Category Archives: Liberal Democrat

Clegg: I Won’t Go to the Lords

June 12, 2017 Editor Leave a comment

In series of tweets this evening, former Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg ruled out going to the House of Lords with the words “Ermine just isn’t my thing”. He lost the Sheffield Hallam constituency in last Thursday’s election. Nick Clegg was MP for Sheffield Hallam from 2005 to 2017 and was the Leader of the Liberal Democrats from 2007 to 2015.

He didn’t rule out a return to The House of Commons but he did hint that he would he would make his voice heard as a journalist with a link to his article yesterday in the FT.

Of course I wish I was still MP for Sheffield Hallam – a wonderful place full of wonderful people – but that was not to be. 1/3

Still, there are big debates in UK politics where I will want to make my voice heard. My @FT column on Brexit: http://on.ft.com/2sQAsJl 2/3

Thanks for the kind petition to put me in the Lords, but I’m afraid an unelected chamber is not for me. Ermine just isn’t my thing… 3/3

Hung Parliament, Liberal Democrat

Clegg Casualty as UK Votes for Hung Parliament

June 9, 2017 Editor Leave a comment

The former leader of the LibDems Nick Clegg lost his seat last night.

The ex-deputy Prime Minister was ousted from his Sheffield Hallam constituency by Labour. Jared O’Mara took the seat with 21,881 votes vs Clegg’s 19,756.

‘”I have always sought to stand by the liberal values I believe in but I have encountered this evening what many people have encountered before tonight and I suspect many people will encounter after tonight which is, in politics, you live by the sword and you die by the sword.” He said after his defeat.

“We saw that in the Brexit referendum last year and we see it here again tonight, polarised between left and right, between different regions and nations and areas of the country, but most gravely of all, this huge gulf now between young and old.

“My only plea would be to all MPs, including Jared, from all parties, is this, that we will not pick our way through the very difficult times that our country faces if in the next parliament MPs of all parties simply seek to amplify what divides them.”

Conservative, Europe, Labour, Liberal Democrat

This Election IS the 2nd Referendum

May 18, 2017 Editor Leave a comment

This is the Brexit election. It was called because of Brexit. It will define Brexit and all of the parties have Brexit at the core of their manifestos.

The Conservatives are asking us to back a hard Brexit. Lowering immigration at the core and would come at the expense of a trade deal if necessary. In Theresa May’s Lancaster House speech in January, when she warned that “no deal for Britain is better than a bad deal”.

Labour wants a soft Brexit. Keir Starmer MP, Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, set out Labour’s approach to Brexit: “We will scrap the Government’s Brexit White Paper and replace it with fresh negotiating priorities that…will have a strong emphasis on retaining the benefits of the Single Market and the Customs Union”.

A vote The Liberal Democrats leaves the option to Remain. Leader Tim Farron said ” the Liberal Democrats are committed to keeping Britain in the single market. We believe the British people should have the final say on the Brexit deal, including the option to remain in the EU”.

That’s right, we can remain in the EU if enough people vote for the LibDems but the polls say that’s not happening. Perhaps people don’t understand or believe that we have the democratic option to reverse a decision that was more about the political ambitions of a bunch of old Etonians than it was about the future the 65 million.

Liberal Democrat, Manifesto

#LibDemManifesto Offers 2nd Referendum on Brexit

May 17, 2017 Editor 1 Comment

The Lib Dems launched their 2017 general election manifesto today with the title: Change Britain’s Future.

Brexit is the top issue. The LibDems are committing to a 2nd referendum on the Brexit deal, with the choice to reject the deal and remain in Europe.

There is also a promise to invest £7bn in schools and colleges and help for young people to buy their first home for the same cost as renting. They are pledging an £6bn a year for the NHS paid for by raising income tax rates by 1p, with £1bn of that money ring-fenced for mental health care.

Tim Farron the Lib Dem leader says “Theresa May and Nigel Farage have put our country on a perilous path, towards a bad Brexit deal and weaker public services. This election is your chance, your choice, to change the country’s direction. Only the Liberal Democrats are committed to keeping Britain in the single market. We believe the British people should have the final say on the Brexit deal, including the option to remain in the EU”.

Liberal Democrat

The LibDems Play it For Laughs

April 28, 2015 Editor Leave a comment

Of the three parties that have dominated politics in the UK for the last century, it is the Liberal Democrats that seen their support collapse in the run up to the current election. They believed that in joining a coalition they would see more sunlight and their credibility would rise. In truth it took just months for their share of support in the nation to fall from 23% at the election to less than 10%.

Their support has bumped along at around 8% and no-one has been paying them much attention. With the new nationalist kids from UKIP and the SNP now on the block, they just haven’t been getting the airtime.

Whether its desparation for attention or a genuine strategy the LibDems have been playing the election for laughs in the last few days. When Grant Shapps hit the spolight for allegedly tampering with Wikipedia the Lib Dems put out a press release from Paddy Ashdown saying “Grant is a wonderful guy – he is a credit to the Conservative Party …and if, like me, you have been lucky enough to meet him, you know you have been touched by greatness. Quite simply, a colossus.” Nick Clegg also suggested that it might have been Michael Green (an alias Shapps has used in the past) that was responsible for the edits.

At the weekend when Cameron forgot which football team he supported the LibDems created an Error 404 page that said “Just like David Cameron’s loyalty to Aston Villa, this page does not exist.

It’s a good gag, but maybe not enough to turn the tide.

Liberal Democrat, Polling

Nick Clegg Behind In Sheffield Hallam…Last November

February 7, 2015 Editor 2 Comments

At the start of the week Lord Ashcroft published his latest batch of polls, this time from Scotland. Perhaps the biggest shocker was the 29 point deficit to the SNP faced by LibDem Danny Alexander, in his seat in Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey.

Today it’s the LibDem leader’s turn. Lord Ashcroft announced today that it had come to light that the poll he had published for Sheffield Hallam included a mistake in the data. The corrected data means that rather than having a three-point lead Nick Clegg should have been three points behind Labour.

The problem is that this poll was done in November, so whether the data was right or wrong, it’s completely out of date. Lord Ashcroft is an erstwhile activist so as I posted earlier in the week there are good reasons for treating his announcements with caution. On the 27 November the day that Ashcroft first announced TNS BMRB put the LibDems on 6% of the national vote, Today a YouGov poll puts them on 9%.

In search of a headline however The Telegraph, The Independent and Channel Four News all carry the line that Nick Clegg is on course to lose his seat. Perhaps he is, it looks as though he was, but a November poll is no basis for a February headline.

Conservative, Liberal Democrat

LibDem Coalition Crisis Will Surely Grow

December 9, 2010 Editor Leave a comment

It’s not surprising that the leaders of a party so long in the wilderness should be politically naive. However the extent to which the LibDems are bearing the brunt of opposition to Conservative policy, particularly on tuition fees, must amaze even the most hardened Tory strategists.

Vince Cable famously said of Gordon Brown that “the House has noticed the Prime Minister’s remarkable transformation in the last few weeks from Stalin to Mr Bean”. Cable himself has made an equally remarkable conversion from Father Christmas to Ebenezer Scrooge. The LibDems today fell to just 8% in the polls. Translated into an electoral vote, that would actually mean fewer seats under proportional representation that they have now.

The mistake that the LibDem leaders made was to join the Tories in a full coalition rather that a confidence and supply agreement. In doing so the Tories would have had to agree to enact more of the LibDems’ manifesto and politically the LibDems would have avoided being tainted as a full coalition partner in an unpopular government determined to cut spending . They would certainly have not been dragged into supporting a policy on university fees that they so clearly opposed.

To regain popular support, they must return to the path of principle and it is likely that those who vote with their conscience today will emerge post-crisis at the helm. The alternative is to continue to take the rap for the cuts and to consign Liberal politics to political history.

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