Liberal democrats

Newspapers everywhere are in trouble, with advertising revenues down about 20 per cent a year. Local newspapers are worst hit and many are on the brink of collapse, sacking staff and pages. But there can be no more depressing sign of their distress than to see newspaper owners selling front pages to political parties. Look at the above pictures: both are designed to deceive the reader and look like genuine front pages. They’re created by Labour and Conservative spin doctors, printed as so-called “cover wrap” adverts. Sure, there’s a blink-and-you-miss-it caveat saying “political advertisement” in the Labour one (left) for the Copeland by-election, there’s hardly any branding at all. The

The Tories are up 540 seats, have gained control of 11 councils and enjoyed success in the Tees Valley, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough and West of England mayoral races. Conservative candidate Andy Street has won the West Midlands mayoral contest. Labour’s vote has plummeted, with the party losing 360 seats as well as control of six councils. Labour’s Steve Rotherham won in Liverpool’s mayoral contest; Andy Burnham won in Greater Manchester. Ukip has lost every seat it was defending. The party has gained one seat across the whole country – in Lancashire, from Labour. The Lib Dems have lost 24 seats but have seen their share of the national vote jump by seven per cent. The SNP are

On this week’s episode, we look at the rebirth of the Scottish Conservatives, ask whether it’s helpful to call Marine Le Pen a fascist, and consider what the future holds for Britain’s opposition parties. First, in this week’s magazine, Alex Massie profiles Ruth Davidson, the leader of the Scottish Conservatives, who has overseen an extraordinary regeneration for her party in the last two years. Are the Tories the Unionist force du jour in Scotland? And can they make significant gains off the SNP, in a country that has had a frosty relationship with their English siblings? Ruth joins the podcast to discuss their campaign, along with Fraser Nelson. As Alex Massie writes in his cover piece: “…the

Tim Farron has been doing his best to appeal to Remain voters left fed-up at the outcome of last year’s referendum. The only problem? In doing so, he’s angered those on the other side of the debate. Today, on a visit to Kidlington, he got his comeuppance as he came face to face with one such voter who was furious at the Lib Dem’s Brexit stance. Here’s the video: Voter Malcolm Baker confronts Tim Farron pic.twitter.com/PATPWC0yrR — Sam Lister (@sam_lister_) May 3, 2017 Farron did his best to try and calm the man down by saying that he had lots of friends who voted Leave – and that he didn’t think

What is Tony Blair playing at? Our permatanned former Prime Minister recently declared himself to be closer to the Liberal Democrats than his own party due to his position on Brexit. “Unique circumstances demand a unique response,” he said, so Labour voters in certain seats “should cross party lines” and vote for Liberal Democrats – in the cause of Remain. Might the love be reciprocated? Tim Farron, the Liberal Democrat leader, was on the Andrew Marr show today and he was asked about whether he had met Blair told discuss such an alliance. He fessed up. “Several months ago I met with Tony Blair at his request. I thought it was

Earlier this month, Tim Farron appeared to cast doubt on the idea of forming a ‘progressive alliance’ where the Greens, Labour and the Lib Dems work together to stop the Tories. The Liberal Democrat leader said that (while he held the Green Party’s Caroline Lucas in high regard) ‘the only plausible route of any kind towards the Conservatives not winning a majority is a Liberal Democrat group’. But was Farron’s issue simply that the suggested alliance was with the wrong parties? Mr S only asks after being passed Lib Dem campaign literature from the Tees Valley mayoral race. The Lib Dem candidate Chris Foote Wood has campaign material which — rather

Today Tim Farron attempted to put a stop to questions over his Christianity, as he declared that he does not think gay sex is a sin. However, just a few hours later and the party have been plunged into another row. David Ward has been selected as the Liberal Democrat candidate in Bradford East, where he lost his seat at the last election. The former Liberal Democrat MP is an interesting choice given Farron has said he wants his party to be a ‘warm home’ for Jews left alienated by Labour’s anti-semitism scandal. In 2013, Ward was forced to apologise after saying on his website that he was ‘saddened that the Jews,

Here they come, Tony Blair and his tragic chattering-class army. The former PM, whose rictus grin and glottal stops still haunt the nation’s dreams (well, mine anyway), is on the march with his pleb-allergic mates in business and the media. Blair and the Twitterati, linking arms, united in their horror at the incalculable stupidity of northerners and Welsh people and Essex men and women and other Brexiteers, their aim as clear as it is foul. They’re here to save us from ourselves. ‘Tony Blair is trying to save Britain from itself’, as one report put it. Excuse me while I pop an anti-nausea pill. Yes, Blair, the political version of

Theresa May is riding high in the polls and there’s much talk of a Tory landslide – but that doesn’t mean the Government should rest on its laurels, says the Daily Telegraph. It’s vital, the paper says, that the PM does her best to ‘create a sense of urgency among the voters’; ‘They have to understand the dangers of not coming out to support her,’ the paper adds. Of course, some might laugh at the prospect of Corbyn making it to Number 10 – yet it’s just that sense of ‘impossibility’ that the Labour leader ‘hopes to exploit’. After all, a Corbyn government ‘would make the country poorer’ – something

On this week’s episode, we discuss the two European nations that are are heading for the polls in the next couple of months. First, we look at Theresa May’s shock decision to hold a snap election, and then we cross the channel to consider the French election as they get set to whittle the field down to just two. With British news set to be dominated until June 8th by election fever (yet again), there was no place to start this week but with the fallout from the Prime Minister’s stunning U-turn on an early election. It’s a gamble, James Forsyth says in his cover piece this week, but with a portentially enormous pay

Happy now, everyone? David Baddiel? David Walliams? Our friend Owen Jones, the Guardian’s conscience keeper? And, not least Tory MP Nigel Evans. After being subjected to an inquisition on telly – courtesy of Channel 4’s Cathy Newman – about whether he does or does not regard homosexuality as sin, then a co-ordinated dissing online, and finally a straight, menacing question from Nigel Evans in the Commons – ‘does the Hon Gentleman think being gay is a sin?’– Tim Farron has capitulated, given in, abandoned the attempt to keep his views on a matter of conscience to himself. ‘So, I do not,’ he said. He was a bit red in the face