MP conference fringe league table 2012: Baker is the new Hughes, but he’s no Cable

Back for its fourth year (see 2009, 2010 and 2011) is my Liberal Democrat conference fringe meeting league table, showing how many fringes each MP will be speaking at. As ever, this is based on the information from the official fringe listings in the printed conference directory. With the reshuffle, I expect a fair number of fringe organisers are reshuffling their panels too; the table is still however a good indicator of the combination of demand for certain MPs and their enthusiasm for working the fringe.

Trends to note include that Cable topped the table the first two times, then slipped to third and now is fourth. Last year Hughes and Stunell tied for first place; this year they are tied for second place.

Norman Baker moves up slightly to fourth, thanks to his Monday early evening schedule which makes him the Simon Hughes Memorial Prize for Multiple Simultaneous Fringe Booking winner as he shuttles at high speed along corridors, round corners and not quite into people in order to appear at four different meetings all at the same time. Good thing he’s a minister in charge of moving people around quickly and on time…

He has, however, some way to go to beat Vince Cable’s daring diary of last autumn:

Vince Cable [has an] extra special triple booking where not only is he the only speaker listed at one of the events, the format is in fact him being interviewed. Absence from stage may be tricky during that one.

Come on Norman. Let’s see what you can do next year.

13

Ed Davey

11
Simon Hughes
Andrew Stunell

10
Norman Baker

9
Vince Cable
Stephen Gilbert
Norman Lamb

8
Paul Burstow
Nick Clegg
Tim Farron
Steve Webb

7
Julian Huppert
David Laws
Jo Swinson

6
Danny Alexander
Jeremy Browne

5
Andrew George

4
Lynne Featherstone
Don Foster
Duncan Hames
Stephen Lloyd
Tessa Munt
Stephen Williams

3
Alan Beith
Lorely Burt
Chris Huhne
Greg Mulholland
Dan Rogerson
Simon Wright

2
Gordon Birtwistle
Annette Brooke
Malcolm Bruce
Ming Campbell
Nick Harvey
John Leech
Adrian Sanders
Ian Swales
David Ward
Mark Williams

1
Alistair Carmichael
Mike Crockart
Martin Horwood
Michael Moore
John Thurso
Roger Williams
Jenny Willott

0
Mike Hancock
David Heath
John Hemming
Mark Hunter
Charles Kennedy
John Pugh
Alan Reid
Bob Russell
Robert Smith

Note: I have included MPs marked as “tbc” and “invited” but excluded those who are not listed even if I know otherwise (as my extra information is only partial).