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The Lib Dems are a Centre Left Party
October 20, 2014 1:08 PM
Anyone who regularly reads my tweets will know that barely a day-and certainly not a week-goes by without me reminding my readers that those of us on the centre-left are the beating heart and soul of our party.
More often than not I get one person and often more than one reply to me saying that I’ve got it wrong, that I’m stuck in the past, that the party has changed, that we’re now a Party of the Orange Bookers and broadly on the centre-right.
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Join us at Glasgow Conference 2014
October 02, 2014 11:32 AM
Join the Social Liberal Forum at Liberal Democrat Autumn Conference in Glasgow. We have a selection of three fringe events for you to choose from and have a stand staffed by volunteers for you to visit and get to know us better.
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wake up, westminster
September 19, 2014 6:21 PM
Whatever we may think of it, the Yes camp in Scotland succeeded in building a powerful movement. Turnout in the Scottish Referendum was a staggering 84 percent, putting the typical General Election turnout of 60 percent very much in the shade. This is proof that when the electorate is offered real, meaningful choice, they will engage. It is however sobering, that Scotland’s biggest city – Glasgow, and 45 percent of Scots overall, voted to leave the United Kingdom.
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conference voting reps and OMOV
September 17, 2014 6:22 PM
I’d like to raise a concern about something to be decided at Conference, especially as I can’t be there.
Conference in Glasgow will consider two proposals from the party establishment lumped together under the title of OMOV – one member, one vote – and both apparently aimed at bypassing those unreliable activists. The first of these, to throw open elections for key party committees to all members instead of conference voting reps, is the one that has generated most debate. I don’t have strong feelings on that: there is a real danger that the great and the good would be elected and have little time to give to Federal Policy Committee and so on, but it would be easy to require that the attendance record of candidates standing again be shared with all members and easy also to require brief statements from candidates of the sort union members will be familiar with. The change could make policy positions and voting record of candidates much more widely known.
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Glasgow confererence preview for SLF
September 03, 2014 11:53 PM
The last Autumn Conference before a General Election always looks a little different, perforce. Eager Parliamentary candidates queueing up to make a campaigning point to win a few votes, perhaps to save a local post office? Check. Debates more about nuances of strategy than big issues of policy? That too. An absence of major controversy from the agenda? Frequently.
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I agree with Tim: Why we need a new consensus
August 08, 2014 7:51 PM
On Saturday 19th July, Tim Farron gave the third annual William Beveridge Memorial Lecture at the Social Liberal Forum conference in London. The title of his lecture was "building a new consensus" and it was a direct challenge to the Thatcherite consensus of the last 35 years. I agree with Tim that the contemporary political consensus has failed and that we need a new one.
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Our behaviour has to reflect our values - reflections on Nick Clegg's speech
June 11, 2014 11:41 AM
This post first appeared on Lib Dem Voice One thing about Nick Clegg, rather like those inflatable Humpty Dumpties some of us had as kids – thump him and he bounces right back. Monday seems to be one such occasion. An upbeat, earnest speech, designed, it seemed to most commentators, to speak to the party as much, if not more, than to the country. For the Soc -
Long term gains from short term arguments
June 05, 2014 1:48 PM
This post first appeared on Liberal Democrat Voice Most participants in the post-election debate have concentrated on specific changes they want now: the Leader, his advisers, the communications team, the detail of policy issues etc. I firmly believe that the underlying issues are systemic rather than one-off and that we should use the opportunity -
Statement following SLF AGM
June 01, 2014 4:35 PM
Yesterday the SLF AGM was held in Reading. Despite reports to the contrary no emergency motions were submitted and no resolutions passed. The claim in Andrew Rawnsley's piece in the Observer today stating that the SLF are planning to
