MP conference fringe league table 2014: Norman Lamb hits an all time high

Back for its sixth year is my autumn conference MP fringe league table along with the annual award of the Simon Hughes Memorial Prize for the most simultaneous fringe meeting bookings by an MP at party conference.

As ever, this is based on the information from the official listings and 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). The Rally and Ministerial Q+As are excluded.

Winning this time with a record high score of 19 is Norman Lamb, who also scoops the Simon Hughes Memorial Prize for a double set of triple-bookings. He’s doing more fringe meetings than 27 of the party’s other MPs put together. Basically, if you’re in Glasgow and Norman Lamb isn’t in the room, the chances are you’ve got to the wrong venue by mistake.

19
Norman Lamb

12
Stephen Williams

11
Danny Alexander
Simon Hughes

9
Tim Farron

8
Steve Webb
Vince Cable

7
David Laws
Julian Huppert
Paul Burstow

6
Jeremy Browne

5
Andrew Stunell
Ed Davey
Lynne Featherstone
Norman Baker

4
Alan Beith
Alistair Carmichael
Dan Rogerson
Jo Swinson
Martin Horwood
Mike Thornton
Roger Williams
Tessa Munt

3
Jenny Willott
Ming Campbell

2
Adrian Sanders
Don Foster
Duncan Hames
John Leech
John Pugh
John Thurso
Lorely Burt
Malcolm Bruce
Mike Crockart
Stephen Gilbert

1
Bob Russell
Charles Kennedy
David Heath
Greg Mulholland
Nick Clegg
Simon Wright

0
Alan Reid
Andrew George
Annette Brooke
David Ward
Gordon Birtwistle
Ian Swales
John Hemming
Mark Hunter
Mark Williams
Michael Moore
Nick Harvey
Robert Smith
Sarah Teather
Stephen Lloyd
Tom Brake

Previous years:

• 2013 – most fringes Vince Cable (16); Simon Hughes memorial prize – Vince Cable (4)
• 2012 – most fringes Ed Davey (13); Simon Hughes memorial prize – Norman Baker (4)
• 2011 –  most fringes Andrew Stunell and Simon Hughes (16); Simon Hughes memorial prize – Andrew Stunell and Vince Cable (3)*
• 2010 – most fringes Vince Cable (15); Simon Hughes memorial prize – Paul Burstow, Vince Cable, Lynne Featherstone and Sarah Teather (3)
• 2009 – most fringes Vince Cable (17); Simon Hughes memorial prize – Simon Hughes (3)

* This was a very special year for double-bookings because, “Special mention for daring double booking must go to Huppert and Lamb both of whom have a double booking when in one of the slots they are down as the only speaker. Presumably they are hoping for very long-winded questions that are so unclear that they can safely nip out, give a talk somewhere else and then return in time to give an answer as if they’d been listening all the time. In fairness, evidence from past conferences suggests this is not an unreasonable hope. On simple numbers they lose out to Andrew Stunell and his triple booking. But even he loses out to Vince Cable’s 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 even allowing for the slightly shifted time of the interview.”