LibDem Blogs - Archived!

If The Sun were a politician, its breathtaking hypocrisy would have seen it chucked out of office long ago. When Michael Barrymore walked into the Celebrity Big Brother house just three weeks ago, the tabloid gleefully jeered: 'Shamed Michael Barrymore's entrance was described as "repulsive" last night. The ex-TV presenter wept as he spent several minutes lapping up the attention, cheering and

The Liberal Democrats are a democratic party. It is our party conference that decides policy and hte leader of our party. Therefore the views of the membership are not something to be taken lightly. The members of the party want as much information about the leadership candidates as possible before making up their mind. Not every member attends conference and therefore has like me seen each of

Thanks for those of you who have contributed suggestions for people thinking of applying to become approved Liberal Democrat Parliamentary candidates. You can read what people have written here (if you have something to contribute but haven’t yet, please do have your say by commenting on that page!). Steve Guy has three good basic [...]

Joan Hickson is. I am trying to watch Sleeping Murder on ITV, but it's just not right.

Read this and be afraid. Diplomacy appears be way off the agenda. An army friend tells me what I think few of us really grasp. The US hierarchy regards the war on terror as a real shooting war (WWI or WWII style), not something that happens as armed responses to discrete outrages. Maybe we need to grasp that, grasp it fast and rethink which political leg we hump. Maybe that should a new

I have just been watching Boris Johnson on the Roman Empire on BBC2. He argued that the Germanic tribes that overthrew it were motivated, amongst other things, by "chippiness". So the Vandals, Huns, Goths, Visigoths and Ostrogoths were like grammar school boys who resented the Romans' flashier uniforms and superior sporting facilities? Priceless.

Except that he played the piano. Yesterday's issue of The Times carried an obituary of Benito Mussolini's third son Romano, who had a considerable reputation as a jazz musician - and an apologist for his father's dictatorship. Romano was also the father of Alessandra Mussolini, the far-right MEP. Found via Tim Worstall, who has childhood memories of hearing him play.

Yesterday's Daily Telegraph had an interview with Sir Menzies Campbell. As the accompanying news report says: The Liberal Democrat leadership contest takes a new twist today, with the front-runner, Sir Menzies Campbell, effectively anointing Nick Clegg as his successor. In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, the acting party leader says that 39-year-old Mr Clegg - seen by some as the Lib Dem answer to David Cameron - will at some stage be "a very powerful candidate for the leadership".It happens that I agree that Nick Clegg will make "a very powerful candidate for the leadership". He would have made ...

Like all Lib Dems, I have been thinking hard over the last few weeks about who to support in the Leadership contest. I’ve been looking for reassurance that the new Lib Dem leader would not only take forward the party nationally, but would also be behind us in the particular challenges we face in [...]

Simon has spent the day in the North East, where he helped activists to deliver Focus leaflets before delivering a combative speech at the Civic Centre in Newcastle.

Went to a great wedding this weekend (hence no other updates to my blog) It was a wonderful day with lots of friendly people, a beautiful bride and a blushing bridegroom (at least after the speeches) I took the opportunity to give the kilt an outing. There was some great country dancing with a caller. It was an absolute hoot. We were not very good although this was aided by the mix of people

Bumped off London Radio by the offensive cartoons! So many callers apparently that they want to take me later in the morning. However, I am otherwise engaged on a campaign team meeting. It's all go in Haringey for the local elections. Labour know we are in a position to take the council off of them - and for months have been plastering Haringey with posters saying how wonderful the council is! I

In all of the work I have been doing to get the rules for passport photos simplified it has been pointed out that a Passport Office for the Midlands would be helpful. At the moment you need to go to London, Peterborough or Newport. With all the hassles getting passports now it strikes me that an office based in Birmingham would be really helpful.

Why do Virgin have First Class carriages? It can't be to make a profit. All their West Coast Main Line trains have 4 first class carriages - usually almost empty. Last Sunday, the train I took to Euston had just one first class passenger. The rest of the train was fairly full, but not so bad it was worth paying an extra £15 for more legroom. The train back on Wednesday was much the same. Ian has been travelling to London and back once a week for the last few months. A month ago he was ...

Hey, I made it onto the Daily Telegraph blog site of Ian Douglas, production editor of telegraph.co.uk with a comment about printed newspapers increasingly becoming 'yesterdays news'. The advent of increasing availability on-line is for many, the end of the purchasing a daily paper. I like the internet, but there is still something comforting about reading a "broadsheet" newspaper, getting ink all over your hands and hearing the crumple of paper as overly large sheets are folded into manageable sections. Long live the printed word!

I do not like that feeling when I find myself agreeing with Tory MPs. Guilt shivers down my spine, like the winter chill factor ever present at this time of year. The Conservative Shadow Home Secretary said "Clearly some of these placards are incitement to violence and, indeed, incitement to murder - an extremely serious offence which the police must deal with and deal with quickly. Whatever your views on these cartoons, we have a tradition of freedom of speech in this country which has to be protected. Certainly there can ...

There is nothing wrong with being the third party. In many ways it is a noble endeavour. If strong enough in parliament, one can alter legislation. For a liberal party that is the third party, it is vitally important that the voice of reason and liberalism is heard, especially in these days of authoritarian government. A third party has the luxury of staking out its ground and staying put.

Between 1983 and 1997 I was a Liberal Democrat MP. From 1987 Ming Campbell, I and Cyril Smith shared an office in a turret of the Houses of Parliament. At the top of a narrow spiral staircase we enjoyed conversation, ideas, laughter, and the frustrations of daily political life. In that time I discovered Ming as [...]

A Labour voting friend of mine said he saw Chris Huhne on Question Time. My friend remarked that Huhne was very good. Mind you, he added, Lib Dems always come across well but you never get into Government. And it's true. Lib Dems generally get lots of applause on the prgramme but are not in Government. What does this mean? That the Question Time audience is out of sink with the electorate?

So much has been written about the Danish cartoons that it almost seems trite to comment. The episode has become about much more than freedom of speech. But keeping to that one thing, it is important to remember that many people will use these events to close down freedom os speech. I am not talking about Muslims but about politicians who quite like limiting what people say. I understand that

With apologies to Michael Foucault. I chickened out of posting this yesterday, but with embassies burning down around the world, I felt it needed to be said.

He gets more out of every hour he puts in than almost any other politician I’ve ever worked with Welcome to the sixth Ming Campbell campaign podcast. In this interview, Ed Davey MP, Liberal Democrat Shadow Secretary for Education and Skills, explains why he is backing Ming to lead the Liberal Democrats. Download and listen to the [...]

The Ayatollahs want some nukesIAEA "No!" It's pretty rubbish but I need the space in my head for something else.

I've never particularly liked canvassing, being the sort of person who takes a similar view of politics to that on religion - it is the right of any individual to hold the view of their choice (subject to the hurt and/or offence sub-clauses, naturally) - and the idea of actually persuading people face to face makes me a bit uncomfortable. Having said that, it is part of modern camapigning

Chris Huhne MP, the Liberal Democrat leadership candidate, today said that every leadership candidate should commit to fighting a second general election not just the next one.

I lost the will to blog over the last few weeks as a black cloud of political depression settled over my head in the face of relentless bad news. A ray of sunshine cut through this the other day with the broadcasting of Shirley Williams’s Desert Island Discs. She has always been an [...]

You can hear Ming on the radio and television today as follows: Time Station Programme 09.00 BBC Radio Scotland Sunday Live 10.25 ITV1 Jonathan Dimbleby 12.00 BBC1 Politics Show 22.00 BBC Radio 4 The Westminster Hour

Not since the 1970s Liberal leadership contest when supporters of David Steel let it be known that his rival, John Pardoe, had a bald patch, have we got this personal within the Liberal Democrats. It is nice to see a bit of debate at last. We have had Ming's camp putting it about that Chris Huhne broke an agreement not to stand against him. We have had both the Huhne and Hughes camp hinting that Ming was behind the briefing that led to the ousting of Charles Kennedy and now we have Chris Huhne picking up specifically on Ming's slogan ...

{Battlestar Galactica} Being too young to remember the original I would like to thank Tony and David for getting me in to the new version. As it's on Sky One I didn't have much chance to watch it. However on New Years Eve whilst at Sally's and Tony's I watched the feature length pilot/movie. Then a couple of weeks ago whilst staying in Newbury in a hotel, I watch one of Season 2 with David. I've now gone and got the DVD of season one, and I'm getting through the episodes pretty quickly. As somebody who been watching a ...

By Gracious Command of John Bright's Body 7 things to do before I die: 1. Visit Sharon. 2. Write a book 3. Have a Italian meal with the family - in Italy 4. See a Test Match 5. See a whale 6. Go to Lesbos again - this time in the spring 7. Celebrate the fourth millenium. 7 things I cannot do: 1. Whistle 2. Sing 3. Play a musical instrument 4. Pronounce the 'sh' sound properly, amongst

1. As Erland Watson said the other night in campaign HQ: "Vote Willie Rennie for MP as he beat Tony Blair before he was elected" Referring to the lost votes earlier this week when between 15 and 25 Labour MPs were up in Dunfermline instead of at the crucial vote on the Racial and Relgious Hatred Bill. 2. As The Times said on Friday: "Willie Rennie, who, most people agree, is the best of the candidates." So why settle for second best. 3. He is a Fifer fighting for Fife. 4. Dunfermline can either have ...

The real question is, how much did he get paid for getting locked up this time?

Ming Campbell on his relationship with Elspeth: “She’s very interested in politics, but we’ve never had any political disagreements. It’s all chemistry. We met on March 13 and got married on June 12.” That’s a very short engagement period! Maybe its a winning formula. Remind you of anyone?