I took a few snaps of the Platt Fields Centenary Festival when I was in the park last night. I caught the Bollywood Brass Band, who were awesomely entertaining, in the big marquee. I was examined by Arthur the Health Inspector, and sampled a pint of bitter from Kro's inflatable pub. The bandstand looked wonderful - Friends of Platt Fields have done a fantastic job of decorating this section of the park for the festival. If you didn't make the festival on Friday or Saturday, then it's still well worth going along tomorrow for the last day; you can check ...
Ssssh. Don't tell Pizza Express head office. But they do the chocolate glories differently in Pizza Express Bishopsgate. Rather than drip chocolate sauce over the ice-cream, it's hidden away in a middle layer waiting to be found with by your spoon, oil-prospecting style. No prospecting oilman has every got as excited at striking gold as I did at finding the chocolate sauce. [IMG: Pizza Express: Bishopsgate] Whilst the last Pizza Express visited (Millbank) has some of the fastest service in their branches across London, here the service is rather more languid. "Slow" wouldn't quite be the right description as, once ...
Some disorganised thoughts from me, that may or may not add up to a coherent whole. For those looking for a more thought-through opinion on all this, I suggest visiting the Lib Dem Blogs aggregator and working through the entries there. Or take a look at this Dutch perspective on the situation. I can remember approaching ...
Here's a selection of what Liberal Democrat bloggers have been saying this afternoon and evening about the prospects for this coming Parliament: All Four of Our Cast-Iron Priorities: Deal. Anything Less: No Deal. (Alex Wilcock) – " If we do a deal, it has to be for a formal coalition, for a fixed term, published out in the open. Otherwise the Prime Minister can just cut and run with a new election for party advantage, and we're stuffed." Selling STV in multi member constituencies to tribal Tories (Jennie Rigg) – "Multi member constituencies are the traditional British way of doing ...
(I'm really tired and this is a bit half-arsed. I'll show my workings when my brain is at 100%) There have been howls of protest from Labour voters at the prospect of a Lib/Con coalition. The main complaint is that anyone daft enough to vote for Clegg has caused a Tory government. But is it true? Using data from The Guardian, we can see if the Lib Dems cost Labour a majority. In how many seats did a Labour candidate lose to a Conservative? 137. But this doesn't tell the whole story. In Clacton, even if all the 5,577 Lib ...
Those who favour an arrangement whereby the Liberal Democrats allow Labour to remain in power in return for significant progress on electoral reform are face with a problem. The House of Commons consists of 650 MPs, but between them Labour (258) and the Liberal Democrats (57) can muster only 315. So in order to command a majority in the House this "progressive" coalition would have to be expanded to include some combination of the SNP (6), Plaid (3), Green Party (1), Alliance Party (1) and SDLP (2) to reach the magic figure of 326. Some argue that because the five ...
Sat 8th
21:39
Why is it somehow okay, in a supposed democracy, to refuse voters a referendum on electoral reform?
The Conservatives play a clever game. From the moment an absolute majority looked in doubt, they've repeatedly pummelled the media and electorate with one message: that, in accordance with democratic principles, there's only one decision that the Liberal Democrats can make. Anything other than a Tory-Liberal coalition, they argue, would be an ethical travesty - for which Nick Clegg would be ultimately responsible. Unfortunately, the Tory love for democracy doesn't quite extend to situations where, from their perspective, there seems more to lose than gain. Most of us agree that our current political system is ludicrous; that if you win ...
Power 2010′s electoral reform demonstrations today really captured the mood of many voters, particularly those who voted LibDem, when it comes to electoral reform and more extensive political reform. Even if the Tories do offer us electoral reform, which I find very unlike seen as Cameron would most likely face a leadership challenge if he ...
This is the worst possible election result for Liberal Democrats but we have to make the best of it. A majority for one party would have left us in our usual comfort zone of simple opposition. The expected gain of 40 seats or more would have left us with real momentum and a genuine balance of power in the Commons - the chance to turn the screw in negotiations with the other two parties and act as the catalyst for substantial political reform including STV. Even a Lib-Lab majority in the Commons, with no Lib-Con majority, would have provided the ...
From David Laws: "We have had a very positive discussion. The Parliamentary party and shadow cabinet have fully endorsed the position set out by Nick Clegg. "We will continue to put the national interest first and play a constructive role in providing the stable and good government people deserve. "We have heard what the Labour Party and Gordon Brown are saying but in line with the position Nick Clegg outlined yesterday we are continuing discussions with the Conservative Party as the party with the most seats and votes.. "We want to complete this process as soon as possible but people ...
I just wanted to thank everyone who voted for the three Lib Dem candidates in Goodmayes on May 6th. I'm sorry that it wasn't to be. To those I met while canvassing, it was an honour and I hope to be back to fight another day. I will be making sure that your new councillors deliver value for money, and trust me, I will be making things difficult if they let you down. I told people while out canvassing that whatever the outcome, I would still be fighting on behalf of residents. I hope that the work done by the ...
At several points in the last few months it has seemed 'obvious' to armchair politicians like me that, post election: Labour would indulge in lunatic blood-letting; lose the mantle of CentreLeft-ness to the Lib Dems; do something daft like elect Ismizing Cruddas or not-awfully-popular Balls as leader and that, from a Lib Dem perspective it ...
They are gradually divesting me of all my power! On Monday I have to hand in my Council ID card and car park pass. My Council email address will be pulled very soon, so please don't use it. You can contact me here, or simply email me on mary at maryreid.org.uk.
The result of the General Election for Deal and Dover saw a Conservative win, the figures were: Conservative...........22,174 – 44% Labour...................16,900 – 33.5% Liberal Democrat.......7,962 – 15.8% Ukip.......................1,747 – 3.5% BNP........................1,104 – 2.2% Others.......................498 – 1% May 8th – Talks are taking place on the future shape of the Government. Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg has said that it is only right for a future stable government that the party engages with talks with others and that he is prepared to listen, and consult with the rest of his party. There is a widely held view that Gordon Brown, having ...
The past day or so has been astonishingly educational and, regardless of the outcome of the various negotiations, I think that we can be pretty proud of the way in which things have been handled. The Parliamentary Party and the Federal Executive appear to have carried out their responsibilities without leaking or public dissent, despite the pressure that they are under. The media have been kept up to date with events, so that the public are reassured as far as is possible, and nobody is making outlandish or outrageous demands. It all seems to be pretty professional. Our potential partners ...
There is an interesting article in the Independent today from Steve Richards, one of those commentators worth reading as he doesn't have an agenda of his own to pursue. He is convinced that an alliance with the Conservatives would not deliver electoral reform but would result in an early election which could see us fall back further. He favours an alliance with Labour to bring in voting reform as he says another hung parliament is highly unlikely. Looking at the BBC website the arithmetic is interesting. Labour and the Lib Dems would have 315 votes together. If the Green and ...
Thanks very much to everyone who voted for me as the Lib Dem candidate for Hendon in the General Election of 6 May 2010. I got 5,734 votes, which is roughly the same as the Lib Dem candidate got in 2005, despite strong attempts to "squeeze" the Lib Dem vote in what was seen as a Labour/Tory marginal. I am disappointed not to have got more votes, but I thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience of standing for Parliament for the first time, which was a great honour. I do think that a lot of voters were tightly undecided between the ...
Statement from the Social Liberal Forum Executive: These are exceptional times. The nation faces two great crises: a financial crisis and a political crisis. The next government needs to be strong enough and honest enough to deal with the economic mess and our discredited democratic system. The most credible way to tackle this would be the formation of a Government of National Unity. The cornerstones of such a Government must be as follows First, we must demand an immediate referendum on a genuinely proportional voting system, for which there is clearly very widespread support among voters. Second, we need robust ...
From the BBC's live election coverage: 1649: The BBC's James Landale says he's never seen a protest with placards of pie charts on them before, referring to the voting reform crowds
Well not quite, but this is hilarious. You have to hand it to Iain. He certainly does self-deprecation very gracefully. I should make the following declaration on this subject: May 6th 2010 10:10pm: An hour of insanity based on an exit poll using uniform national swing
Although not the result we were looking for, and in common with the national picture, not what the Lib Dems expected. It was nonetheless the best ever general election performance by us in Bromsgrove. Over 10,000 votes (up 3,000) and almost 20% share of the vote (up 5%) whilst both the Conservatives and Labour saw both ...
Batman posts have to hold off a few days I'm afraid... The one-line summary for Americans is that we're reliving Bush vs Gore, and Ralph Nader has been asked to choose. In the election this week, no party got an overall majority – this is roughly the same as not being filibuster-proof in the US ...
This is going to be a very quick post. If you want deeper, more robust analysis, go to the lovely Elephant or Daddy Alex. With 15 minutes to go to Doctor Who, you are not going to get any more than a few random thoughts from me. Firstly, a few right wing commentators are getting their knickers in a twist and describing the current series of civilised negotiations between the parties as "chaos". They have clearly led very sheltered lives. This is a perfectly normal part of the democratic process in most of the rest of Europe and beyond. Secondly, ...
How Many Bad Assumptions Can You Make In A Single Article About Content Creation And Copyright?
My party enter a coalition with the Tories? Surely not. In twelve months time, before the agony of a series of long and punishing strikes, before the accelerating unemployment hits a peak, and before the devasting verdict of the currency markets on the pound, the PM (David Cameron) will call an election. The Labour party - still deeply divided after a humiliating election defeat and wholesale defections after the 'election' of David Miliband as leader - will be bereft of money, fight and ideas. The Lib Dems will be short of cash, implicated in the decimation (if not the outright ...
Congratulations to Leeds United promoted to the Championship at long last. What a great week this has been - a Lib Dem MP for Redcar and the Mighty Whites get out of League One.
As the general election has now finished, I have decided that this blog will continue to run, but I will now use it as a personal blog to document my own personal opinion about all the things which are of interest to me. This will include sport, politics (especially Lib Dem related), music and television. I may contest elections in the future, I haven't decided when, where or what yet, but if this happens then the blog will return to be a campaign blog once again.
Two blogs have recently joined Ryan's Liberal Democrat Blogs aggregator: Maelo Manning - http://libdemchild.blogspot.com – with some Peter Mandelson speculation. Two4Tea - http://www.two4tea.org/ – complete with the Gordon Brown ring tone. Good luck to the new bloggers, and why not take a moment to pop over to their blogs, take a read and post a comment? Whether you are a new or experience blogger yourself, you may also find our compilation of "how to blog" posts useful:
Something enormous happened early on Friday morning, in an understated and very British way. The Lib Dems suffered casualties, but emerged from the latest contests with 57 MPs, who now block the entrance to 10 Downing Street for a humbled David Cameron (only weeks ago so confident of victory). It is so strange! How best to exploit the advantage handed to us by millions of individual choices made by the British people? Some object to a deal with Labour, others to a deal with the Tories, but this is not on: our MPs are not in a situation of their ...
From BBC Election 2010: Nick Smith Labour 16,974 52.4 +20.1 Dai Davies People's Voice 6,458 19.9 -38.2 Matt Smith Liberal Democrat 3,285 10.1 +5.9 Liz Stevenson Conservative 2,265 7.0 +4.7 Rhodri Davies Plaid Cymru 1,333 4.1 +1.7 Anthony King British National Party 1,211 3.7 +3.7 Mike Kocan UK Independence Party 488 1.5 +1.0 Alyson O'Connell Socialist Labour Party 381 1.2 +1.2 Majority10,516 32.5 Turnout32,395 61.8 -4.4
the people are cowed by murdoch and Punch/Judy and consequently very fearful next time...
The votes have been counted, and we have increased our vote to 13,863. This represents a swing from Tory to LibDem of 4.8%, an outstanding result which clearly establishes us as the main challengers in Wycombe. So my thanks are due to every one of the 13,863 Wycombe people who put their faith in us in 2010. I must also record here my thanks to a number of others too. I have the great fortune of being part of a fantastic team of people. So many volunteers delivered leaflets, canvassed or donated money. We couldn't have done it without any ...
Yesterday, to Oxford, for the annual dinner of the Maurice Lubbock Scholars at Balliol, the 53rd anniversary of the first award. Howard Davies and Malcolm Forrest, the fu=ist and second Scholars, were both there, and of course the more recent ones as well. The room we meet in, the old SCR, holds a maximum of 23, so it would be a problem if everyone turned up. Afterwards, back to Paddington on the 23.05, home at 01.00. Today, no appointments for what seems like the first time since the election campaign started, and a chance to reflect on the outcome. After ...
I just want to say thank you for all your support during the general election. Your support, hard work and encouragement really made a difference to me personally and locally leaving our party here in Warwick & Leamington stronger than ever. This afternoon during a quick trip to Leamington many people stopped me in the street with words of encouragement, which I really appreciate. Nationally It is clear that no party has been granted an overall majority. It has been a mixed set of results for all of the major parties. We had some disappointing losses and at the same ...
Did you see it coming? No-one likes someone who says 'I told you so'. But I did see it coming. I remember the bubble bursting in 1992. I recall the way so many people who had wished me luck the previous weekend went into the polling booth and said 'Nah. It's cheaper to vote Tory'. I was also acutely aware this year that the vast majority of activists believed that the surge would be sustained and that the targeting strategy was now irrelevant. The 'five people smiled at me this morning so I think I can win' phone call was ...
"People in Dagenham have been taken for granted by the Labour Party over the last thirteen years" - Billy Bragg, at the pro-PR demo (and who'd have ever thought we'd see one of them?) in Smith Square this afternoon. Interesting times indeed. Rotten luck for Bridget Fox, Denis Healy and (especially) Evan Harris; the voting figures in the city of Oxford are an utter travesty - yes, Andrew Smith has a mandate there, but the Dorries clone that defeated Evan certainly doesn't. On the other hand, there were bright spots - David Ward here for one, Gordon Birtwistle in Burnley ...
I wrote on my own blog that it is far too early to be drawing conclusions about the General Election. This is mostly because I am still too tired to think properly. However I will have a go with some initiial thoughts. The first thing I would say is that no party really won in this election. Even the Conservatives, who gained a substantial number of extra seats and now stand on the verge of forming a government of sorts. Only a few months ago Cameron was flying high in the polls and was looking at a comfortable majority. How ...
One of the stories of the general election that has got somewhat lost under the radar in all the speculation about post-election deals is the collapse of the Respect party. My earstwhile opponent in Poplar & Limehouse, George Galloway, was confidently predicting that Respect would come out of the elections with three MPs. But the actual ...
Nick Clegg has just spoken to a demonstration in central London on the subject of electoral reform. He received a rapturous reception and he clearly has the support of thousands of people who want the voting system to change. Can David Cameron resist this kind of pressure in the name of a minority of voters who elected his candidates in a minority of seats, which has meant that he has failed in his ambition to become Prime Minister? It feels like history going on out there and it seems the Liberal Democrats are at the heart of this quite remarkable ...
I'm delighted to say that after a long and hard campaign, Iain Bowen was re-elected for Acocks Green Ward and John Hemming was re-elected for the enlarged Yardley Constituency; a good double success for the Liberal Democrats. The results in full are: Acocks Green Iain Bowen (Lib Dem) 4,374 Labour 3,400 Conservative 1,416 BNP 686 Green 280 UKIP 233 SDP 23 Birmingham Yardley John Hemming (Lib Dem) 16,162 Labour 13,160 Conservative 7,836 BNP 2,153 UKIP 1,190 NF 349 Nationally the number of seats the parties ended up on (with the changes from the 2005 general election) was Conservative 306 (+97), ...
Dear Nick, Don't give away the family silver. Since the formation of the Liberal Party all those years ago, we've campaigned for massive overhaul and clear change to the way in which are governments are appointed. Throughout a raft of changes in policy on education, defence, welfare and the economy, the one steadfast within the party has always been that with a quarter of the votes returning ten percent of the seats, the election system in our country simply does not work. To discuss the notion of a coalition government with the Conservative Party, a party at whose core lies ...
Here is a video of the declaration of the election result in Luton South courtesy of ITN News:
By the looks of it over a thousand demonstrators have gathered in Smith Square, outside the building being used today for party talks, demanding the party sticks to its guns on PR: [IMG: PR protest] Photo via Will Straw. Meanwhile, the latest news on the inter-party talks is that Liberal Democrat and Conservative teams will meet at 11am on Sunday morning in the Cabinet Office. The Liberal Democrat team includes a broad cross-section of political views from the Parliamentary party along with deep experience of similar negotiations at other levels of government: Danny Alexander, Simon Hughes, Chris Huhne, David Laws ...
Not that I think he will. Unlike a lot of rather ungrateful members of the party who have pre-judged our leader's mindset even before it's made clear; I still support our leader, the Parliamentary party and the Federal Executive. However I think it is quite clear, both from talking with non-members behind such projects as the RATM-LD Facebook group and my own feelings, that Nick Clegg cannot give up on electoral reform. He must champion it. That is the the role we must take in this Parliament... whereever we are.... This is the issue of our time... economic crisis' come ...
I know lots of people want Gordon Brown to go. He is perceived to have lost the election and many are angered that he is still in No 10. However Brown is just performing his constitutional duty. We have to have a Prime Minister and government and until an alternative emerges through whatever negotiations need to take place and the incumbent must remain until then. It would be irresponsible of him to resign prematurely frankly and those calling for him to do so right now should stop it. I fully expect that he will be gone within the next few ...
To finish off my series of election entries, I'll sum up what happened on the day itself. I'll write another post later on that looks at what happens next, but this is just about what happened on election day, and the night after...and a little bit of the morning after too. I was up at 6am ...
There is a lot of discussion around whether the Nick Clegg and Liberal Democrats should work with the Conservatives or Labour to form the next Government. My opinion is clear.Nearly a quarter of voters chose the Liberal Democrats. They voted for us because they share our values. Therefore, we need to work with which ever party, whether Labour of Conservatives, who will accept our key policies
Sat 8th
14:45
Opinion: Is there grand gesture to reform which would make coalition with the Tories acceptable?
I am not someone you might expect to back a deal with the Tories. I come from a traditional Labour-voting background, and I am more suspicious of the Tories, and their motives, than many in our party. But while this makes me cautious – almost to the point of paranoia – about a deal with Cameron's Tories to form a majority coalition in the new Parliament, it does not make me rule it out altogether. The Parliamentary arithmetic alone – the lack of a majority for a Lib/Lab pact – and Labour's internal division over voting reform means it deserves ...
When news of the triple lock reached the consciousness of the political correspondents, some twelve or so years after it came into existence, there was a certain amount of hilarity. A recipe for delay and dithering, we were told. The markets would never wear it, others suggested. The idea that there should be some consultation was thought to be rather absurd. And so, here we are. I have to say that the process is moving along quite smoothly so far - forget the actual decision, we're a fair way away from that. Of course, despite the meetings of the two ...
While walking down the street one day a "M.P" is tragically hit by a truck and dies. His soul arrives in heaven and is met by St. Peter at the entrance. 'Welcome to heaven,' says St. Peter.. 'Before you settle in, it seems there is a problem. We seldom see a high official around these parts, you see, so we're not sure what to do with you.' 'No problem, just let me in,' says the man. 'Well, I'd like to, but I have orders from higher up. What we'll do is have you spend one day in hell and one ...
Winter is back. As the cold winds bring the temperatures down across Britain, the political heat generated by the Prime Ministerial Debates has evaporated and turned into the dampness of political stalemate. It had been duly predicted so I'm not sure why everyone is puzzled. I feel what happened is quite clear. First, Britain discovered TV which allowed people to learn more about the Lib Dems,
In today's Financial Times, the excellent Gillian Tett interviews the economist Nouriel Roubini. Roubini earned the nickname Dr Doom after warning of an impending financial crisis before it happened. Tett also began questioning how long securitisation could go without bursting the system wide open. They were proved right. One thing that we can be fairly certain of is that when Roubini did the interview he didn't know that the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats would be discussing whether they could reach some sort of agreement over who governs Britain. But that didn't prevent Roubini from making a very pertinent remark. In ...
I have decided that there will be a renaming of my blog. With the refocusing of my blogging to concentrate on local London and constituency issues, I am playing with a number of names including: Liberal London NW1 Liberal Democrat These are only the first two I have come up with - if you have some suggestions, make a ...
Clegg has been offered a deal by the Conservatives, who have executed a massive u-turn on their pre-election "no coalition" position. Mathematically, this is the only coalition possible, the so called "Progressive Majority" coalition is non-starter in terms of votes in the House of Commons. So Clegg has to decide what he wants to do, and then persuade the Lib Dem party that this is viable. Note, as a democratic party, there are strict rules on this. ( Details, and my strong opinion ) I'm completely, utterly, committed to reforming our political and electoral system. It's the reason I got ...
These are the conditions I think we should demand be met by a potential coalition partner. On electoral systems: Each party must guarantee at least a referendum on AV. A 3-option referendum including STV should be acceptable to Labour as I would hope they would be confident of arguing the case for the middle-ground option. This referendum would of course have to be run using the AV/STV method. Positions in a coalition cabinet: The one position of greatest importance is Home Secretary. It is the department in which policy has differed greatest between the other two parties and ourselves. It ...
Yesterday afternoon I spent the time with Dad at the count for the Waltham Forest Council. To say it was a disater would be a understatemennt. In Walthamstow and Chingford the Liberal Democrats went from 12 councillors to none, with only 5 councillors re-elected in Leyton.My heart goes out to all the defeated councillors, many who I know work hard all year round for the residents. I just hope
Now that the election has taken place, I will be changing some of the content features and concentrate more on issues relevant to London and with a focus on City of Westminster (and my local area), as well as DELGA campaigns and topical national issues. Keep watching for the makeover!!
Church Street Ward is one of the most deprived wards in Westminster, accordingly to social/demographic trending and analysis. In 2008, there was a by-election and the results where as follows AHMED – Mehfuz The Conservative Party Candidate 955 ROWNTREE – David Alexander De Horne The Labour Party Candidate 652 THOMPSON – Martin Adam Liberal Democrats 176 This meant that the vacant seat ...
My message to the Liberal Democrat Federal Executive, meeting this afternoon (mail yours to balancedparliament@libdemvoice.org). In one line - all four of our cast-iron priorities: deal. Anything less: no deal. In Full I hate the Tories. I hate Labour. I don't want a deal with either of them. But we don't have a Lib Dem majority, and we support a system that almost inevitably leads to coalitions. So we must listen to the voters and negotiate in good faith, because while we hate Labour and the Tories, the voters have given them larger chunks of power. What happens if we ...
So with all the crowing and peacocking over we can now take a closer look at the election results here in Woking and if I was a Conservative party member in Woking, I would not be so quick to be complacent. Local Councillor Denzil Couslon who was re-elected to his seat with a healthy 52% ...
This is really the only game in town. Without PR we will be constantly in a situation of having a system that creates a PR situation without having PR. If Cameron doesn't like it: Tough. No pledges, promises. Action with legislation. And while we're at it Nick can tell Gordon the same – oh, and ...
I've just sent most of this to balancedparliament at libdemvoice.org To my surprise I find I'm less bothered about facilitating a Tory government than I thought I would be. I worked through the 80s and 90s when almost every day brought more examples of Tory viciousness and Tory sleaze, and we still see evidence day to day that many of the party grassroots haven't changed a bit. I still think that if they get into power the right wing will come out of hiding and try to blast Cameron into submission to their way of thinking. For what it's worth,. ...
We did not gain any of the expected seats we where fighting for. We did not gain any seats at all. Why? Was the council vote a reflection of the general election vote? Maybe... Where we fighting in the right wards? (see next posting for an analysis of my ward) In my opinion? No. We should have concentrated on the ...
The outstanding Liberal Democrat result on Thursday was Ian Swales' capture of Redcar with a 21 per cent swing. Chris and Glynis Abbot explain how it was done. Dib Lemming empties a pungent and well-merited bucketful right over the head of Nadine Dorries. Have the financial markets been in chaos or sent into freefall by a hung parliament, as some newspapers claim? No, says Stumbling and Mumbling. Norfolk Blogger detects sanctimonious duplicity and doublespeak in the Green Party in Norwich South. The newcomer Angus Reid won the battle of the opinion pollsters, finds Singing My Song. The Vagabond Trail visited ...
It's the day after elections, and despite the fact that my wife and daughter came out as the biggest winners it's no time to rest. In all frankness I hate elections and I'm glad it's finished, we can go back to think about real issues. As I already wrote Lewisham Council is tendering a major ...
After watching the outcome of the election, and the realisation that a hung-parliament was the outcome, I realised that although we had stopped the Tories from achieving power, that there was the very high probability that they would come to power via a coalition. If this was the case, how long would the coalition last? 6 – 12 -18 months> What concessions ...
A group of people who are disgusted with how voters were disenfranchised on Thursday (being unable to vote for various reasons) have set up a website and forum for those who were denied their democratic right (and anyone else who is annoyed about this) to express their views. You can find the site at ICouldntVote.com
Here are my thoughts on the situation. We cannot prop up Brown as he is totally discredited A coalition with Tories would tear the party apart and lose us a great deal of supporters and activists We don't want seats in Cabinet - we need STV for HoC So maybe a one Bill queen's speech on STV (or two if some Lib Dem Con Lab consensus on deficit can be reached)
[IMG: Dave Page outside Owens Park on Polling Day] The results are now in for the 2010 local elections. Unfortunately, I wasn't elected as your local councillor for Fallowfield this time. Despite the Labour boost from the General Election, it was still the closest result in the ward for four years - and despite Labour's scaremongering, the Tories are still nowhere to be seen in Manchester. I'm proud of fighting an honest campaign in Fallowfield, and this is not the end for the Liberal Democrats in the area. Whatever happens over the next few days or weeks in terms of ...
There is a fascinating article in today's Independent that underlines just how weak Cameron's position is within his own party and why his ability to get his feet under the table in 10 Downing Street is key to his survival as Tory Leader. Michael Brown says that this is a pyrrhic Tory victory: In the words of one senior Tory backbencher to me yesterday, "Cameron has pissed this election away." The Tory leader has spent more than four years "decontaminating the brand". Yet, against this backcloth of humiliation for Labour, he has ended up with less than a 3 per ...
Who would want to be in Nick Clegg's place today? For all the talk during the campaign that the Lib Dem leader would end up as 'Kingmaker', that now looks the least enviable position imaginable. I've read and absorbed lots of the commentary of the last 24 hours – both on this site and elsewhere – and am amazed by the striking naivete of those who appear to imagine there is an easy option for the Lib Dems, that whatever choice we make in the days ahead won't involve compromise and pain. Sorry guys: it will. Nick Clegg has just ...
Well, I tried really hard and came second! I had great support and help from Bob, my agent and Kerri my press officer - no-one could have asked for more.Our party activists did sterling work at HQ - including two ladies in their 90's!! Thanks to all concerned. What now? Well it's ironical that we have a situation in which, in spite of losing seats, the Liberal Democrats can help this country to get what it deserves - a fair voting system which reflects the votes of the whole population. The price for our support MUST be a referendum so ...
This is my chance to say thank you to all those people who voted for the Liberal Democrats in both the General Election and the local elections in Wallasey, thank you to all those who helped on the campaign trail, to all those who delivered thousands of leaflets and newspapers, and to those who spent ...
Lib Dem Brentwood Councillor Karen Chilvers has just written about what happened in her area on Thursday:We knocked on a lot of doors yesterday telling you it would be close - but I had no idea how close it would be..At 6am, after four recounts and with over 3,000 votes cast it finally came down to 1578 votes for Nigel and 1578 for the Tory candidate - dead heat..The election was then decided by
Its not often I go out to eat and when I do as a rule, I confine myself to pubs and to be honest most offer reasonably fare but standardised quality, however having the time to enjoy a meal, when Mrs Me suggested mundane pub grub, I balked. Being out of the habit of dinning out, I suggested that we headed toward Ramsgate, after drifting up from the Harbour, we then drifted back and up the hill, settling on the Bon Appetit. I have to say that the food was superb, at the Bon Appetit and the service efficient, unobtrusive ...
Alright, research done... There are fifty-seven Liberal Democrat MP's, and therefore forty-three of them will have to vote in favour of any proposal for it to be agreed. So far, so easy... The apparent mystery is the Federal Executive. So, here is your 'cut-out-and-keep' guide to the Federal Executive... 8.1 There shall be a Federal Executive, which shall be responsible for directing, co-ordinating and implementing the work of the Federal Party. It shall consist of the following: (a) the President, who shall act as its chair; (b) the Vice-Presidents; (c) the Leader; (d) two other MPs elected by and from ...
Nadine Dorries. The name is known to many. She's the Conservative MP who cheated on the Channel 4 programme Tower Block of Commons, which aimed to give MPs a taste of living in the same conditions as the poorest of their electorate, by hiding £50 in her bra. But her repulsiveness doesn't end there. Like many politicians, she used twitter to boost her profile and communicate with people during her campaign for re-election. I like twitter. It's a great leveller, a place where celebrities, politicians, and big-shot journalists mix with anyone else who feels like having a say on an ...
As a bit of a Party Constitutional hack, I watch BBC News and Sky News with some frustration, interspersed with an occasional urge to shake an errant correspondent by the throat and scream, "Why don't you actually find out how this really works?". I'll start with the 'triple lock'. There are those, mostly outside the Party, who ridicule the idea of requiring a 75% approval from the Parliamentary Party and the Federal Executive. Think about it, without such a level of approval, it is unlikely that any deal can be made to stick in any event. A party leader has ...
I am reading lots of high-minded arguments about fairness and what the electorate want on my f-list this morning. While these are right and valuable, they are not going to convince all the tribal tories who have failed to be convinced by these arguments over the past decades. Now is not the time for pissing in the wind. Two things we know about tribal tories are that they love tradition, and they hate Labour. Now is the time for pointing out loudly and forcefully that multi member constituencies are the traditional British way of doing things, and Labour got rid ...
John Pugh 21 707 Porter (..Tory) 15 683 Conalty (Lab) 4,116 Durrance (UKIP) 2,251 Brilliant campaign. It did help to have a well respected hard working local champion in John Pugh. Sadly my colleague Simon Shaw became unwell and had to be taken to hospital and so missed the drama. This was a rout. It was easy to take the tactical decision that to win we had to attack in the Tory stronghold of Ainsdale where their candidate was a high profile councillor with a whopping majority. It was Simon who led the charge with ideas about how to develop ...
Apologies it has taken me a few days to report back on the election, but the disappointment about the local result in Ashfield meant that I didn't really want to hear/talk/write about politics for a couple of days. But here, finally, is my analysis of how it all went on election night. First I'd like to say a quick something about the local fight in Ashfield, where Jason Zadrozny lost by 192 votes to Gloria De Piero. I was at the count as an agent, and to obtain a 17.2% swing and lose by that few votes was the worst ...
I am finding reports of local election successes from 'elsewhere' a good way of getting awake on this unsettling morning. So just in case this interest others... In Milton Keynes we faced an election with the retiring council split 21 LD to 20 Tories, with 9 Labour and 1 independent. Elections are by thirds. A number of our senior councillors were stepping down having done very long service and wanting to move on. That included Euan and Irene Henderson, who each had huge personal votes in their respective Newport Pagnell wards. The Tories were looking to become the largest party ...
Let's get the most we can - especially on voting reform! The Tories say, quite rightly, that Labour (about 29% of the votes) and Lib Dems (about 23%) lost the election but then they go on to claim they won with only about 36% (just over one in three)! The fact is that the public decided collectively that it did not trust any one party to govern. In terms of votes any two of the three main parties has a moral right to govern by coalition. It is nonsense to say that a Labour/Lib Dem coalition has no right to ...
Having spent some time talking to other members and seeing what's being said online, the general view seems to be: a) Disappointment at the election result, with the variation between different similar seats and campaigns leading to lots of questions b) Despite the disappointment, people are tired rather than angry; there's almost no sign of any recriminations c) Understandable anxiety about what comes next - with an acceptance that whatever comes next won't be perfect (we didn't win the election, so of course we won't get everything we want) but with very strong views that real movement on electoral reform ...
Just to let everyone know that Daisy Benson was re-elected yesterday with a 762 vote majority, reflecting her hard work and dedication. Well done to Daisy! If you have been kind enough to help, whether by delivering our newsletters or writing or stuffing envelopes, or whether you were one of the many people who helped on election day, thankyou, thankyou. Daisy will be joined on the Council by Rebecca Rye who won the third Katesgrove Seat from Labour, and by Ricky Duveen who successfully held off the opposition in Tilehurst. Liberal Democrats now have 9 seats on Reading Council. The ...
We all know the Lib Dems achieved a result we would have been reasonably happy with at the start of the campaign, but one that came as a bitter disappointment after the highs of Cleggmania. But why did the Lib Dem vote fall back to 23%, seemingly at the last gasp? Speaking to Lib Dem supporters on the doorstep in the last week, I was struck by how often the issues of Trident, Europe and immigration came up – and our supporters were genuinely concerned. In the main, it wasn't that people disagreed with our policies when I took a ...
[IMG: facing-a-hung-parliament] The most interesting thing about yesterday's events was the reaction of the party leaders. I think it was a tantalising glimpse into our possible political future. I was personally impressed by the speeches given by all three leaders. I thought Gordon Brown gracious and calm as he stood outside Downing Street for probably his penultimate address given as Britain's Prime Minister. David Cameron was nicely understated, failing entirely to demonstrate the kind of crowing arrogance that has been associated with the Conservatives in the past (and in the present, for anyone who saw Zac Goldsmith's win in Richmond ...
It was unfortunately a long night of anti-climax for the Lib Dems in general. However, in this seat we did manage to achieve a small, but significant swing to the Lib Dems away from Labour and pushed the Conservatives further into third place. We have secured this constituency as a straight battle between Labour and the Lib Dems. That we were able to do this despite a very high turnout, which would normally work against us, is principally due to the massive help we received from members and supporters. I would like to thank you all sincerely for your ...
Down in deepest, bluest Rayleigh and Wickford , our Tory MP Mark Francois was swept back to Westminster with 57 percent of the vote and a majority of over 22000. And I wish him well - by the way, he doesn't seem to have the same right-wing reputation in Rayleigh that he seems to have outside the constituency.It was really good to see Susan Gaszczak win 2nd place for us by a few hundred votes,
38 degrees have been spamming Lib Dem MP's email boxes. The problem is that emails are being sent by 38 degree on behalf of people all over the country.So many emails are being sent that it is impossible to read them. The danger of this is that it prevents emails from constituents being read.I have configured my spam filter to ignore the 38 degrees emails. This may cause other emails to be
One or two people of my acquaintance have expressed the opinion that we would lose a referendum on electoral reform and that therefore Liberal Democrats should do a deal with the Conservatives.I do not understand this view. All the polls on the subject show that the public support it. If we are not prepared to take the risk, we should just get out of politics. This is the best chance we have
Winning a Parliamentary seat is something I've not been part of since joining the Young Liberals many years ago! I didn't play a very big part in Redcar's achievement but did what I could when I could and last night celebrated with many others. O'Grady's was packed, the music was loud, the cheers for Ian when he arrived must have inflicted damage on the rafters! There'll be some headaches
Elections have consequences. The consequence of this one seems to be that there will be a new government. But at what cost? The Lib Dems are right to take David Cameron's offer extremely seriously. It is right to think carefully about both a) what are the must haves; and b) what are the can't haves. ...
Jack Newfield once wrote, "We learned that we shall not overcome. The most compassionate leaders our nation could produce had been assassinated. The stone was at the bottom of the hill and we were alone." Those words of penetrating despair referred to the deaths of two leading American liberals in 1968. In the aftermath Richard Nixon seized the presidency and Democrats fell into a dark period of infighting and indecision that lasted off and on until at least 1992. No-one in our party, in our country has been killed. Yet there is a sense of loss. MPs we admired are ...
Off now to day of talks on what happens next. How best to deliver what is in the national interest together with changing politics for good! Obviously, increasing my own majority here in Hornsey and Wood Green was a fantastic endorsement of my five years as the MP - but am so sad that because the elections were on the same day - we couldn't take the council against the Labour block vote - yet. If the elections had been on different days - I think we might well have won the Council. Anyway - just leaving for all day ...
As you can probably imagine, election duties and the aftermath thereof kept me off LJ/DW/DJ from some time on Wednesday evening until mid-afternoon on Friday. I have caught up with my "partners and very close friends" filters, but not with the others, and I probably won't fully do so, especially as I am going to be AFK for most of today as well. If you want a response to something and haven't got one, or if you need me to know something, please assume I haven't seen it and let me know via comment/e-mail/dm/txt/carrier pigeon. This entry was cross-posted from ...
It is day one of the Tour of Italy, the Giro d'Italia so welcome to the Netherlands. Today the peleton gets underway with an 8.4 km time trail around the streets of the Dutch Capital Amsterdam. Starting and finishinf at the Van Gogh Museum Being Amsterdam it is obviously an incredibly flat time trial so expect to see the time trailists in the race
I mean, check out the actual results. Conservatives: increased vote share by about 12% of their previous total (32.2-> 36). Increased seats by over 45% (from 209 to 306). Labour: reduced vote share by about 17% of their previous total, lost 25% of their seats. Liberal Democrats: increased their vote share by 4-5% of previous ...
It does seam very unlikely that a Conservative Liberal Pact would lead to a full referendum on electoral reform so we either have two choices. 1. Let the Tories have a minority government and try and get a motion on the matter. 2. form a pact and find some middle way. I haven't included a Labour pact ...
The electorate have spoken. In spite of the worst efforts of Britain's right-wing press, the 2010 General Election has resulted in a hung parliament with David Cameron's Conservatives winning the most seats (306) and the largest share of the vote (36%). Neither of these numbers represents anything like a clear mandate to govern, but equally ...
I was impressed by Portillo on Newsnight yesterday. He essentially said that if Cameron was a moderniser that he couldn't turn his back on electoral reform. It is clearly not reasonable to expect an agreement on the details of a reform package to be hammered out in the next 24 hrs but we have to be satisfied that it will happen and that we will not land up with just another Speakers conference. In that context immediate legalisation to introduce preferential voting would provide the sort of comfort we seek. In the short term it would guarantee no backsliding. Any ...
The Lib Dems have always argued that the country should elect MPs using a fair voting system – a form of proportional representation. Hopefully this hasn't passed too many of our activists by. Certainly, in the 22 years I've been a party member I don't recall meeting many Lib Dem activists who were under the illusion the party favoured First Past the Post. Fair voting systems normally lead to balanced, or hung, parliaments and frequently to coalition governments. We're used to them in Scotland and Wales, not to mention in the majority of successful western nations. So I would hope ...
There is a demo today at 2pm in Trafalgar Square to protest against our current electoral system and how it has yet again distorted the results of the latest election. The Facebook group for the protest is here and the details are copied in below. ---------------------------------------------- The election has produced another outrageous result with a massive mismatch between votes and seats. Our voices have been silenced. - Millions of votes have been wasted. - People have been turned away from polling stations. No matter what the colour of your political stripes, the current system is a democratic travesty and can't ...
1. We did NOT promise to work with the party with the most support. Nick Clegg said before and after the election that that party (the Conservatives of course) had the right TO SEEK to form a government.2. The Conservatives did NOT win the election either by the discredited first-post-the-post system nor by any proportional test.3. The great prize of this election can be electoral reform. We will
I will be on LBC again from 11am today with Ken Livingstone and David Mellor. I can't imagine what we will talk about. Has anything been happening in politics recently? You can listen to it on 97.3fm if you're in or near London or via this link online if you aren't.
Firstly thanks to David Pullin for putting all this together. These statistics are all related to the local government elections in the town-which are very much in line with our excellent General election result. In fact it is very good to note that our local government was less than 1% different from John Pugh's result. 2010 Local Ainsdale Birkdale Cambridge Dukes Kew Norwood Meols Lib Dem 2936 3626 2910 2137 2993 3425 3202 21229 48.1% Conservative 2703 1626 2167 2589 1391 1236 1989 13701 31.0% Labour 668 466 515 687 615 731 561 4243 9.6% UKIP 335 437 347 302 ...
SURNAME Other Names Party Votes CANDELAND Brian Arthur Green Party 825 CHAMBERLAIN Victor Max Mark Liberal Democrats 3349 HANIF Saira The Conservative Party 522 LONE Amina The Labour Party 2981 Thank You for your support and help during the recent elections. Victor Chamberlain has been elected to represent you and I am sure he will do a great job! More later...
From the BBC's excellent Election live coverage: 2043: Commentators in the US – unused to seeing more than two parties in an election race – are a bit "baffled" by the result of the British election, says the BBC's North America editor Mark Mardell. One remarked that he "had thought the rules of cricket were complicated", our correspondent added.
A very bad night for my political side and I believe for Lewisham politics in general too. Thankfully I have a full life besides politics and plenty of things to keep me occupied, even too many. I have no regrets, I remained myself throughout the election. People showed support and went out to vote for ...
On May 6th 2010 it took on average 33,350 votes to elect each Labour MP34,989 votes to elect each Tory MP55,131 votes to elect each Plaid Cymru MP81,898 votes to elect each SNP MP119,788 votes to elect each Lib Dem MP Yes there were hundreds of people disenfranchised across the country due to the queuing issues, but the figures above show a far larger disconnect between the value of the vote based on who you vote for. Time for a change and a fairer politics, time for electoral reform to include proportional representation or else the two old parties will ...
It's been a very odd couple of days. From the optimism of the "Clegg surge", the sheer slog of the end of the campaign and polling day itself, I found myself in the count for Shrewsbury and Atcham last night, awaiting our result. I had really no idea what to expect of the result, but ...
As I'm sure most readers of my blog are aware by now, I did not win in Langworthy, while I am obviously disappointed not to win, I offer my congratulations to John Warmisham. While I am sure John is pleased with his victory, I have every intention of continuing to fight for Langworthy and I'm very happy with my 1,211 votes (which was more than Lynn Drake polled in 2008 when she won here). Further, I hope John joins me in thanking the electorate for a record turnout in Langworthy – I'd like to think that both the intensive Labour ...
Posted by Chris: Gosh, I am exhausted! Had I not been so tired I would perhaps not be so bothered about the attempts by some sections of the local, regional and even national media to brush off the Lib Dem's spectacular victory in Redcar as a protest against the closure of Corus steelworks. This victory was achieved as a result of years of hard work by a dedicated and united campaign team that has been largely ignored by the local media but not by the residents of Redcar constituency. The story of how we won Redcar deserves to be written ...
Dear Mark, As the final election results come in, it is clear that no party has been granted an overall majority by the British electorate. There have been disappointments, as there have been for all of the major parties. The Conservatives have not won the majority that they thought was theirs at the beginning of the campaign, Labour have lost scores of seats across the country. We took seats from the Conservatives in Chippenham, Eastbourne and Wells and staged some remarkable swings to capture Redcar and come so close to winning in Ashfield. We have waged the best campaign we ...
First, a salute to fallen soldiers: Susan Kramer, Julia Goldsworthy, Bridget Fox, Martin Tod, and the amazing, wonderful, Stephen-Fry-endorsed Evan Harris. Our parliament will be poorer without you, and the crowing of the Tory press over Evan in particular makes me want to vomit. Second, a salute to the heroes of the hour: Sarah Teather, Tessa Munt, Naomi Long, Julian Huppert and Tim Farron: well fought, and well held, guys. Third, a promise to the millions of people who voted for us and were disenfranchised (especially to the 13,037 who voted for the supremely talented Hilary Myers in my own ...
...then he needs to start with his local party and its activists. To accuse the LibDems in Woking of a 'dirty tricks' campaign was one of the biggest overreactions I have seenyet to a set of campaign literature. It shows that the Conservatives will really stoop at nothing to get their hands on every vote ...
I was taking photographs at a wedding for most of yesterday but I did manage to get to the start of the count for the Morecambe and Lancaster constituencies. I suppose that I can say I was there but I have always managed to see the results of elections since 1983. I spoke to a Conservative who felt that the electoral system was wrong. I thanked him for his support for reform but told him that he would be in a minority of those who were wearing blue rosettes. There is still a slim possibility that the system will change ...
