political archive

Duwayne Brooks, Caroline Pidgeon and the Lib Dem team

Newsletter #20 is out: read it here

2 May 2012
My latest monthly newsletter about the Liberal Democrats is out this week, and you can read it online here. If you would like to receive the next edition of the newsletter direct to your own inbox, just sign up here. It’s free! You can unsubscribe whenever you want using the link on the bottom of [...]

Nick Clegg trashes Liam Fox’s economic policy demands

2 May 2012 , , , , ,
During yesterday’s Radio 4 interview with Nick Clegg there was a feisty exchange over why so much time in the interview was being taken up with the details of when and to who Jeremy Hunt should next answer questions to about his conduct, rather than issues such as the state of the economy. Certainly the [...]

Something you can do to win Lib Dem votes today

2 May 2012 , ,
The best message to win Liberal Democrat votes varies from contest to contest tomorrow as the issues at the top of voters’ minds in one place are not all the same as in another, especially when it comes to local council elections. But with the Liberal Democrats in government, national issues cannot be ignored and [...]
Mark Pack and Dawn Barnes

Dawn Barnes: the good and the, er…

1 May 2012 ,
Enfield & Haringey Liberal Democrat candidate Dawn Barnes got one thing right out campaigning this evening in Wood Green – chocolate supplies! On the other hand, I’m not sure she’s quite got the hang of Liberal Democrats who point…

An impressive piece of work by Andrew Mitchell

1 May 2012
Robert Peston reports: Andrew Mitchell, the International Development Secretary, will announce later today that he is selling the government’s residual 40% stake in Actis, the world’s leading emerging-markets private-equity fund, for $10m (£6.2m) in cash plus a large future share of what is known as carried interest in three funds. This share of carried interest [...]

Police arrest BNP candidate for Mayor of Liverpool

1 May 2012 , , ,
The BNP candidate standing for elected mayor of Liverpool has been arrested by Merseyside Police.
Policy Exchange graph - attitudes to own area

How does your part of the country compare to the rest? Policy Exchange’s findings

1 May 2012 ,
On Monday morning I spoke at the event launching the fascinating Policy Exchange report Northern Lights, which takes a close look at how political attitudes vary around the country. One question which particularly caught my eye is the one asking about attitudes to your local area, analysing how these responses varied between the North, London and [...]

Haringey councillor in charge of children’s services steps down after damning report

A few days ago I blogged about Yet another tragic failure to protect children by Haringey Council. Now there’s news of the first fallout from that shocking report: Haringey’s children’s chief Lorna Reith has stepped down following the publication of a damning report into safeguarding in the borough. (Ham & High) Meanwhile in another long-running [...]

Can you guess what this is?

1 May 2012
“It’s holistic, empathic and potentially step-changing.” Can you guess what it is yet…? OK, here’s another quote about it: “Its foundation is as old as human nature. It works in harmony with it, releasing enormous energy for transformations.” Any guesses? What if I tell you they are quotes from Lembit Opik? Here’s one more then: [...]
Labour Party logo

How Labour councils are wasting money

30 April 2012 , ,
Labour Council Waste