The other night, Chuka Umunna had his first proper canvassing session with the Lib Dems. He seems really happy and relaxed with the choice he has made to join us. Out talking to residents with Chuka Umunna, Lib Dem MP for #Streatham 8 out of 10 people here voted #Remain, and most are pretty happy they no longer have to choose between their Remainer MP or the biggest Remain party. It'll be a straightforward vote for the @LibDems next time! pic.twitter.com/TWa6T1X9BO — Helen Thompson #LibDems [IMG: 🔸] (@HelenV_Thompson) June 28, 2019 A word about Helen. Until a couple of weeks ...
On Wednesday, the world was incredulously amused at Boris's revelation that he liked to make model buses. Jo got it, though: Leadership campaigns can be tough. Sometimes you need to relax... #JoinJo pic.twitter.com/brtxwTy4XE — Jo Swinson (@joswinson) June 26, 2019 And then a Facebook Live with our newest MP, Chuka Umunna. Chuka is staying neutral in the leadership election and their chat focused on the forthcoming by-election in Brecon and Radnorshire, how welcome he had felt at his first meeting in the Streatham Lib Dems and some interesting anecdotes about the 2010 election campaign and his Lib Dem opponent Chris ...
Wednesday saw a mass lobby of Parliament on the climate emergency. Ed was there: Ambitious targets must be met with action if we are to tackle the #ClimateEmergency Let's turn our economy green [IMG: 🌿] and work internationally to save our planet pic.twitter.com/clWmQNGQEM — Ed Davey [IMG: 🔶] (@EdwardJDavey) June 26, 2019 He elaborated on his Government of National Unity to stop Brexit idea as Politics Home reported: Sir Ed said: "What this would envisage, and I'm not suggesting everyone is jumping to this idea just yet, would be a non-frontbench MP, probably from the Labour party, being Prime Minister ...
Living in Market Harborough, my instinct on a hot day is to head for Foxton Locks. I did it today and even managed a mad-dogs-and-Englishmen walk across the fields to the Bell at Gumley. Foxton, of course, is where the 1985 Liberal Assembly was organised from. The green track in the last photograph here was then the road access to the bottom of the locks.
Continuing our catch-up for the two leadership candidates. On Tuesday, Jo's interview with our former editors Mark Pack and Stephen Tall came out. And sharing photos of constituency visits. Jo's website is here and you can follow her on Twitter here.
With a by-election taking place Brecon and Radnorshire, I have naturally been thinking of the 1985 by-election in Brecon and Radnor, as it was then called. That contest was caused by the death of the sitting Conservative Tom Hooson, who was a cousin of Emlyn Hooson, the former Liberal MP for neighbouring Montgomery. Tom Hooson had gained the seat at the 1979 general election, but for 40 years before that it had been held by Labour. So, in contrast to the contest taking place there at the moment, the 1985 by-was a fight between Labour and the Liberals. I was ...
Our campaign diaries have fallen a bit by the wayside this week due to life and illness getting in the way. But we decided to catch up now so we have a full record of the campaign and so that you can binge watch, Netflix style, in the couple of days before the ballot papers arrive. So, let's go back to Tuesday. Boris and Jeremy are getting the Iain Dale treatment at Conservative hustings around the country. He interviewed Ed on his radio show on Tuesday night. Watch the whole thing here: Earlier, he had been working cross party to ...
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The Guardian reports that an independent inquiry into Islamophobia in the Conservative party, promised by Boris Johnson if he wins the leadership race, has been downgraded to a "general investigation" into all types of prejudice. The paper says that the idea was raised by Sajid Javid during a BBC leadership debate involving the candidates still in the race at the time - the others being Johnson, Jeremy Hunt, Michael Gove and Rory Stewart: Asked if he believed such an inquiry should be held, Javid said: "Yes I would - do you all agree, guys? Shall we have an external investigation ...
Fri, 12:56: RT @tconnellyRTE: So, officials from EU member states were briefed yesterday by the European Commission in Brussels on the Alternative Arra... Fri, 14:09: RT @tconnellyRTE: More on that hearing by EU officials on the Alternative Arrangements Commission report. The European Commission said any... Fri, 18:57: My top tweets, first half of 2019 https://t.co/FLQW3Utb69 #le19 Fri, 21:55: A big loss for the DUP and for Northern Irish politics. https://t.co/SeVSy6TplX Fri, 22:58: RT @DavidGauke: Tonight, I argued that: We should not allow the Party to be taken over by entryists. We should be a broad church. No dea... Sat, 09:12: ...
Reactions in the party to the news that both Plaid and Renew may be backing Jane Dodds and the Liberal Democrats in the Brecon and Radnorshire by-election have included quite a few mocking comments. Given the checkered history of Renew and its electoral performance, a bit of joke-making about the degree to which their backing will matter is understandable. And I've not been averse myself to poking gentle fun at the troubles amongst would-be new pro-European parties. But it should be no more than that. Where gentle humour becomes condescension, rudeness and ridicule, it becomes misplaced. One reason for that ...
Following comments made by Vladimir Putin, in which the Russian President called liberalism 'obsolete', Liberal Democrat Foreign Affairs spokesperson Jo Swinson said: "Liberalism has faced down bigger challenges than Vladimir Putin, Boris Johnson or Viktor Orban."It's survived and thrived on our continent for more than two centuries and through two World Wars. It's not about to lay down to let nationalists and populists take over. "People across Europe and around the world are crying out for more open, inclusive and liberal societies, and in the UK the Liberal Democrats are at the heart of that growing liberal movement."
