1) Are you committed to leading the Liberal Democrats, or would you rather lead some rebranded "centre party" with a load of Blairite and Cameroon MPs who don't even have the support of their own parties? 2) Are you committed ... Continue reading →
Other former Liberal Democrat MPs may plot to remove their party's leader, but not Norman Baker. He runs a bus company and plays good music.
This Doom painting over the chancel arch is the most impressive thing to be seen in St Mary's, Lutterworth, today. The church is famous for its connection with John Wycliffe ("the morning star of the Reformation"), who was the first man to translate the gospels into English. As well as a monument to him, you can see an arch through which he must have been carried, a pulpit which may contain wood from the one from which he preached and what may be a fragment of his cape. I looked round St Mary's on Saturday. I was lucky in that ...
In the early stages of a leadership contest, there is often much media coverage about what 'senior figures' think and this can significantly influence how events play out. Yet the party's leadership is about who will be leader for the whole party, not just the leader for senior figures. Hence this survey I am running of party members, so that the views of all sorts of party members can influence how events play out, regardless of whether or not they have the mobile phone number of a journalist. If you are a member, please do take part. Finally, here's a ...
Embed from Getty Images We Liberal Democrats are quick to boast that our leader is elected by one member, one vote. Trouble is, it seems the same leader can be removed by a self-elected cabal. Rumour has it that the group that did for Tim Farron consisted mainly of Lib Dem peers, but we don't know that for sure. So I am happy to endorse this Liberal Democrat Voice comment by Bill le Breton: We must have names. I have therefore emailed the Chair and Chief Executive of the ALDC - the body that represents the front line campaigners in ...
Overall I think Thursday night was very positive for the Liberal Democrats. We made four net gains, taking us up to twelve seats. This was in the face of a race to Number 10 where more than eighty per cent of voters backed the two main parties. We've had some excellent 'big beasts' like Jo, Vince, Stephen and Ed returned to Parliament, as well as fantastic new faces like Layla Moran and Christine Jardine. This article is going to focus on the lessons to be learnt, but let's not lose sight of the fact that this was a result which ...
Why are LibDems so ready to rule ourselves out of a Trudeau or Macron-like surge at the next election? We should be in it to win it. Here are 10 steps to seeing a LibDem Prime Minister by Christmas.
During this General Election campaign I spent my time helping my local party and in the last week, helping in a target seat. It became clear that this election wasn't a Brexit election but instead a clear battle between Corbyn and May, Red vs Blue. The policies of the Lib Dems didn't seem to resonate nationally even though they were clearly sensible and credible, which lead to our party's vote share declining by 0.5% compared to 2015. From this it's clear to see that tactical voting damaged the party in nine target seats leading to deposits been lost in the ...
The expedition continues south: The fifteenth, the Viscount Roche, David Barry, sone and heire to the Viscount Barry (his father being sicke) Mc Donough, O'Keeffe, and O'Kallaghan came to us with certain horsemenne and footmenne to whom we gave order that all the keriaghes (carriages) of the country should draw near our campe, as we wished to refresh us with vittaile (victuals) for our journey, promising that they should not be otherwise touched, and yet they durst not trust us, but fledde afar off. We removed and camped altogether that night in Mac Donough's countrey called Dowally (Duhallow) by a ...
[IMG: Princes Parade] Things have been rather quiet on the Princes Parade front during the county and general elections but now that the purdah period is over we are expecting that Shepway will submit the planning application very soon so look out for emails from us with guidance on how to make your objections. Shepway District Council's Princes Parade Working Group is meeting this afternoon. Unusually the meeting is advertised on the calendar of meetings and the minutes will be published but the meeting is not open to the public. We have challenged this as the council have not given ...
Embed from Getty Images In an election supposedly predicated on the issue of Brexit, few Liberal Democrats expected the issues of gay sex and abortion to dominate the headlines for the Uk's most unequivocally pro-European party in 2017. Tim Farron's repeated refusal to answer the question as to whether gay sex was a sin during an interview in April resulted in exceptional news coverage of the Lib Dems, but for the wrong reasons. Having led the party to a succession of impressive by-election victories and surpassing his own target to reach 100'000 members 3 years early, it was - up ...
One of the sub-plots of the recent General Election was the discomfort of Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron any time he was asked about LGBT issues. It reached its endpoint today with his resignation. In an e-mail to party members he reported that: To be a political leader – especially of a progressive, liberal party [...]
A version of this post first appeared on the Radix blog... Back in the 1829, a strange rumour spread through the London poor that those in workhouses were being fed on the bodies of the dead. They called it 'nattomy soup'. It was a measure of how much the poor felt themselves to be surplus to economic requirements, how much they felt the new utilitarian administrative classes were actively working for their demise. I was reminded of this when I heard some of the emerging anger of the residents of Grenfell Tower. Nobody melted anyone down deliberately, but there does ...
Temporary traffic lights will be installed shortly at Dodington Ash, where the road from Westerleigh and Codrington meets the A46. The lights are needed because this will be a major diversion route when work is taking place on the Bromley Heath viaduct on the Ring Road. The installation work will take place between 9.30 am and 3.30 pm from now until 2 June. The temporary lights will then be in operation for the duration of the viaduct works, which will be aroind 52 weeks (or 33 weeks if South Glos find the money to work extra hours to speed up ...
Embed from Getty Images Radical centrism is often thought to be an oxymoron since Centrists rarely appear to want to tear up the current order and replace it with something new. However, given the significant challenges facing UK (and other countries throughout the world) is it not time to be bold in what we propose? For what has been shown across the world in the past year, most notably in France and the US and recently in the UK elections, is that a policy of more of the same will not win you an election. Theresa May, while deviating from ...
Meols Ward Lib Dem Councillors John Dodd, Nigel Ashton and Jo Barton are holding their next advice centre in Churchtown. We will be at BoxTree Kitchen for Queenscourt café, Manor Road/Cambridge Road, roundabout, from 10:30 to 11.30am on Thursday 22nd June. We will be there to meet you and discuss any Council problems you may have. No appointment necessary. Just pop in. We alo hold a monthly advice centre in Crossens, at St John's School, Rufford Road, Crossens every month (except August) on the second Saturday of the month from 11:00 am to 12:00.
Tonight I was planning on writing some posts about the need for British Proportional Representation. However, the resignation of Tim Farron MP as leader of the Liberal Democrats has occupied a lot of my attention. I've been discussing it on social media but obviously that's not a place for nuance, so I figured I'd put [...]
From today's Telegraph. If regulations were followed, the Grenfell Tower inferno should have been impossible GEOFF WILKINSON • 14 JUNE 2017 • 9:56PM I am a building inspector and fire engineer with 30 years' experience. I've overseen numerous projects across London, including new builds and refurbishments, making sure buildings comply with the proper regulations, and post-occupation fire risk assessments. Given my experience, I was shocked by the blaze which engulfed Grenfell Tower in the early hours of Wednesday morning. At this point in time it's very hard to tell precisely what went wrong. We don't know where the fire started ...
I'm on holiday so have only just seen the news of Tim Farron's resignation as Lib Dem leader. I'm saddened, but also, truth be told, a bit relieved. Saddened because I voted for Tim and am pleased to have done so. His energy and enthusiasm is infectious – his instinctive, passionate speech the morning after the 23 June EU referendum captured the sadness and anger many of us felt that day (and contrasted with Jeremy Corbyn's hopeless insistence that Article 50 should be immediately triggered). It inspired thousands to join the Lib Dems. We were, to be blunt, very lucky ...
Our candidate in Walsall North, Isabelle Parasram, has written this letter to her supporters and we are pleased to share it with you. Hello! I'm writing to thank you for supporting me in my first campaign to stand for Parliament on behalf of the Liberal Democrats. Though I didn't win a seat in Walsall North this time 'round, my campaign wasn't all about gaining a seat for myself. Of course I gave it everything I had, but I wanted to see others win too. My heart goes out to those candidates whom I campaigned for in one way or another, ...
[IMG: Shell Shock the Play] As part of a national tour this summer, 'Shell Shock The Play' is coming to the Folkestone's Tower Theatre by Shornecliffe Barracks on Friday 28 July 2017 at 19:45. Tickets are £12, concessions £10, and are available online at www.towertheatrefolkestone.co.uk or by calling 01303 223925 'Shell Shock The Play' tells one soldier's story of coping with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. After serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, Tommy Atkins' observations on life on civvy street are poignant, frequently comic and always moving. His over-emotional responses to post office queues, a trip to Ikea, his relationships and ...
Tim Farron's shock resignation yesterday was an unacceptable event in our party's history. After a long and gruelling campaign it is understandable when faced with the resignation of Brian Paddick and a lobby of individuals demanding his resignation, he being an honest and honourable person had had enough. The pretext of his Christianity and his handling of intrusive media questions over LGBT issues was the expression of unhappiness with Tim from a number of LGBT Liberal Democrats who never liked having personal christian views they didnt agree with. On balance, it has to be said that he never handled any ...
Tim Farron resigned last night. You may have seen the news. I missed it live because I was eating some battered cod. True story. Anyway that happened and instead of taking a step back and seeing what happens next, we've seen a rush to get everything moving and I have to admit I find it deeply disturbing. Should a certain candidate decide to stand then I anticipate that I'll be fully behind them but there is plenty of time to see how things shake out. I suspect most didn't see Tim's departure coming after he stayed on after the election ...
Retail sales fell by 1.2% between April and May, worse than economists had expected, figures from the Office for National Statistics have shown. The ONS said that average store prices have risen by 2.8% over the year, which has been a significant factor in slowing growth. Liberal Democrat MP Vince Cable commented: "The economy has been kept going for a year on the basis of consumer debt, which was always artificial and unsustainable. "The brutal reality of a hard Brexit is now starting to hit businesses and consumers. "Unless the government takes a cross-party approach to Brexit, reflecting the need ...
Thu 15th
12:13
Maghull/Lydiate – My letter to the Champion newspaper in respect of the Turnbridge Road site
The letter below is in response to the article on page 9 of the Aintree & Maghull Champion newspaper on 24th May where Labour councillors complain about a developer when their party on Sefton Council voted for the site to be developed via the Sefton Local Plan! ***** That the developer of the Turnbridge Road site in Lydiate (which will be accessed from Maghull) is not engaging with locals is indeed an outrage. I wrote a detailed objection regarding this development to Sefton Council as part of the planning process. I also opposed the Sefton Local Plan which designated this ...
[IMG: Enbrook Park, Sandgate] Shepway District Council have received a planning application (Y17/0242/SH) for the Saga Offices in Enbrook Park for the construction of 50 additional car parking spaces. Sandgate Parish Council will, as a consultee to the decision, be considering the application at their Planning meeting of 4th July, and then pass the outcome of that meeting to Shepway, whose Development Control Officers / Committee will take the final decision on whether to allow it. There have been calls for Saga to increase the parking available to staff on its site for many years. Published and promoted by Tim ...
Thu 15th
11:55
Lord Tony Greaves writes...Where now for the Liberal Democrats? Part 2: What we do about it
Yesterday, I laid out the issues facing the party. Here is my analysis of what we should do about them. I suggest there are four or five things that should now be priorities for the party as an organisation and a movement. They may look rather different from each other but I suggest that they gel together more than may be immediately obvious. This is not an order of importance - I think they are all equally important. First, in view of the election result we need to insure against the threat of another General Election in the next 12 ...
miss_s_b | On Circular Firing Squads I posted On Circular Firing Squads to my dreamwidth blog [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
One of the most depressingly predictable things about the lib dems is if/when a leader gets pushed out, the circular firing squad immediately forms. This morning lots of people I care about are screaming "it's all YOUR fault, you bastards!" at each other, in an extremely unhelpful way. They probably all have something of a point, if I'm honest. But hurling insults at each other is just hurtful. And some of the rank hypocrisy on display from people who are saying things to the effect of "wah, those arseholes are being mean to me, when all I said was Tim ...
Embed from Getty Images In an article in The Guardian Ed Davey writes: Perhaps Theresa May has a sense of mischief after all. Putting Michael Gove in charge of the Department of the Environment is much like putting a wolf in charge of the chicken coop. To say that the Gove pulse is unlikely to race too much faster over environmental concerns would, from my experience of working with him, be an understatement. He probably regards global warming as an excuse to reduce winter fuel payments. May bringing in her old enemy demonstrates her crippling weakness. This desperate attempt to ...
In 2006 I was in London with the Welsh Liberal Democrats Assembly group at a meeting with Welsh MPs and Lords when it became clear that something unusual was happening. As a group we strode over to Cowley Street for an extraordinary press conference at which Charles Kennedy announced his resignation as leader of the Liberal Democrats. Unusually for the Liberal Democrats, the men in suits had insisted that Kennedy's lifestyle was no longer compatible with leading a major political party and had forced him out. I recall that I remained angry with the Parliamentary Party for many years afterwards, ...
From the City Council (this second closure is to properly restore the setted road surface which has a temporary repair after work last month) : THE ROAD TRAFFIC REGULATION ACT 1984 - SECTION 14(1) THE DUNDEE CITY COUNCIL AS TRAFFIC AUTHORITY being satisfied that traffic on the road should be prohibited by reason of SGN service connection works being carried out HEREBY PROHIBIT the driving of any vehicle in Roseangle (between Perth Road and Seabraes Court), Dundee. This notice comes into effect on Tuesday 20 June 2017 for 5 working days. Pedestrian thoroughfare will be maintained. Alternative routes are available ...
