Archive for hilary stephenson
So you think you know how to improve campaigning? Come to Conference Dragons’ Den
Autumn conference in Birmingham will see a new type of campaigning event which sounds rather fun: a Dragons’ Den style fringe meeting at which people pitch their ideas for new approaches to campaigning. The panel will be Alistair Carmichael MP, James Gurling (Chair, Campaigns & Communications Committee), Hilary Stephenson (Director of Elections and Skills) and [...]
Lessons for future campaigning from the 2010 election
The Wednesday lunchtime at Liverpool conference saw myself chairing the last of The Voice’s fringe meetings, this one looking at lessons from the 2010 general election. Our guest speakers were Hilary Stephenson (Director of Campaigns), Duncan Hames (newly elected as MP for Chippenham) and Paul Holmes (former MP for Chesterfield). Thanks to Alex for sorting [...]
Careful what you write, it may end up in court
As Nick Thornsby has covered on his blog, today was the first day of the court case against Labour MP Phil Woolas over his election campaign. The case hinges on what Woolas put into his leaflets and, as a result, he was questioned about his attitude towards what is and isn’t acceptable in election literature. [...]
Lessons for future campaigning from the 2010 election
That’s the title of one of the four fringe events I’m chairing or speaking at during the Liberal Democrat conference in Liverpool. This one is part of the series of events that Liberal Democrat Voice is putting on, including also a Liberal Drinks meet-up, the Blog of the Year awards and our top-secret yet to [...]
Follow the yellow brick road? The Liberal Democrats' general election campaign
Here is my chapter from the Total Politics Guide to the 2010 General Election, looking at the prospects for the Liberal Democrats: The 1997 general election turned out to be a once in a generation opportunity for many local Liberal Democrat campaign teams to gain a Parliamentary seat from the Conservatives. At the tail end [...]
The inside story of how the Lib Dem general election manifesto will be drawn up
The debates and disputes around the Liberal Democrats’ Bournemouth conference give a taste of what is likely to be a tricky process of drawing up the party’s manifesto for the next general election.
Formally, there is a three part process to that manifesto: the manifesto working group chaired by Danny Alexander will present work to the [...]
