Liberal democrats

In a sign of his enhanced status in the party, Danny Alexander has been one of the main attractions on the conference fringe this year. This evening, it was standing room only when he was interviewed by The Independent’s Steve Richards. Alexander was on feisty form. He declared that ‘both the other parties are pretty useless’ and that the Liberal Democrats had ‘done a bloody good job for this country’. Marking his own homework, he gave the party 10 out of 10 for being credible and effective. But he said that the Lib Dems had to shout louder to get their share of the credit for the economic recovery. He

The Lib Dems leadership might have hoped that it had moved on from tuition fees. But tonight’s League of Young Voters fringe was dominated by the topic. Lynne Featherstone, a Lib Dem Minister, says that she would like to shoot the Lib Dem negotiating team for not making the issue a red line in the coalition negotiations. Quite what her Lib Dem ministerial colleagues who were on that team—Danny Alexander and David Laws—will make of that remains to be seen. Tim Farron, the party president, was more judicious in his language. But he did say that the negotiating team should have realised that the electorate’s sense of what the party’s

Lib Dem conference rallies are always a little like spending Christmas with a family you don’t know: quite baffling but rather endearing. There’s the uncle who tells the same jokes every year (Paddy Ashdown, telling the conference that he’d been asked in the street by a ‘little man’ whether he ‘used to be Paddy Ashdown’ – mercifully the members found it hilarious, again), some confusing singing (an award-winning a cappella group who kept the delegates giggling by singing ‘stuck in the middle’), a bit of sweariness (Ashdown, again, claiming the Libs were ‘too nice’ and didn’t have any ‘proper shits’) and things that just don’t make sense unless you’re part

[audioplayer src=”http://traffic.libsyn.com/spectator/TheViewFrom22_2_Oct_2014_v4.mp3″ title=”James Forsyth and Isabel Hardman review the conference season” startat=604] Listen [/audioplayer]Normally, the last party conference season before an election clarifies matters. But, so far, this one has not. Instead, it has merely compounded the factors  that make the next election so difficult to call. The reason why people are reluctant to predict a Labour majority despite its current poll lead and the structural factors in its favour, is that it trails on the economy and leadership by margins that would usually be considered terminal. Its conference didn’t address these problems successfully. Indeed, with Ed Miliband forgetting the section on the deficit it has compounded them. But the

The Lib Dems have just launched the final leg of their campaign against Scottish independence, which is a poster van with Charles Kennedy’s head emblazoned across it and three of the United Kingdom’s greatest achievements: the NHS, the pound and the BBC. It’s part of their ‘sunshine strategy’ to talk up the benefits of the Union in the final few days, and the four Lib Dems who launched this van – Danny Alexander, Charles Kennedy, Jo Swinson and Willie Rennie – argued that they had been saying all sorts of lovely sunshiny things about the United Kingdom all along, but they just weren’t as well-reported as all the warnings. It’s

After the panic in Westminster over the weekend about the Sunday Times‘ poll putting ‘Yes’ in the lead came the something-must-be-dones. David Cameron said he would ‘strain every sinew’ to fight for a ‘No’ vote. But today his official spokesman was quizzed on the suggestion that he might have pulled out of a planned visit to Scotland this week (James reported in his Mail on Sunday column yesterday that the Prime Minister would stay down south this week ‘to leave the coast clear for Labour’). The spokesman said: ‘The Prime Minister will be in Scotland ahead of the election…There has been no change to the plan.’ Even in the summer,

The Coalition parties are gearing up for a week of minding the gaps. Tomorrow, David Cameron plans to tell MPs about measures that he feels are necessary for plugging the gaps in Britain’s armoury. They’re gaps highlighted to him by the intelligence and security services, and where the Tories once said they would be very sceptical about gaps, whether they existed, and whether it was right to plug them, the Prime Minister seems pretty keen to listen to the spooks. But the Lib Dems are still cross about the gaps, and possibly cross about another change of heart from the Conservatives. That’s why Sir Menzies Campbell told the World this

The Lib Dems are not taking any disciplinary action against Lord Rennard and have reinstated his membership, the party said this evening. Lord Rennard had been suspended from the party as part of the aftermath of allegations about his inappropriate conduct towards a number of women. A party spokesperson said: ‘The Regional Parties Committee met this week to consider whether the party had been brought into disrepute by statements made by Lord Rennard, or on his behalf, following the publication of Alistair Webster’s conclusions. ‘It decided not to proceed with the disciplinary process against him. This brings the matter to a close and means the suspension of his membership is

Well, well, well. What’s all this then? Uncle Vince has announced the suspension of 12 export licenses to Israel. Here’s what he said: ‘We welcome the current ceasefire in Gaza and hope that it will lead to a peaceful resolution. However the UK Government has not been able to clarify if the export licence criteria are being met. In light of that uncertainty we have taken the decision to suspend these existing export licences in the event of a resumption of significant hostilities. ‘No new licences of military equipment have been issued for use by the Israeli Defence Force during the review period and as a precautionary measure this approach

This morning Nick Clegg announced that the Liberal Democrats want to ban judges from sending those convicted of possessing illegal drugs to prison. This policy may make sense around the dinner tables of the liberal elite, but it would be a betrayal of Britain’s poorest communities who would suffer as a result. It would, for instance, render neighbourhoods less safe by giving a green light to drug dealers. Nick Clegg assumes it’s easy to tell dealers and users apart, but nothing could be further from the truth. There is no set quantity of drugs that automatically leads to someone being charged with ‘intent to supply’. Unless the suspect admits guilt

The Liberal Democrats have always been a party of contradictions. In the time I’ve been a member, as well as a journalist covering the party, few of its contradictions have baffled me more than the fact that it is called the Liberal Democrat party but it unequivocally fails to support the only liberal democracy in the Middle East. There has always been a strong link between British Jewry and Liberal parties, but the present day Liberal Democrats are broadly not trusted by the Jewish community. This is despite the best efforts of Nick Clegg and others to rebuild links. This was brought home to me only a couple of months

There’s quite a stooshie this morning, following David Ward’s latest contribution to peace in the Middle East. The Liberal Democrat MP for Bradford East tweeted yesterday evening: The big question is – if I lived in #Gaza would I fire a rocket? – probably yes — David Ward (@DavidWardMP) July 22, 2014   Ich bin ein #palestinian – the West must make up its mind – which side is it on? — David Ward (@DavidWardMP) July 22, 2014 Readers will recall that Ward has form here: accusing ‘the Jews’ of atrocities in Palestine on one occasion. Ward has been roundly condemned overnight. Grants Shapps, the Conservative Party Chairman, accused Ward

How much common ground do the political parties have on localism? As Isabel pointed out this morning, Labour and the Conservatives are engaged in an arms race to see who can out do the other on plans to devolve powers from central government. All politicians love to talk up localism — particularly in opposition, where there’s no Whitehall machine to deal with — but their dreams and slogans frequently change. This is what the three main parties have said, and currently believe, on empowering the regions: Conservatives In opposition, David Cameron put forward plans to devolve power in a more radical way than ever before. In the Conservatives’ 2010 manifesto,

I know that it is unfashionable to feel sorry for Liberal Democrat MPs. Nevertheless there are times when, contemplating their unhappy lot,  it seems appropriate to feel the odd pang of pity. The latest polling from Lord Ashcroft furnishes one of these rare moments. He asked punters who they would like to see form the next government. As you would expect 77 percent of Tory supporters want a Conservative government while 14 percent actually rather like being in coalition with the Lib Dems and would be quite happy to see that arrangement continue. The picture is much the same amongst Labour voters. 80 percent say they want Labour to govern