Having watched in frustation at the way the party is being shredded down to positions that are no longer registering on the political scale. I have honestly stated my views on Simon Hughes on many occasions, I worked with him for some time and felt I knew him well enough, his announcement yesterday came as a shock to me, I was not aware of this and nor do I have a position on his private life. I do however believe that the party seriously needs to get its act together, we have been stuffed by the parliamentary party and they have destroyed any chance of the lib dems getting into Government.
In May thousands of lib dem activists that are the strength and soul of the party will try to salvage something out of this mess, I think it will take us years to do this, I have along with various colleagues considered my position in the party and have reached the conclusion that the fight for the heart of the party is best fought within it, My future is within the party, people have to recongnise that the party and what it stands for is bigger than any one individual.
I will be in Brussels next week and will meet Lib Dem Parliamentarians to discuss how we move forward, there is a lot of work to do and I intend to play my role in that. I will use the Party Conference in Spring to make my views known on the crisis very clear, the party has been hugely damaged on this issue and it will take a lot of action to rectify.
I hope this is the end of the matter and we can get on in debating the real issues, policy and what the party can offer Britain, to build a society that is tolerant and respectful of human rights and diversity, this is what we can achieve together if only we can try.
Next blog will be in one week, I'm off to Brussels now!!!!!!!
Friday, 27 January 2006
Sunday, 22 January 2006
Lib Dem in Crisis
Todays news about Mark Oaten is really sad and challenging for the party, he accepts he has done wrong and has resigned as Home Affairs Spokesman, I hope this is the end of it. He needs privacy to deal with it with his family. I hope the media will leave him to it. Politics in the UK is a brutal game and today more people will be turned off coming into politics.
However we now need to have a strong leader, who can bring the party together and look to the future. Simon Hughes has the talent, strength, principles to lead the party towards the challenges ahead, I sincerely hope that the party will make the right choice so we can build for the future.
With Cameron's arrival on the scene, I think we will lose seats to the Tories at the next election, at the last election we achieved over 100 second places where next time we can win, these were all in Labour seats, we do not need to move to the right I think the best direction is to the left of New Labour, this is where we will win seats at the next election.
To that effect it is Simon Hughes who should be best for the leadership.
However we now need to have a strong leader, who can bring the party together and look to the future. Simon Hughes has the talent, strength, principles to lead the party towards the challenges ahead, I sincerely hope that the party will make the right choice so we can build for the future.
With Cameron's arrival on the scene, I think we will lose seats to the Tories at the next election, at the last election we achieved over 100 second places where next time we can win, these were all in Labour seats, we do not need to move to the right I think the best direction is to the left of New Labour, this is where we will win seats at the next election.
To that effect it is Simon Hughes who should be best for the leadership.
Wednesday, 18 January 2006
Simon Hughes takes the lead
Since launching his leadership campaign last week, Simon Hughes has taken the lead according to various newspaper headlines, here is a selection:
The Mail on Sunday - “Simon Hughes last night appeared unstoppable in the fight for the Lib Dem leadership” “Mr Hughes won rousing applause from the 400 activists”
“Hughes was fluent and at ease”
The Observer “Hughes, the 54 year old party president, has leapfrogged the early frontrunner, Campbell, over the past week”
“Hughes stressed he was not abandoning his commitment to ‘a fairer society’ and to narrowing the gap between rich and poor, which had grown under both Tory and Labour governments.”
“… he remained committed to state-provided health and education for all”
“The test of delivery, he said, had to be what was best for local communities – to whom health, education and other services must ultimately be accountable. ‘There has been a proper appreciation that the public service was too stagnant not responsive enough – too monolitihic said Hughes’”
“Hughes was also keen to address criticism from some of his fellow MPs that while he is popular with grassroots activists, he lacks the organisational and managerial discipline to lead the 21st century Lib Dem party. ‘I know what the weaknesses are’, he retorted, smiling, ‘But cometh the hour, cometh the discipline required.”
“Though recent opinion polls suggested that the next general election could produce a hung parliament, he said that he would not bring the Lib Dems into a coalition government – until they won some form of ‘fairer’, proportional representation. But he would be determined to use ‘our ever-growing influence to ensure our party’s values are reflected in the kind of legislation passed by Parliament’.”
“Mr Hughes is not to be underestimated. He has a great talent for enthusing his party and he’s popular with its members. He is energetic. At party conferences, he seems to speak at more fringe meetings than everyone else put together.
“…he won seven out of 10 of the votes when he was elected as his party’s president”
Monday 16 January
The Guardian“Sir Menzies Campbell… face[s] a strong challenge from the party’s president, Simon Hughes.”
“Many of Sir Menzies’ supporters initially hoped that he could take the leadership unchallenged, and predicted that he would ‘walk it’ in the event of an election.
“But they have been surprised by the efficiency of the campaign run by his main rival, Mr Hughes”
“ ‘It needs to look competent and be competent, and I will only deserve to win if I can show I can be competent in policy – both domestic and foreign – and organisationally, ’Mr Hughes said yesterday.”
The Independent“Mr Hughes is seen by most observers as the only candidate with enough support to be a serious challenge to the party’s acting leader, Sir Menzies Campbell.
“Mr Hughes is thought to be more popular [than Menzies Campbell] among the party members.”
Friday 13 January
The Guardian“…bookies made Mr Hughes the favourite yesterday thanks to his… slick campaign launch.”
“In a smoothly run event that belied Mr Hughes's disorganised reputation, he set out his ambition to draw on talent from across the party.”
I hope this convinces members to vote for him nowm, speak soon
The Mail on Sunday - “Simon Hughes last night appeared unstoppable in the fight for the Lib Dem leadership” “Mr Hughes won rousing applause from the 400 activists”
“Hughes was fluent and at ease”
The Observer “Hughes, the 54 year old party president, has leapfrogged the early frontrunner, Campbell, over the past week”
“Hughes stressed he was not abandoning his commitment to ‘a fairer society’ and to narrowing the gap between rich and poor, which had grown under both Tory and Labour governments.”
“… he remained committed to state-provided health and education for all”
“The test of delivery, he said, had to be what was best for local communities – to whom health, education and other services must ultimately be accountable. ‘There has been a proper appreciation that the public service was too stagnant not responsive enough – too monolitihic said Hughes’”
“Hughes was also keen to address criticism from some of his fellow MPs that while he is popular with grassroots activists, he lacks the organisational and managerial discipline to lead the 21st century Lib Dem party. ‘I know what the weaknesses are’, he retorted, smiling, ‘But cometh the hour, cometh the discipline required.”
“Though recent opinion polls suggested that the next general election could produce a hung parliament, he said that he would not bring the Lib Dems into a coalition government – until they won some form of ‘fairer’, proportional representation. But he would be determined to use ‘our ever-growing influence to ensure our party’s values are reflected in the kind of legislation passed by Parliament’.”
“Mr Hughes is not to be underestimated. He has a great talent for enthusing his party and he’s popular with its members. He is energetic. At party conferences, he seems to speak at more fringe meetings than everyone else put together.
“…he won seven out of 10 of the votes when he was elected as his party’s president”
Monday 16 January
The Guardian“Sir Menzies Campbell… face[s] a strong challenge from the party’s president, Simon Hughes.”
“Many of Sir Menzies’ supporters initially hoped that he could take the leadership unchallenged, and predicted that he would ‘walk it’ in the event of an election.
“But they have been surprised by the efficiency of the campaign run by his main rival, Mr Hughes”
“ ‘It needs to look competent and be competent, and I will only deserve to win if I can show I can be competent in policy – both domestic and foreign – and organisationally, ’Mr Hughes said yesterday.”
The Independent“Mr Hughes is seen by most observers as the only candidate with enough support to be a serious challenge to the party’s acting leader, Sir Menzies Campbell.
“Mr Hughes is thought to be more popular [than Menzies Campbell] among the party members.”
Friday 13 January
The Guardian“…bookies made Mr Hughes the favourite yesterday thanks to his… slick campaign launch.”
“In a smoothly run event that belied Mr Hughes's disorganised reputation, he set out his ambition to draw on talent from across the party.”
I hope this convinces members to vote for him nowm, speak soon
Monday, 9 January 2006
Charles resignation
I just want to wish Charles Kennedy all the best for the future as he goes into the backbenchers, the way he has been treated by his colleagues is disgraceful and those like Ming Campbell, Sarah Teather, David Laws, Vince Cable etc should be ashamed of themselves.
It is time for Simon Hughes to be elected, more soon,
Off the interent at home so will be back soon.
It is time for Simon Hughes to be elected, more soon,
Off the interent at home so will be back soon.
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