Sunday round-up from Bournemouth conference: including a top-notch Mirror story…
So great to see a beach clean as part of @LibDems #Libdemcof #Bournemouth pic.twitter.com/X60EpWaL1z
— John Russell (@john4london) September 20, 2015
Excellent speec by Sophie in t'Veld MEP #ldconf on why staying in Europe is so important @catherinemep pic.twitter.com/8X9EB0ShR4
— Dr. Kirsten Johnson (@KirstenLibDems) September 20, 2015
First day @LibDemConf as a member great to see such #diversity in the party #libdemfightback pic.twitter.com/7Hwf1jOGPI
— Jenna Stevens-Smith (@J_DoubleS) September 20, 2015
Mr Whippy is safe in my hands: Farron (He actually said that): http://t.co/XIB2xrGzqz pic.twitter.com/FOyeupgk6Z
— PoliticsHome (@politicshome) September 20, 2015
Inequality is not just morally wrong but utterly stupid because it wastes talent/lives & ruins the economy – @timfarron #ldconf
— Jennie Rigg (@miss_s_b) September 20, 2015
Selfie moment with @timfarron @LiberalYouth #ldconf #LibDemFightback pic.twitter.com/7jV2Xmk5Ba
— Terence White (@terencewhite20) September 20, 2015
Just learnt that @libdem membership amongst under 26 year-olds has tripled since May #LibDemConf #LibDemFightback pic.twitter.com/qhjz8yuO64
— Ian Yuill (@IanYuill) September 20, 2015
Nick Clegg vote #hero #ldconf pic.twitter.com/3m1jNcMk4g
— Hannah Bettsworth (@H_Bettsworth) September 20, 2015
Big shout out to our lighting, sound, graphics and video guys, working hard backstage and in need of ice cream! #ldconf ???@vividuk
— Liberal Democrats (@LibDems) September 20, 2015
14 amazing things you can buy at the Lib Dem conference (and 2 you can't) http://t.co/25fGpLy5mI pic.twitter.com/sirZffIA3L
— Mirror Politics (@MirrorPolitics) September 20, 2015
Here’s Michael White’s verdict on Tim Farron’s Sunday appearances:
As he fielded [party members’] questions (unlike Corbyn at PMQs they got to read their own) Tim played to his strengths: funnier than Clegg, more relaxed than Kennedy, less bossy than trained killer Ashdown, less tentative than the gallant Sir Ming. He’s a natural…
To the dismay of the media Tim was infuriatingly judicious on Sunday. He was kind about owner-occupiers as well as tenants, he is a friend of both Israel andPalestine, and he praised Norman Lamb, his defeated leadership rival.
It was a gaffe-free performance which ended on a self-deprecating note about his teenage infatuation with Wendy Smith, singer in 80s rock band Prefab Sprout. He still has all her records. It may not have been Gladstone’s idea of a peroration, but it went down very well.
No gaffes? It is always a challenge for Fleet St, especially when spoiled by a whole 10 days of Corbynism. But the lads can rise to an occasion. We’ll have to make some up.
Finally, here’s The Guardian‘s editorial on the future for the Lib Dems:
The vacancy is for a party that marries Mr Farron’s campaign themes to a practical account of how to achieve them, with more respect than Mr Corbyn seems to show for the sensibilities of moderate opinion and the practical policy constraints, including finite budgets, and a recognition that the state needs modernisation as well as investment. Tonally, it must eschew the nostalgic, tribal certainties that are found on both left and right.
Since Mr Corbyn dislikes markets and capitalism, the Lib Dems have room to argue, as New Labour once did, that they can be harnessed to progressive goals. Awkwardly, this “third way” looks much like Mr Clegg’s message in an election that ended in calamity – more compassionate than the Tories; more prudent than Labour. Trying to be all things to all people, ending up not pleasing anyone. Mr Farron, free of Mr Clegg’s coalition baggage, must rehabilitate that strategic position but as an expression of free-standing liberalism, defined on its own terms, not simply calibrated to compensate for other parties’ weaknesses.
It will not be easy but, since the alternative is obsolescence, it is the path Mr Farron must walk.
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