liberal traditions. Compared to the runner-up, a socialist movement who wish to outlaw private property, I’m glad that Mark accrued over twice as many votes.
For one thing anyone can vote. And for another the voting system is first past the post. So there are 288 libertarians who voted for him on the interenet. I suspect if he stood for a party election, say onto the Federal Policy Committee he would be nowhere near close to getting elected.
“Look at the stature of the previous winners, and then please tell me that you are be bloody joking.”
Ah well, look on the bright side. More than two thirds voted against him.
no disrespect to mark, but that is a complete joke.
Mark has an appeal way beyond Lib Dem party politics ( I am a classical liberal Tory). Whether it is Austrian School Economics, lifestyle choices, smoking drinking etc to reducing the state deficit and the welfare state, Mark ticks many boxes. I look upon the left wing of the Lib Dems as indistinguishable from Labour. Amply demonstrated by your inclusion of the Occupy Protest movement. The great unwashed socialist, the state owes me, n’ere do wells.
A victory for common sense.
Mark Littlewood may now be in a non-partisan role, but it is a high profile role in one of the most ideologically-driven organisations around.
I’m sure he would find considerable favour with classical liberal Tories. The advocacy of a pretty undiluted libertarian agenda may be entirely appropriate for the nineteenth century. But as far as I can see it shows limited sensitivity to or recognition of the social advances achieved by twentieth century social liberalism.
(I agree it’s a bit odd that Occupy movement was on the list at all)
Congratulations to Mark. It’s sad to see such ungracious comments as Simon’s. Let us hope that most members remember that there is more that unites us than divides us. As we said over on Liberal Vision a couple of days ago – there is much to note about Mark beyond his championing of Free Markets – not least his co-founding of NO2ID. Not only does his thinking come from “recognisable liberal traditions”, so does his willingingness to engage in serious debate of the issues. Here is hoping that we can see more of that in 2012..
Many thanks to all those who voted for me, that’s quite an honour – and indeed my thanks to all those who took part at all.
I shall attempt to be as noble in victory as I am gracious in (more commonly) accepting defeat!
An utter joke, and an insult to those who risk their lives for freedom
Clearly Littlewood and his mates flooded the vote for their own ends
@P. In fairness, I think only one previous winner has risked their life for freedom. (Although Peter Tatchell has probably risked at least physical injury on more than one occasion.)
Certainly not my choice but I really dont get why everyone is so hyped up. Its just a poll and this is the conclusion of said poll.
ALSO, I think those on the left AND the right of the party need to grow up with these pathetic attacks on each other. Its embarassing to see this going on.
Congratulations Mark, well deserved recognition for the way you’ve broadened the appeal of the IEA and restored the organisation as a liberal voice.
Well said, Joshua.
115 votes for ….. Ken Clarke?? What in the name of all that is sane is wrong with you people?
This sort of pathetic little poll of ‘readers’ does this site no good whatsoever. The outcome this year is no more than is deserved by the nature of the exercise. That there were more sensible outcomes in previous years does not make the exercise any more worthy – it’s just a random outcome pattern. I wonder how many serious liberals would have even considered voting in this ‘poll’.
Well done Mark. Much deserved.
“Peter Tatchell has probably risked physical injury on more than one occasion”. I suggest you read the interview with him in yesterday’s Guardian Weekend magazine Mark – I’m sure you didn’t mean to come across as being dismissive of a very courageous man.
Well done Mark!
#Joshua – Amen, Brother!
# Geoffrey – That may very well be the case. Wouldn’t stop 117 of the hard-left voting for Occupy on the internet either.
@ Tony. I wasn’t trying to be dismissive of Peter Tatchell at all. I was thinking particularly of his attempted citizen’s arrest of Mugabe – where he certainly risked injury, although probably not death. I shall look up the Guardian piece as you suggest.
So, radical free market fundamentalists scoured the planet and found 288 people to register votes for Mark Littlewood. Irratating, but hardly a reason for centre-left liberals to panic. Unless, of course, David Icke is right when he says that a few people controlling the world is a “piece of cake” and a “doddle”.
BTW, I didn’t vote.
I would like to extend my most sincere apologies to Aung San Suu Kyi, Peter Tatchell, Shami Chakrabarti, the Stockwell Shooting Inquest Jury and Jean Charles de Menezes. This award has now been made meaningless.
Mark Littlewood should not have even been shortlisted. He is not a liberal – people like David Laws are economic liberals, Mark Littlewood is just a conservative. Admittedly he’s hardly alone on the list in not being a liberal but at least everyone else on the list has actually done something in the last year. What has Mark Littlewood actually done? As far as I can tell been on Question Time once and that’s about it.
Anyway, truly embarrassing for the Lib Dem party. Completely and utterly, hideously embarrassing.
Congratulations to Mark.
It was a bit of an odd list to pick from.
A bit more composure in the comments would be nice. Liberal comes in many flavours. Mark’s pretty far to my right, but I’d rather hear his reasoned argument than the apoplexy of those rushing to denounce him. (Good call, Joshua).
I went for Ai Weiwei.
What an odd choice. Who in their heart of hearts can say that the director of an obscure think tank was the ‘liberal voice of the year’?
Then again, the runners up are similarly strange. (I nominated and voted for Mohamed Bouazizi.)
It wasn’t the best list in the world. I voted for Ken Clarke because I kind of like him, a bit. I didn’t really know who Mark Littlewood was.
I was uninspired by all the names. I intended to vote, but am embarrassed to admit that the result crept up on me before I did.
None of the nominees in any way inspired me in the way that, for example, Aung San Suu Kyi does.
In spite of all the democracy, and of speeches BY liberals, it doesn’t seem to have been a great year for “liberalism”.
Oh dear oh dear. But apart from Andy Mayer did any members of the Liberal Democrats vote for him?
I suppose it just shows how silly polls like this can be when pressure groups that bother can easily rig them. Though a ridiculous result like this only encourages people lilke me to take part next time (for the first time ever).
Tony Greaves
Congratulations to Mark, well deserved.
I am, however, more shocked about the quite puerile response to the poll itself. Jesus people, did you want to Electoral Commission oversight?
@Tony. I have no idea. I expected to get about 5 votes – maybe 10. All we can say for sure is that 32% of those who bothered to vote, voted for me. Which was enormously ahead of every other candidate by a pretty enormous margin. Would I have won under AV? Very probably with such a massive lead, but I guess we will never know for sure. Still, thanks for your gracious congratulations….
I’m sure Mark was counting on Tony Greaves’ support for *everything* that he does…
I’m rather disturbed that people are trying to undermine the poll just because they don’t like the result. If this result is not legitimate, neither are all the previous results. We all know perfectly well that it’s fairly unscientific, but had we got almost any other result there would not be nearly so much argument about the mechanics of it.
Mark Littlewood was not actually my vote, partly because I was aware that this result would be somewhat divisive, and partly because of factors which have now actually changed. Nevertheless, he is a perfectly legitimate choice. The IEA has done a huge amount of work promoting economic liberalism, and in providing some challenge to the notion that government can seriously hope to run the economy. This is fundamentally liberal stuff – far more so than the largely incoherent Occupy movement (though actually they identify some of the same problems that the IEA does).
A great many Liberal Democrats think very highly of him, even if they sometimes have disagreements.
It’s this kind of thing (Looking at you Tony Greaves) that makes me despair. The majority of people who read this site voted Mark. I did. I’m a fully paid up member.
God sake grow up people.
I didn’t vote because I couldn’t identify any real liberals on the list. I applaud Occupy, but they aren’t liberals.
Maybe it’s true that there are now 288 far-right libertarians who have piled into this party since the Clegg coup, and voted accordingly, without deliberately going out to rig the results. Or maybe I’m naive about that. Either way, a pretty sad day for anyone who wants to see this party survive and thrive.
Though I by no means voted for Mark, I think the above comments show just how illiberal we have become as a party. The above comment about Mark’s victory somehow showing disdain for the success of social liberalism in particular is deeply concerning. It suggests that social liberalism and economic liberalism are somehow the antithesis of one another rather than coming, as they did, from the same first principles of empowering the individual and ensuring no one is disenfranchised.
The only fair criticism of Mark winning is the only reason I didn’t vote for him myself – Ai WeiWei has submitted to extra-judicial incarceration and torture for his opposition to the tyranny of the CCP regime in China and Mohamed Bouazizi killed himself in a very unpleasant way to protest tyranny in Tunisia. The latter has clearly had a more liberal outcome from his sacrifice, but from my knowledge of China and talking with my usually apolitical Chinese friends, he has had some impact. Mark has yet given his liberty or livelihood for his cause but there’s always time for martyrdom, Mark.
While ‘what has Mark done’ is a valid criticism, besides contribute to the debate in an effective way and the success of NO2ID (which admittedly wasn’t in 2011) , all of those included in the list were originally shortlisted by party members so the old ‘the libertarians voted for him’ isn’t a suitable excuse. And if they’re the only one enthusiastic enough to vote, doesn’t that tell you something about the party base?
Given Occupy advocate a complete end to economic freedom, Obama and Ken Clarke are authoritarians, Clinton rarely speaks out against tyrannies sympathetic to the US (including Isreal) and voting for Hacked Off or Nick Davies would have meant voting for the Guardian or Hugh Grant, I think all this vote shows is that the party has a very confused understanding of what ‘a liberal voice’ actually entails.
@Andrew
Plurality. Let no Lib Dem thread pass without a pedantic interjection.
What a pity so many people resorted to juvenile comments or abuse, some of which are coming close to bullying. All political movements need to encompass a broad range of views from both inside and outside their party. The Labour Party have the Trade Union movement, the Conservative can draw up various sections of the establishment, but we have very little. The IEA is an important liberal voice with which we should have links. Those who disagree with their policies should be prepared to explain why, rather than resort to petty insults.
what is really shocking is that 31 people voted for ‘Guantanamo’ Obama or for a Tory Cabinet Minister who is trying to bring in secret trials.
I didn’t vote, both because the entire list of candidates was rather uninspiring, and because it was a single winner election fought by FPTP.
Nonetheless, the level of noise an open internet poll has generated isn’t really worth the effort, IMO
Firstly, many congratulations to Mark. Well deserved.
Secondly, I think it’s rather telling that some of the more critical commenters on here are fixated on the ‘legitimacy’ of the vote. Is that because they really believe there were structural issues with the way this website conducted it’s poll or because they just don’t like the outcome and they feel they know better than those who voted in Mark’s favour? If, as I rather suspect, it’s the latter, it goes a long way to explaining many of the more illiberal aspects of Liberal Democrat politics in 2011.
Littlewood already gets invited onto various news programmes and the like to give a ‘Lib Dem perspective’, and he’s probably already sending details of this award to producers to show them how he’s in touch with the ‘grassroots’ of the party. So, this means that more of his ill-informed nonsense will get spouted as though it’s what party members think, and I hope LDV’s editors are happy with that outcome.
This result is bad not because Littlewood is a libertarian Tory rather than a liberal. (He’s campaigned for the Pro-EU Conservative Party, guys.)
The result is bad because the President of the United States, a campaigner who took on the CPC without being brutally killed, an investigative journalist who brought the Murdoch empire to its knees and A MAN WHO SET HIMSELF ON FIRE can’t beat some randomer who runs a thinktank. It is genuinely quite morally worrying that people would think it acceptable to vote for Littlewood (or Ken Clarke. Ken ruddy Clarke.) when you have the option to vote for Mohamed Bouazizi and Ai Weiwei. Seriously, get a life.
Sorry for the cliche but sour grapes make poor wine. Have the denigraters here thought for a moment that you have attracted politically motivated, non Lib Dem people to your web site? Mark’s broad appeal, having an LD background has raised the profile of the party to the general public who maybe either Tories or Labour.
I was down the pub with some ardent Tories a couple of months ago and we were discussing our admierd Tory Prime Ministers. After Thatcher and Churchill (ex Liberal too) we did struggle a bit.
Heath, Eden, MacMillan, even John Major did not really tick our boxes and my knowledge of inter war Tories woeful. Going back to the 19th century when we really did have a free market and the state consumed only 10% of the nation’s wealth the Liberal party may have been nearer to our ideology.
Could it be that the reason for conviction Tories is that it is “not Labour/socialism, ” it may give you a clue.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Perhaps a time out is in order here. The poll is of our readers, not necessarily of Liberal Democrats. And whilst the site is described as ‘our place to talk’, it is open to anyone, of any persuasion, to take an active role as a commentor or even a contributor.
On the other hand, our polling of party members is just that, and therefore reflects the views of Liberal Democrats who read Lib Dem Voice. I do accept that there is a possibility that, had the poll been for party members only, the result might have been different.
But when all is said and done, the poll is a bit of fun, and I’m saddened by the vitriol that has been generated by the outcome.
Congratulations, Mark. A well-deserved victory.
And congratulations, Mark V, for bringing a little perspective here. I know how much you hate vitriolic internet comment.
@Geoffrey Payne: You are undoubtedly correct that “if he stood for a party election, say onto the Federal Policy Committee he would be nowhere near close to getting elected,” mainly because (in case you had not noticed) one of the criteria for being a candidate in this poll is that one is not a member of the party. Kind of excludes one form running for FPC. However, if he was, 288 votes would be enough to get him on just about any committee. Hell, it would put him in a good position on the London or a regional Euro list!
@Sesenco: If you didn’t vote, you don’t really have a lot to say.
The awkward moment a comment thread makes you question your place in the party.
Congratlations Mark. You were easily the most pro-Euro candidate, as well as the most entertaining. (I trust this will not be moderated/censored)..
Like Mark Valladares I don’t like vitriolic comment, so I apologise for my intemperent response to this news, and to Mark Littlewood for my lack of courtesy.
#Tony Greaves: ‘Oh dear oh dear. But apart from Andy Mayer did any members of the Liberal Democrats vote for him?’
I’m a Lib Dem activist and I voted for Mark.
#Robin McGhee: ‘This result is bad not because Littlewood is a libertarian Tory rather than a liberal. (He’s campaigned for the Pro-EU Conservative Party, guys.)’.
Since you raised the issue of previous affiliation in a rather snide way, does that mean that Shirley Williams, Chris Huhne, Vince Cable aren’t proper liberals because they were once members of the Labour Party? Ashdown supported Labour when he was in the marines and Gladstone was a Tory before switching to the Liberals. I don’t hold that against them.
@Tony Greaves @Leslie K. Clark: “apart from Andy Mayer did any members of the Liberal Democrats vote for him?
The short answer is “Yes.” The obvious follow-on question is why Tony Greaves thinks that every Lib Dem other than Andy Mayer has to agree with Tony Greaves. I guess that acknowledging that the Liberal Democrats are a pluralistic party is difficult for Tony, while seeing a place in the Lib Dems for economic liberals is anathema to him.
@Robin McGhee: “He’s campaigned for the Pro-EU Conservative Party, guys”
It’s funny what you fixate on, Robin. Some might say that Mark’s pro-Europeanism was more important that which group he was employed by at the time. The Pro-EU Conservative Party were Members of the European Parliament who resigned from the Conservative Party in protest at its anti-euro stance. They may not have crossed the floor to the Lib Dems but it’s not a badge of shame for a Lib Dem member to be employed to support their pro-European stance.
In fact, on a general point, I do wonder why it is that so many critics of Mark choose to ignore the fact that he previously worked for a pro-Europe party, Liberty (whose Director is a former Liberal Voice of the Year winner) and co-founded No2ID. That’s a pretty good CV for a (now sadly former) Lib Dem!
@Tom you are being too clever for your own good. He is not a member of the party because of a technicality. In all likelihood if he were a member of the party he would not get close to being elected to a party committee. That was the point I was making. He will get some support and I notice that the LV website has been channelling their readers – most of whom are probably Tories – to vote in this election.
I know this is a bit of fun. But if those 288 really were all Lib Dem members – just for the sake of argument – then it really would be shocking that a climate change denier would have won this poll.
A Liberal Vision coup on LDV… hmmm. Whilst I often find LDV “dull but worthy” (“stuffy” might be even more accurate), LV I find simply bonkers most of the time. Sad that there wasn’t a rather livelier, more engaging vehicle on the web for LD viewpoints.
I’m a member of the party, a regional and local party officer, on the exec of an SAO etc. etc. and I voted for Mark. I’d vote for him on FPC, because I think he’s a good communicator who can make a case for policies, rather than just asserting their necessity or a false Manichean dichotomy.
Snide remarks about vote rigging, about readers of the Liberal Vision website mostly being Tories etc. get us nowhere. Even if true, we should be glad that we’ve encouraged members of another party to visit a Lib Dem website and be exposed to our policies and principles – and perhaps think about the impression we’ve made.
@Geoffrey Payne: “He is not a member of the party because of a technicality.”
If by “a technicality” you mean “not registering to be a member of the party or paying a membership fee” you are correct.
“if he were a member of the party he would not get close to being elected to a party committee”
One can’t prove a counter-factual, of course, but one doesn’t need anywhere close to 288 votes to get on a committee, and I’m afraid that your belief that his support comes mostly from non-Lib Dems is based on wishful thinking rather than any evidence.
“if those 288 really were all Lib Dem members… it really would be shocking that a climate change denier would have won this poll”
That might be true, but what relevance that has to Mark Littlewood, I don’t know, considering that he is not a climate change denier, as I know you have been told countless times already and as he confirmed to me as recently as Friday.
@Dave Page: “we should be glad that we’ve encouraged members of another party to visit a Lib Dem website and be exposed to our policies and principles – and perhaps think about the impression we’ve made.”
Very true – particularly the last bit. I suspect that this might be one of the stories that attracted an above-average number of non-regulars and non-Lib Dems. They are hardly likely to walk away from the comments section encouraged by the party’s ability to hold a civilised and constructive debate.
Congratulations Mark.
I voted for Mohamed Bouazizi, but am pleased someone with such articulate liberal convictions won.
Frightening that the Occupy movement got so many votes, but each to their own.
I also voted for Mark and am a longstanding party member. I did not think that Occupy or Ken Clarke were good choices. I understand that Mark could reach out to people outside the party which is surely a good thing.
I voted for Mark because of his broadly libertarian agenda.
I am also with Dave Page – I would also vote for Mark internally on FPC as he is a good communicator.
Ed Joyce
The last two years results in this poll have been a joke IMHO.
If there is to be any credibility to LDV Liberal Voice of the Year Award then IMHO the poll needs to be moved to the members only forum as its quite evident the polls are being dominated by non members.
Tom Papworth,
“and I’m afraid that your belief that his support comes mostly from non-Lib Dems is based on wishful thinking rather than any evidence.”
So where did they come from? If you know the answer, tell us. If not, then what is your justification for holding that Geoffrey’s belief is based on wishful thinking?
“I would also vote for Mark internally on FPC as he is a good communicator.”
David Icke, Ron Paul, Tony Benn – three of the best communicators alive today. Would you want them on the FPC, though? Being a good communicator is only a plus if the policies being communicated are the right ones.
I am reluctant to comment on this topic further, for fear of giving Mr Littlewood the oxygen of publicity that he and Liberal Vision clearly need to promote themselves as mainstream Liberal Democrats. But I do so because I fear that a vocal and organised minority is giving the public an impression of this party that simply isn’t real. When I was active in the party I met plenty of authoritarian conservatives (people in favour of conscription, capital punishment, school uniform, etc), but I cannot recall encountering a single free market fundamentalist (ie, “libertarian” conservative). These are a recent infusion into the party, and their opinions (at least on economics) are antithetical to what Liberal Democrats have been campaigning for during the party’s lifetime (and, indeed, those of its predecessors). Mark Littlewood has annoyed me with his support for the tobacco industry and Rupert Murdoch. I’m sure he intended to and I expect he is delighted to have succeeded. If we had been given a genuine choice, and AV, then we might have achieved a result that more realistically reflected what Liberal Democrats think.
A couple of corrections:-
(1) The second quote is from Ed Joyce, not Tom Papworth.
(2) The final three sentences should read as follows:-
“Mark Littlewood has annoyed me by, among another things, his support for the tobacco industry and Rupert Murdoch. I’m sure he intended to and I expect he’ll be delighted that he’s succeeded. If we had been given a genuine choice, and AV, then we might have achieved a result that more realistically reflects what Liberal Democrats think.”
it’s a crying shame that mark littlewood doesn’t preface every media appearance that he makes with the words “i’m not actually a liberal democrat, and nor do i speak for, or at the request of, the party. “
so you have to resign from the Lib Dems to be eligible? Lets not give people another reason to leave!
Good grief, some of the comments on here are deplorable. I feel rather sorry for Mark Littlewood.
I feel rather ashamed that I don’t know who Mark Littlewood is, but congratulations to him all the same, and I will look him up.
However, I think the award is undermined because we called the winner early, when the leading candidate had only achieved 32% of the vote, and before eliminating any of the losing candidates so as to find out who really would have passed the winning post ie 50% on a head-to-head basis.
I remember there were similar comments about the process last year, even though the winner was not in doubt. Please LDV, if we believe in proper democracy, we have to apply it ourselves. Otherwise people will start voting for who they think will win rather than who they really want. Remember?