LibDem Blogs - Archived! - Wednesday 27th June 2007

The Manor of Northcote and the Chiltern Hundreds

I have written before about my political hero John William "Paddy" Logan, who was Liberal MP for Harborough in the good old days. It seems he has another claim to fame. His health was poor in later life because of a hunting accident and he resigned as an MP on two occasions. As a result, I suspect he is the only person to have been appointed as both Steward of the Manor of Northcote and Steward of the Chiltern Hundreds. He was appointed to the former post in 1904 and to the latter in 1916. I have ...

Time for an end to any building on flood plains.

It is interesting to note that of all the flood plains flooded across England at the moment, a number of them have planning permissions on them for building new houses. Isn't it time for a moratorium on ending all building on flood plains ?

O2 apprenticeship programme

Wednesday 27th June 2007 - Today, I met with a group of North West teenagers today who had travelled to Brussels to tell MEPs how an O2 apprenticeship programme has changed their lives. They were members of the first intake joining the programme, which had been launched by O2 in Runcorn. It is the first of its kind in its Customer Service division and has been so successful that it has now been

Have the Tories given up?

Liberal Democrat Voice reports that the Lib Dems are already geared up for the Ealing Southall and Sedgefield by-elections. But I was struck by a comment on Conservative Home's Tory Diary blog: It is confirmed that Blair will be quitting as Sedgefield's MP. That'll stretch the LibDems' by-election operation.Indeed it will. But what about the Tory by-election operation? Aren't they even going to try to win these contests? Mrs Thatcher won by-elections in some very unlikely seats in the years leading up to her victory in 1979. If they are hoping to win the next general election, ...

Toxic Tom Watson to run Labour by-election campaign in Ealing Southall

Toxic Tom Watson, the loathe some oafish MP and blogger is to be rewarded for his attempt to "knife" Tony Blair last Autumn. Tom Watson, who according to Dizzy is claiming responsibility for today's crowning of Gordon Brown, is going to be put in charge of the Ealing Southall by-election. Cue scurrilous leaflets, lies, innuendo, and all the other skulduggery we have come to expect .

It'll all come out in the wash

The excitement of the day seems to have been exacerbated by a series of rumours, counter rumours and contradictory rumours all day. Firstly Iain Dale started us off with news/rumour of another Tory defection to Labour. Next it was news on the Radio and TV that Margaret Beckett was going to keep her job as Foreign Secretary. Then it was rumours in all the media about why had got the cabinet posts. And it has now ended with Iain Dale hinting that Shirley Williams was set to join Gordon Brown's team (presumably ending her membership of ...

By-election machine hits the ground running

With a double by-election likely on Jul 19, the Liberal Democrat by-election machine is now gearing up for action. The Ealing Southall HQ is now open near Southall station. You’ll find it at Unit 5, Urban Hive, Grand Union way, Bridge Road, Southall, UB2 4EX. The agent will be Chris Leaman, London Campaigns Officer and agent for [...]

Tory defectors: Where are they now?

Quentin Davies is the fifth Tory MP to cross the floor to Labour in the past 12 years. Can you name the previous four without looking them up? Anyway, the Daily Telegraph's Little and Large blog looks at what happened to them after they joined the Labour Party.

Chantelle and Preston split up - Who ???

Two people I'm not really interested in have split up, apparently. I guess this says as much about Blair's legacy as anything else that two people of questionable talent (I've seen the Ordinary Boys live and wouldn't go again) are somehow front page news in tabloids. Whoever you are Chantelle and Preston, I'm sure you'll sell plenty of magazines on the back of this news. you never know, you might get a "Hello" exclusive out of it !

Baroness Williams ‘to join’ government of all the talents

According to the 24 hour news channels some of the papers will report tomorrow that Shirley Williams is to join Gordon Brown’s government - not in ministerial office but in a position that will place her “close” to Gordon Brown. No more detail yet, but we’ll not have long to wait to find out for certain.

Liberal Democrats launch NHS SOS website

As part of their major summer campaign on the NHS, the Liberal Democrats have launched a new website - www.nhssos.com The site includes details of the Liberal Democrats 3-step plan to improve the NHS, local campaign news from around the country and an on line petition which people can sign. Ming Campbell said, "I know from my own experience just how important the NHS is, and how hard nurses, doctors and other staff work. "But by trying to control every detail of what goes on in the NHS the Labour Government has wasted money and ...

WHO WILL NEXT TORY DEFECTOR BE?

My sources say that it's going to be someone totally unexpected, who has made veiled references to defection in the past, and who Gordon Brown has long had his eye on. Here are my top choices: 1. Zac Goldsmith, who has long wanted to be a Liberal Democrat PPC, and will announce his defection from inside the Big Brother House. 2. Lord Goldsmith, a peer with a strong Conservative record who would bring balance to a Lib Dem team in the Lords which is otherwise obsessed with truth, justice and holding the Government to account. 3. Zac Lichman, ...

Country Needs a Change of Direction, Not Just a Change at the Top: Campbell

Leader of the Liberal Democrats Menzies Campbell said that the country needed a change in direction not just a change in personnel at the top. Launching an attack on the last ten years of Blair-Brown, Menzies Campbell said that Gordon Brown can not distance himself from the last ten years because his fingerprints are at the scene of the crime. He said that the vast majority of people had been let down over the last 10 years. Since 1997: * Children from poorer backgrounds are doing worse * Students are saddled with mortgage-style debts * The ...

R.I.P. Lennard Woods

Some very tragic news this evening. My friend Lennard Woods, Chair of the Bromley and Chislehurst Liberal Democrats sadly died of his injuries today after being knocked off his bicycle yesterday in Greenwich Park on the way home from work. Lennard was a true champion of Liberalism having stood for election to Bromley Borough Council several times (the last time with me last year in Plaistow and Sundridge Ward), the earliest in 1982 if my memory is correct. He was a hard working campaigner and a mainstay of the Red Lion Tendency. He was incredibly kind to Qun, ...

The curtain closes and the showman leaves the stage

Well, he has gone, and it seems only like yesterday when Blair became Prime Minister. As I write this, he is up in Sedgefield, telling them he's giving up as MP. Brown is already in place spinning a message that this is a new government and using the word "change" as if he had a large over supply of the word and its sell by date was coming up. But today it was the curtain closing and the showman

United again

As Tony Blair takes up his new post as Steward of the Chiltern Hundreds, he’s once again alongside Peter Mandelson, who is still Steward of the Manor of Northstead after his resignation in 2004.

Lib Dem / Labour 'Alliance' - Herald Express 270607

Below is my [edited badly] letter in response to ridiculous claims of a Lib Dem / Labour alliance at Westminster by Marcus Wood (Tory PPC for Torbay). His 'contribution' is also included for reference. Marcus WOOD's speculation about an alliance at Westminster between the Liberal Democrats and Labour was hasty and unfounded. Party leader, Sir Menzies Campbell, ruled out this prospect and Paddy Ashdown emphatically refused to join the Labour government.Liberal Democrats have, in the interests of forming stable administrations and in promoting liberal policies, joined partnerships with Labour in Scotland and Wales previously and also more ...

The full text of Tony Blair's farewell to his constituents in Sedgefield

Ciao!

The Blair Years

Regular readers of this blog will be glad to know that I don't intend to rant purely about government policy in this post. On this undeniably momentous day, I want to focus on the qualities, good and bad, of Blair the man. I'll start by trying to be positive. Blair was a strong leader, a charismatic and gifted speaker who performed his role with dignity. I think it's fair to say that his policies were much more embarrassing than his personal gaffes. However, while he did not start them, Blair continued a number of ...

NHS Champions

Dear All, Ten years ago, Gordon Brown and Tony Blair told us we had 24 hours to save the NHS. Yet today our health services are facing the worst round of cuts since the last Conservative Government. It's clear that Labour can no longer be trusted to look after our national health service. I believe that the Liberal Democrats have to step up as the real champions of our NHS. That's why we have launched our "SOS for the NHS" campaign. This campaign is designed to build on the efforts of Liberal Democrat ...

Newest bizarre blog…

…is Liberal Mafia. Somewhat bonkers (without being Bonkers) but in an amusing way. Obviously as a loyal party employee I don’t endorse any irreverent content there may be about Liberal Democrats.

Blairwell!

I have to admit I did a double take when visiting Blair’s new out-of-office-yet-somehow-official website. It took me a moment to realise he’s actually holding a mobile phone in this picture. I thought he was giving his beloved people a certain kind of salute in a moment of frankness! Share This

It pays to be vigilant

A couple of weeks ago I received a phone call from an Oulton Road resident who had been keeping a close watch on the new development on the former Underwoods Garage site. The roof trusses had been placed in position and, on the day he phoned, he had seen six velux style roof windows being fixed into position on the roof elevations facing Oulton Road. He was alarmed because on the plans that he'd

Good riddance

But may it perhaps be a case of out of the frying pan into the fire? I’ve been waiting for the day when Blair will be gone for a long time. The problem is we’re still stuck with a political class which is still after more and more power at the expense of our liberty. Brown quietly [...]

Ricky Rejected

Poor Mr Younger-Ross, he raises a very interesting question with the Prime Minister, about the disestablishment of the Church of England, and all he gets in reply is "I think I'm really not bothered about that one."

More flood pics

From the BBC South Yorkshire website here are a cople of pics from sheffield's more famous landmarks; Hillsborough Stadium Outside Meadowhall Inside Meadowhall

Hitchen' the wagon

It seems that very few of my fellow Liberal Democrats agreed with my moderately generous appraisal of Christopher Hitchens on Question Time, and it now appears that members of my family are in accord with them. My uncle emails, saying:I did PPE with Hitchens C. (he was at Balliol, the college next to mine, Trinity). He was then a big cheese in ORSS (Oxford Revolutionary Socialist Students), a noisy trotskyist claque formed largely around the Hitchens personality cult. He was never thought a great intellect (he only managed a third class degree), rather just a big mouth; and though he's ...

Brown: 'Shy and withdrawn' - says his security head

Michael Crick played the part of the "cheeky monkey" on BBC2 Newsnight for years. This is the rather ham-acted role of an errant reporter who skirts the fringes of politicians' entourages with a microphone shouting questions. The point of the exercise seems to be to demonstrate that the questions aren't being answered, rather than get some answers. Michael Crick became inseparable from this

The Contractual Obligation Blog Entry

My general strategy with this blog is to consciously not be topical, mainly because I think there are lots of people who are better at it than me but also in order to highlight things that are in greater need of attention. Nevertheless, it would probably be churlish of me not to offer some form of quasi-obituary of the Reverend Blair (or Father Blair, as he may soon be), not least because of my

Second Tory MP to defect to Labour?

That’s the speculation over at Iain Dale’s Diary.

Milliband

By the way, does anybody else think that David Milliband is a massive prick? I really don't understand why people like him so much he's creepy and weird (that's my in depth analysis anyway).

If I should disapear suddenly

Yesterday I commented on Cruise being banned from filming his new movie in Germany on account of being a scientologist. I made rather light of the situation and i think quite appropiatly called the law a bit overbearing. However turns out everything is very serious. The German CDU have called for the religon to be banned and the cult are in fact still under police survellance. Cruise in 1997 sent a letter to the German goverment comparing the plight of scientologists to 1930s Jews. All in all I expect to wake tomorrow with this blog closed down ...

Where are the street parties ?

I had expected the entire country to get out the trestle tables and bunting and hold street parties to celebrate the departure of Tony Blair, but they haven't. Perhaps people realise that the rest of the ministers and Labour MPs who voted for war in Iraq and ever more restrictions on civil liberties are still in office. Meanwhile I have sent this to the BBC: "Please stop covering Blair's

Bye bye Blair

Blair is on his way to the Palace to formally hand back to the Seals of Office to the Queen. He had his last Prime Minister's Questions earlier today and is set to fly to Sedgefield later and announce his resignation from Parliament.

Council debate on congestion tonight

Today is a day of firsts – Not only is it the first day of Gordon Brown’s premiership, but it is also the first full Council meeting of the municipal year. I know which one of those two may make more headlines around the world, but for local people the outcome of tonight’s Council meeting may have significant ramifications. We will be debating the proposed congestion charge tonight. The Lib Dems

Latest updates

Spent all of yesterday at the Tay Rope Works Public Inquiry as the City Council's witness in defending the decision to refuse planning approval. We will know the outcome in a few weeks but I would like to place on record my thanks to the Council's solicitor and to the local residents and Community Council representatives who contributed. On Monday evening at Council committees, I was very pleased to see a report be approved which will give tenants, especially elderly and disabled residents, the possibility of obtaining a shower where (normally because they live upstairs or their ...

Retiring Mayor

Every year the new Mayor hosts a farewell dinner for the retiring Mayor. But the latter gets to choose the venue, so I suggested the Patcharee Thai Restaurant near Kingston Station. I'd been invited there back in February to 'bless' their first anniversary (check it out for pictures of the food). We had been entertained by some excellent Thai dancers on that occasion, so I was very...

Long Time No Blog.

I haven't blogged for a long time as I've been very busy and away a lot - just got back from drowning in Glastonbury. Lots of things have happened, Blair's leaving today *puts out balloons for the party*, Ming has continued to be a useless berk, one poll has put us at 12%!! Brown is being extremly clever and running rings around us at the moment, the tories are holding out but even they have had a defection with possibly more to come. In other news I now have a Barrack Obama for President '08 badge/button, which I ...

Rattling the Enemy

So after I see Signor Gove for vino yesterday, I wander to our legitimate printing business on Cowley Street to see how Don Campbell and the boys are enjoying the Conservatori's new trouble. From distance though I hear strange noise like slow machine-gun fire. It o.k. though. When I sneak around back I see Signors Davey and Rennard with the crew out doing something odd with little sticks and metal poles, while Don Campbell look on with approval. "Ah Liberali" he say, when he see my puzzled expression. "When you've quite finished lubricating your interesting friendships with Don ...

Defection drama

If you're the kind of person that is deeply suspicious of David Cameron, today's papers make entertaining reading. Three commentators in The Times argue very different viewpoints: Danny Finkelstein outlines a highly convoluted argument to prove that Quentin Davies' defection is nothing to worry about ('Advice from a chimp') More convincing is Alice Miles expresses her incredulity that, given his record, QD can find a home in the Labour party. However, she tries a little too hard and her suggestion that this is a spectacular own goal by Brown is over the top ('First day, first humiliation for ...

Up In The Mountains

Dobson and Marigold Chew were up in the mountains. Dobson was wearing an ill-advised cravat, while Marigold Chew sported a leopardskin pillbox hat. They were in pursuit of a murderer, reported to have taken refuge in the mountains. Their purpose was to persuade the murderer to repent his killing spree. They had no interest in [...]

Good News for the Websters

The point about this case (see link), however, is that in essence it recognises that the other children should not have been removed from their parents' care. I am aware of a current Norfolk case where the state is intervening totally inappropriately in a family. The Websters may have won out, but the forced adoption targets machine continues to grind up human lives.

How a good day can turn in a bad day...

I woke up early, well early for me, the birds were singing, the wind whistling through the trees and a spring in my step. I even left my house early because I wanted to pop into the newsagent to get a card. I arrived at the bus stop 10 minutes before the bus was due. Then it happened. A bus was cancelled. Well I guess it had, because I hadn't heard anything but after waiting 40 minutes and the

Dreams are nice - flashbacks are horrifying

Last weekend I was taken to Alton Towers (picture to follow when I can work out how to scan with a broken scanner. Now this visit to Alton Towers was a mixture of utter terror (80% of the time) with ...

Guardian: US inquiry undermines British stance on BAE

The Guardian’s BAE investigators David Leigh and Rob Evans have hit back at BAE, which had previously dismissed their reports of an impending anti-corruption investigation into the company by the United States. BAE’s chief executive, Mike Turner, is eating his words today, only days after trying to dismiss the Guardian’s accurate prediction that the arms giant [...]

Kevin McGuire on the real reason why Tony Blair is quitting as an MP

On Breakfast News on the BBC this morning Kevin McGuire claimed the real reason why Tony Blair was quitting as an MP was so he wouldn't have to declare how much money he is now going to earn.

EDM on Family Court Secrecy

The link is to an EDM about Family Court secrecy tabled by Eric Pickles and myself. That this House regrets the Government's proposals to retain secrecy within the family courts; believes that this secrecy permeates bad practice throughout the whole system of children services; feels that it is possible to protect the identity of the child while allowing parents to talk and seek advice publicly

In camera

Plaid are meeting at the moment in one of the old Committee Rooms. There is a huge number of journalists lurking around the corner. Betsan Powys reports that the meeting was expected to be over by 10am, but 25 minutes later they are still there. I know this because there is a camera on in the room (though no sound) and the meeting can be monitored over the Assembly's internal television system. Update 10.44am: They have now sussed that they were being watched and have covered the camera with a black cloth. Update 11.20am: The Plaid Cymru group ...

An effective Estates committee

Councillor Dave Smithwick chaired his first Estates sub committee last night and has set the record for the quickest meeting yet of the new council. All business dealt with within an hour! We received up dates on various current issues. We have submitted an application for a grant to the Big Lottery for our planned improvements to the Frank Jordan centre and will shortly be submitting an

Decision day?

It has been a long journey and it may not yet be over. However there is the possibility of closure this morning as the Plaid Cymru group meet to choose between two programmes for government. It is unlikely to be policy that decides it. Plaid will be making a political decision on whether to lead a government and break Labour's historic hegemony or to be part of a potential realignment of the nationalist left, as Adam Price would have it. Both programmes have problems with deliverability and no doubt that will influence Plaid AMs in their choice as well. ...

Brown 1, Cameron 0

I used to sit next to Quentin Davies at meetings of the European Movement’s Management Board, about ten years ago. He always seemed very courteous, and he was definitely a bona fide pro-European - but he is also very definitely a real Tory. That makes him all the more valuable to Gordon Brown. Brown has [...]

Wednesday 27th June 2007

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