LibDem Blogs - Archived!

Things move on at a staggering pace when politics is in full flow - and it is. Chris Huhne - who I am backing for the Lib Dem leadership - came in this morning and - having 'slept on it' - decided it is now all systems go. To me - this shows he has the balls for leadership - because that's what it takesOf course, there is risk, but nothing ventured nothing gained - and this party needs a leader

I have crossed swords with James Graham on quaequam blog about my old Watford buddy Mark Oaten, who I see is often on the receiving end of, ahem, 'sustained and aggressive' criticism from a but noisy section of the party. Mark, however, seems untroubled by it all and among my acquaintances some people who I would not have down as Oatenistas are contemplating supporting him. But there is a way to go. I have a lot of time for Mark, but was never an uncritical admirer, either when he was my group leader in Watford or since he has gone ...

Today I took a few moments out from my frenzied Leadership Election Campaign to speak in the Energy Security Debate. The problem was that too many people wanted to speak. With Front Benchers taking about 75 mins for starting and the about 30-45 mins to sum up there is little space for others. I, therefore, tried to get my key point for gas (which is that there is no incentive to import into

by Steve Travis Only German speakers will spot the awful pun in the title, but I am glad that one of the young(er) generation of MPs has broken cover. Huhne has a CV to die for. He also has a reassuringly deep voice, and on the occasions I've heard him on "Today" comes across with Gravitarse (tm Graham Productions 2006). Even if he is ultimately unsuccessful I see him vying with David laws for Treasury and wiping th efloor with squeaky George. The blogosphere is warming to him too.

The link is to the current photo rules. At the time of writing these have not been changed. This link is about the simplified standards for children. At the time of writing it is dated 21st December not 21st November (unlike the answer below). Being a sceptical sort of individual I wonder if we have a coverup of the timing of the decision to simplify children's photos. This would be an

In alphabetical order: Nick Clegg Ed Davey Simon Hughes Susan Kramer David Laws Then I could get excited...

Hi everyone, just a quick reminder about the SportBlog roundup. Next Tuesday I hope to be able to publish a collection of links to the best pieces of sportsblogging from right around the world. I need your help, however. Please email any good pieces you see to sportblog at googlemail dot com

Simon Mollan has a good new post about the likely neo-conservative direction of David Cameron's Conservatives. In short, Neo-Conservatism can be defined as the use of traditionally socialist, big-government policies to achieve traditionally Conservative ends. This raises a possibility that both New Labour and the Tories will be committed to a future in which the government plays an ever greater role in people's lives. Blair's respect agenda maps out a vision of Britain with summary justice, enforced parenting lessons and evictions of people from their own homes. Whilst the ends it wishes to achieve (a more peaceful ...

I sold my chess books when I hung up my pawns a few years ago. But the news today that Chris Huhne is to stand for the leadership of the Liberal Democrats reminds me of Kotov's Think Like a Grandmaster. In it the Russian chess trainer describes how a lot of players think. It is your turn and you can see two plausible moves. You analyse one for a while, but not everything is clear. You try the other and it also leads to positions you find hard to assess. So you go back to the first move and analyse ...

This morning Tim Farron, Simon Hughes' campaign manager, told The Times: “Simon has tremendous appeal. He is a bit like a flair footballer who needs good management.”It's natural that Tim should want to talk up his own role, but we have just lived through several years with a leader who had to be "managed". What we want now is one who can lead. We want a Frank Lampard not a Joe Cole.

According to the Guardian, he said today: “The 50p top tax rate is now looking in international terms quite uncompetitive . . . and there are alternative ways of being redistributive.” I certainly agree with the second point, although I think the first can be overblown. While it is hardly a policy announcement, it is certainly [...]

I’ve been thinking about this for a while, and this story (via this bloke) has got me thinking again: if the Lib Dems would abolish the DTI, then why not abolish the Department of Media, Culture and Sport at the same time? I’m not suggesting, as Tim seems to imply (not that I’m putting words into [...]

I see there is now a Stop Ming weblog. Fair enough, but I wish these people didn’t do this anonymously. At least it gives me licence to make ungenerous comments like, is this the person to stop him? See? Childish.

Simon Hughes’ launch was a lot slicker than Mark Oaten’s and he was wise to mention his win as Party President 16 months ago but, well, it was a bit boring if truth be told. He seemed to be speaking in slow motion. And while it was good to have a venue sorted [...]

I as argued here, it is likely that Cameron’s Conservatives will turn out to be high tax statists, using the spending-side of government to pursue their odd vision of the future, rather than pursue Thatcherite style Conservatism through the revenue-side (in the form of tax cuts). On this basis I imagine that they plan that the Government will help fund this policy in the form of grants, direct funding, tax credits, and other incentives. Conservatives fundamentally mistake the nature of the State. The State is not just the public sector: it is the totality of power exercised through all ...

I notice that Mark Oaten is on Question Time tonight. This begs a question: is the BBC going to give the Lib Dems a Question Time special for their leadership ballot? After all, they did for the Tories. I’m going to write to them tonight, and suggest that everyone else does the same.

With the formal declaration of Simon Hughes' candidature today (see the Liberal Review leadership news roundup for more) and the expected declaration from Chris Huhne tomorrow, the Liberal Democrat leadership contest is now wide open. The initial pressure for a "coronation" has abated as the sense of crisis has faded. Panic has given way to contemplation, and there are now four credible candidates offering different visions for the party's future. For me, the most interesting person to watch will be Menzies Campbell. He was nominated amidst a considerable clamour, with backing from two previous leaders and a host ...

I like the note to editors at the end of Simon Hughes announcement to stand for leader of the party. NOTES TO EDITORS The first 7 MPs to sign Simon’s nomination paper are: Annette Brooke Tim Farron Evan Harris Paul Holmes Mark Hunter Steve Webb Richard Younger-Ross All 7 are not signing the nomination papers of any other candidate. Now there is a man who understands democracy and the

His hands shook. He was evidently badly advised in terms of which questions to ask. But as the bear-pit roared, his voice did not waver. It was not an unqualified success, but nor was it a disaster. As someone who has given a few speeches in his time, to the odd bear-pit, I was impressed. The first thing is that he had nerves. Nerves are good. They show you mean it, that it matters, that you have passion for what you are doing. As the adrenalin pumps the hands may shake – the good sign was that the words still ...

Peter Black AM: Blonde joke

According to the best prices on politicalbetting.com right now… Shock! Simon Hughes (5/4) leapfrogs Ming (11/8)! Bosh! Chris Huhne (7/1) leapfrogs Mark Oaten (9/1)! Parp! John Hemming (80/1) lags behind 5 people who have already said they aren’t standing. UPDATE: The above linked book appears to have closed. But this is the link to the book on the [...]

The lads at work have just started blogging, here are their efforts: David Hayes, Paul Finney, Adam Beers and Daniel Ward.

I have often said that I am not ginger but strawberry blonde, therefore there is no way I am going to propagate this politically incorrect blonde joke. This is a serious political blog after all.

Simon Hughes has now joined the race to be Liberal Democrat Leader. Simon Hughes is the current Party President and has been the MP for Southwark North & Bermondsey since winning the by-election there against Labour in 1983. I predicted early on that Hughes would stand again (having stood in 1999) against Ming Campbell and Mark Oaten.

Thursday 12th January 2006 - No I am not talking about Gorgeous George and the Big Brother escapades, although I can forgive you for thinking that was the topic of this posting!! But events yesterday in the House of Commons and the way the other two parties turned Prime Minister's Question Time into an opportunity to have a knock about at the Lib Dems expense!! Yes actually I thought it was very

Gas Q: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment he has made of the recent reduction in gas production from mixed oil and gas fields. (John Hemming) A:Production of "associated gas" from the mixed oil and gas fields located principally in the northern and central North Sea has varied over time for a number of reasons. The rate of production is affected by contractual

by Peter If there is one thing that is annoying me about this contest it is the phenomenon of mulitple nominations. At least four MPs seem prepared to nominate anyone and everyone. Candidates are not exempt from this, as John Hemming reveals. I like John, but this sort of behaviour should be discouraged. DisgustedTunbridge Wells.

Joe Otten, whose blog I had not come across before, makes a noble effort to debunk the myth that the Orange Book is ‘right-wing’. To be fair, this point was made by Jonathan Calder in his liberator review shortly after the notorious volume was published. My thoughts on reading the book shortly after it came out were that it was uneven in quality and that some of the articles sat uneasily alongside one another. If we accept a definition of ‘right-wing’ as in favour of free markets and less state control then the articles by Laws and Cable could perhaps ...

By Leah. Been asked if I'll vote for Chris Huhne if he stands. Chris was my knock-up partner in Hartlepool in September 04. I was really excited to be working with him – as I’d heard great things - but sadly I wasn’t impressed by him as a person. Apart from smiling at me rather inanely, he hardly said two words to me the entire time before rushing off early and I felt I had to do all the work in instigating any kind of team-mate conversation with him on our rounds as he seemed so shy. Maybe he was ...

Via James comes celebrity face recognition from MyHeritage.com. Although designed for genealogical purposes, there’s a huge amount of fun to be had putting non-celebs in the celebrity search and seeing whose faces come up. It’s not infallible (one photo of me seemed to be matched with Stan Lee just because we were both wearing sunglasses), [...]

Nominations are going well particularly as MPs are able and willing to sign more than one nomination paper. I have personally signed the paper for Mark Oaten, not because I support his campaign, but because I support his right to stand. I have offered to sign that of Simon Hughes and Chris Huhne as well. There are at least four MPs who will sign more than one paper if requested to give the

Chris Huhne is intending to declare on Friday. Simon Hughes is planning to declare today (the Independent seems behind a bit on supporters for Chris Huhne). Simon Hughes made an generally positive impression on me at the Cambridge University Lib Dems rally (I always imagine rallies to be slightly less civilised). He brought along a visitor to his constituency surgery - a young man who due to

Matt T points me to this new face recognition software and tries a few bloggers with its celebrity database. Of course, I HAD to have a go with Lib Dem leadership contenders. So, here are the results: Sir Menzies Campbell QC MP AC DC (this photo): Henry Fonda (69%), Peter Ustinov (61%), Gianni Agnelli (61%). Simon Hughes (this photo): [...]

It does at least get the party's blood flowing! Even if the national campaign is still in its infancy, bloggers are producing some really thoughtful posts. Vivienne Raiper's latest is meant to be the third in her series of reasons to vote for Menzies Campbell. Personally, taken with her following post, I think she should be supporting Chris Huhne. But then I guess that doesn't surprise anyone, does it? :-) As a side note, I'm not sure who came up with their name first, but Vivienne's " Forceful and Moderate " seems remarkably close to our "Militant Moderate". Clearly, great ...

Okay it is just for fun, but I am running an opinion poll on my website www.colin-ross.org.uk to find out who should be the Leader of the Liberal Democrats. All Liberal Democrat MPs are listed regardless of if they have declared to stand, support someone else or ruled themselves out. Visit the website and vote on who should be Liberal Democrat Leader?

Colin Ross is running a poll on his site. "Which of the Lib Dem MPs would you like to see as Leader?". Annette Brook got off to a fast start, but Lorely Burt is running neck & neck with Campbell, Davey & Huhne.

During the GE the leaders tour/bandwagon stopped off in Hodge Hill. As CK's wife was expecting to deliver within the next 24-48hrs we had Ming instead. As you can see from the photo, I'm literally behind Ming [I'm the black clad bloke on the right] I think this clearly demonstrates how to carry a super diamond (unlike the Selly Oak parly candidate just behind Ming's right shoulder) by ensuring the message is loud and clear, rather than getting my face onto local TV!

The Scotsman: Ming wins the election.

Five days into the Lib Dem leadership campaign, what’s the story? Well, I’m no scientist, but let’s try a combustion analogy for size. There are three phases: 1. Pre-heating phase: when the unburned fuel – aka Charles Kennedy – is heated up to its flash point. I think it’s safe to say we’re though that phase now. 2. Distillation phase: when the mix of evolved flammable gases – let’s call them

For the past three years I've been watchleader and website designer for James Cook, a 70 foot steel sail training boat which does its business in the North Sea. Bringing a boat full of wet, tired, arsy kids into Hartlepool Marina at three am following a vomitorious 50 mile head to wind passage ain't the glamorous end of the sailing industry. But it is worthwhile and we use big boats. Sailing

Last night I trained the Lichfield and Tamworth Local Party in Selection Committee training. All Liberal Democrat Local Parties have to have a certain number of members having had Selection Committee training, before they can proceed with selecting a Prospective Parliamentary Candidate.

that sees Chris Huhne as the surprise package in the leadership election. PoliticalBetting.com reports a flurry of activity as Chris's odds are slashed from 300:1 to 16:1 in just 24 hours!

I've begun a series of occasional posts, over at my personal blog, linking to Chris Huhne's record on a number of key issues. I do hope, after all the enthusiasm I'm currently harbouring, he actually runs... So far, one on his strong civil liberties stance, and one with his widely-praised response to David Cameron.

Yes, bureaucracy fans, I'm back as Regional Secretary, having been gloriously elected without opposition! Clearly, the electorate didn't read my manifesto... thank you once again to those who have been so supportive in recent months. I have all sorts of plans for 2006, including resuming the Executive Diary, improving reportage to the Local Parties and working with our formidable Regional

Yesterday’s PMQs said all too much about both of the main challengers in the Lib Dem leadership contest and the problem with the party in general. Both of them had seized on the idea that it would be tactically very good to ask a question, but neither of them showed much evidence of having [...]

Ruth Kelly is in trouble. Child sex offenders have been high profile for years, and preventing sex offenders from working in schools was exactly the issue addressed in Sir Michael Bichard's enquiry after the Soham murders. We have to remember that Ian Huntley had not actually been convicted, but had been implicated in and charged with a number of offences. That should have been...

For Hughes and Huhne and Hemming. This is the only day of the week containing an H so what better day for the other two H's to break out. John Hemming has been blogging all week about his intentions to seek the relavant nominations. Simon Hughes is the second open secret of the week. He has taken every step to not decalre his candidacy while taking every step to ease his announcement, expect a

Like him or not - and I positively don't - Blair is undoubtably a clever politician and a good PMQs performer. Why Ming led on the question of caretaker head teachers yesterday is utterly beyond comprehension. If Ming was hit back straight over the wicket for 6, then Hughes went for four runs too, being easily swatted away by Blair. The equivalent of 12th man back in the pavilion or the BBC Studios as they are sometimes called, the dastardly Oaten, must have been chuckling wildly ! Seriously surely the PM's Respect agenda offered the chance to hurl a 'bouncer' ...

by Peter Lynne Featherstone is pushing for Chris Huhne to enter the leadership race. I think this might be a good idea too, although there are some obvious arguments against a new MP with a small majority. But Lynne's reasoning shows why she is well up my list of impressive new MPs An ambitious, successful party needs to win the national debate on economic policy. We need to talk about not just what to do with this country's wealth but also about how to create more - to lift more people out of poverty, to improve our public ...

It's good to see that Tony has given Ruth Kelly his full backing, means she should be gone by the end of next week.

I'm not too sure that my great-great-great-grandfather James would have been too impressed by the way some leadership candidates are discussing the question of age. He and his brother John were active members of the Dalkeith Liberal Association during Gladstone's 1879 Midlothian campaign, when the grand old man was already 69.

I remember an old file on CIX that used to have a big list of blonde jokes, but Steve at For Love Nor Money seems to have found the best blonde joke yet. Tags: blonde+jokes

I saw Ming Monday night, Simon Tuesday morning and Mark too - and all answered my questions pretty well. Different candidates better on different questions. I am not intending to go public with any of the answers on the Charles's downfall question. I also put the questions to Chris Huhne who I had been encouraging to stand but who, as I write, is still considering it. If he does run - I will back him. Chris is an economic expert - so he's the man to take the fight to Gordon Brown on the central issue that decides elections. ...

The Liberal Democrats leadership race is starting to heat up at last. Any chance of a coronation has gone out of the window and a good thing too. Sir Menzies Campbell's performance in Prime Minister's Question Time yesterday seems to have temporarily derailed his bandwagon and caused some members to pause and think about who they will support. Sir Menzies Campbell and Mark Oaten are the two declared candidates but it is believed that Party President, Simon Hughes will join them today. There is also speculation that Eastleigh MP, Chris Huhne will throw his hat in the ring. Although Chris ...

Chris Huhne definitely appears to be about to declare. I recall him speaking at the Oxford Young European Society but it was several years ago now (my first year at Oxford and I'm now writing up a thesis at Bristol) so I don't recall much about him except his steel-grey hair. Definitely requires some more investigation but I like what I hear, although since Menzies will be known far more amongst

It is a new term for many people – “The Social Economy’. What is it, and what does it mean for us? How does a Liberal approach relate to this, particularly our commitment to localism? Should we specifically look at this as part of the Meeting The Challenge exercise? What are LibDem councillors doing to explore the possibilities of such enterprises contributing to services in their areas? If I get the workshop I asked for, I hope to raise some of these points at the One Day Conference in London on 14 January. In Britain we know about Charities, Co-Operatives ...