Archive for lynne featherstone
The Liberal Democrat challenges for 2012: Communicative ministers
To mark the start of 2012, we’re running a series of posts over consecutive days on the main challenges for the Liberal Democrats in 2012. I’ve already written about the four priorities for the party’s new Chief Executive, Tim Gordon, but as the Liberal Democrats are more than just the one man whilst he has [...]
Which four Liberal Democrat ministers have most improved their standings in 2011?
Lib Dem Voice has polled our members-only forum to discover what Lib Dem members think of various political issues, the Coalition, and the performance of key party figures. Some 564 party members responded, and we are publishing the full results here over several days. Jeremy Browne, Vince Cable, Ed Davey and Lynne Featherstone are the four Liberal [...]
I didn’t pick the fluorescent William Hague lookalike garden gnome
Today was the now traditional pre-Christmas Haringey Liberal Democrats minced pies and mulled wine, featuring – of course – a Lib Dem raffle. GLA candidate Dawn Barnes trapped me in the corner: With the result that I had no choice: And, hooray, I was a winner. I didn’t pick the fluorescent William Hague lookalike garden gnome [...]
Lynne Featherstone launches Transgender Action Plan
Liberal Democrat Home Office minister Lynne Featherstone has today unveiled the government’s Transgender Action Plan: Too many transgender people still face prejudice at every stage of their lives, from playground bullying, to being overlooked for jobs or targeted for crime. I am proud to announce the first government strategy to tackle the specific barriers facing [...]
Commonwealth governments agree to end sexism in Royal succession rules
From the BBC comes the news: Sons and daughters of any future UK monarch will have equal right to the throne, after Commonwealth leaders agreed to change succession laws. The leaders of the 16 Commonwealth countries where the Queen is head of state unanimously approved the changes at a summit in Perth, Australia. It means [...]
Lynne Featherstone vs Steve Hilton on maternity pay
From yesterday’s Observer: In a wide-ranging interview with the Observer, Featherstone said it was vital the coalition delivered on its family-friendly rhetoric … In a forthright attack on some of the advisers shaping government policy, she criticised the role of Adrian Beecroft, a venture capitalist tasked with reporting to the prime minister on how to [...]
Where Lynne Featherstone leads, David Cameron follows – once again
We’ve covered before on Lib Dem Voice the campaign by Lynne Featherstone and others to end the built-in sexism in the rules of Royal succession, whereby men automatically come ahead of women in the line of succession (‘Royal primogeniture’), a cause which has overwhelming public support. One complication is that our monarch is also the [...]
Can you guess who said what?
Take two people: one a successful female businesswoman and one a male Tory MP. Then take two public statements: one calling female Cabinet members “an ugly bunch” and “I could not look at them”; the other calling for companies to be better at ending the male dominance of the boardroom. Who do you think would [...]
The Politics Show on gay blood donations
During Liberal Democrat Conference, the BBC’s Politics Show did a piece about the gay blood donor ban (partly lifted but with Lib Dems calling for further steps). It featured both Liberal Democrat Home Office Minister Lynne Featherstone and Londo...
A messaging mess: what Liberal Democrats are achieving in government
As I wrote in the immediate aftermath of Nick Clegg’s conference speech, the party was much better at saying what it was not and what it was against – not the Conservatives, not unhappy, against tax cheats, against overpaid under-performing company directors and so on – than what it was for. In theory the answer [...]
