Liberal democrats

Wednesday

James Forsyth

Nick Clegg is thinking about the ‘market’ who’ll vote Lib Dem in 2015

Normally, a party that was down in the polls and on course to lose around a third of its parliamentary seats would be in a grim mood, with the leader under pressure. But we don’t live in normal times; we live in coalition times. So, the Liberal Democrats have just had a remarkably chipper conference thanks to their belief that there’ll be another hung parliament. This, they calculate, will ensure that they get another five years in government. Nick Clegg’s speech today — and its confidence — was predicated on this assumption. There is a danger for the Liberal Democrats that the public rebel against the idea that a party

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Lib Dem conference: Dr No tells party activists that he loves blocking popular policies

Nick Clegg’s speech was supposed to be about how the Lib Dems are the modifying party. They stop the nasty Tories doing lots of nasty things, and under different circumstances, they’d stop Labour being incompetent. The text of the speech suggests that Clegg is trying to say that what the Lib Dems stand for more than anything else is better government: that is, government that doesn’t do mean or incompetent things (both of which are judged by the moral compass of the junior coalition partner, of course). He closed his speech by saying: ‘In the past the Liberal Democrats would eke out an existence on the margins of British politics.

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Lib Dem conference: Why Nick Clegg gave a personal speech

Why did Nick Clegg choose to give ‘his most personal speech so far’ at this year’s autumn conference? Ed Miliband, after all, has been giving these speeches for three years now, each apparently more personal than the last. And Clegg doesn’t really have any more compelling a story than anyone else in Westminster: like Miliband, his parents have a fascinating story to tell, but his own upbringing has been pretty standard for a politician. But this conference was the first opportunity Clegg has really had to market himself because for a few years his reputation was so toxic in the country, and the decision he had taken to go into

Douglas Murray

Life would be better if the Lib Dems ceased to exist

Steerpike’s photos from the Lib Dem conference make the affair look far more interesting than it could possibly have been. As I have written here before, the terms ‘Liberal Democrat’ and ‘party conference’, when put together, constitute probably the most soporific words in the English language. There are few ways to adequately summarise the pointlessness of this annual fandango of positioning and lies. Granted the other party conferences aren’t much better. But at least people broadly know — largely for historical reasons — why the Conservative and Labour parties exist. There is simply no point in the Lib Dems. They may once have been a useful outlet for a protest vote; now we

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Lib Dem conference: It is Nick Clegg’s party now

There has always been a sense that Nick Clegg and his coterie have been separate from the rest of the Liberal Democrats. They were more hard-headed in their politics, more professional in their approach and more ambitious for power. But every year of Clegg’s leadership, the party becomes more like the leader. This conference, the Cleggites have been in the ascendant in the hall and on the fringe. The leadership has won every important vote, the activists have happily engaged in surprisingly non-ideological discussions about future coalitions and there has been far less hand-wringing about the compromises of power. In the first years of the coalition, speaker after speaker would

Steerpike Steerpike

Coffee Shots: Liberal Democrats really enjoy their party conference

The Lib Dems have had a great party conference, haven’t they? Well, perhaps. The conference centre has been a little flat at times. Sometimes delegates have struggled to look really truly excited about debates on tax: And at times, everything has just been far too much: Even for former leaders… Some debates have offered a handy opportunity for catching up on the sleep missed by staying out late at Glee Club: While others haven’t been very well-attended, but have at least offered a chance for a catch-up… …some light reading… …or that favourite Lib Dem pastime, knitting.

Tuesday

Isabel Hardman

Lib Dem conference: Nick Clegg to announce free school meals for all infant school pupils

Nick Clegg has had a good party conference, and wants to round it off with an announcement that will leave a warm glow in delegates’ tummies. So he’s announcing free school meals for all children in infant school from next September. This will be a key feature in the Deputy Prime Minister’s speech tomorrow afternoon, and also represents the key trade between the two coalition parties over tax breaks for married couples. The latter is likely to appear in a conference speech or two when the Tories meet in Manchester the week after next, and the Lib Dems have a provision in the Coalition Agreement that they will abstain on

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Lib Dem conference: The subtle clear yellow water between the coalition parties

Aside from the usual outright bashing of the Conservative party, the Liberal Democrats do want to put some clear yellow water between their party and their coalition partners on subtler issues. They don’t just want to talk about the ‘Tea Party Tories’, as Vince Cable did yesterday, but also about some of the different decisions they would like to take after the 2015 election, if they have their way. To that end, when Danny Alexander appeared on the Today programme, as well as slapping down Vince Cable’s talk of an early coalition break-up, he repeated Nick Clegg’s hint that the Lib Dems could ringfence NHS and education spending into the

Monday

Isabel Hardman

Lib Dem conference: Nick Clegg narrowly wins 45p/50p tax vote

It was so close that they had to count the votes in the conference hall, and even then, the Liberal Democrats only backed Nick Clegg on retaining the 45p tax above a return to the 50p rate by four little votes – 224 in favour of the 45p, and 220 in favour of the 50p. It’s difficult to bill this narrow result as a real victory for the Lib Dem leadership, but at least it means that Clegg has won all four of his confrontations so far with his party – and this tax vote was expected to be a loss. It was interesting how many of the speakers in

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Lib Dem conference: Clegg’s confident Q&A

Nick Clegg was in a jolly good mood this afternoon when he strode into the conference hall for his question-and-answer session. His success (which may be halted shortly when conference votes on tax) in three votes over the last two days n nuclear power, tuition fees and the economy meant that he could be confident when taking questions from activists that they were largely for, not against, his vision. He took the opportunity to remind activists that the Lib Dems hardly campaigned on an anti-austerity platform in 2010, saying: ‘It’s not a thing that’s been imposed on us by the Conservatives, we went in with our eyes wide open to

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Lib Dem conference: Vince Cable undermines Clegg’s ‘reasonable party’ strategy

Another year, another speech by Vince Cable attacking those nasty Tories. After his rather undignified to-ing and fro-ing over the economy vote that left him looking confused and selfish while Clegg emerged looking rather bold and statesmanlike, the Business Secretary had just half an hour before he returned to the conference hall to speak again. The consensus seems to be that he made a fool of himself by not deciding what it was he should do. And given that even Tim Farron rallied behind the leadership, delivering an impressive speech in favour of Clegg’s position when he’s often more than happy to brief against his colleague, Cable hardly looked collegiate.

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Lib Dem conference: Clegg isn’t fighting his activists, he’s just fighting a faction of activists

Nick Clegg’s strategy of getting his party to approve his position on a number of contentious issues reaches its most awkward stage today, with the votes on the economy and taxes that are causing the greatest grief with activists. It’s complicated by Vince Cable’s plan to be a no-show at the economy debate in an attempt to hold onto his Jeremiah credentials. The votes are being billed as a clash between the leadership and its activists, but it’s a little more complicated than that. Last night I attended a fringe held by Liberal Reform, a group in the party that campaigns for a market-based approach to policy-making. It’s reasonably young,

Sunday

Isabel Hardman

Lib Dem leadership enjoys victory on two key motions… but Cable’s planned no-show causes economy debate jitters

One of the Lib Dem leadership’s key aims for this conference in Glasgow is to move the party into a pragmatic mindset that involves accepting and moving on from certain contentious policies such as tuition fees, the Coalition’s economic policy, and nuclear power. So far that strategy seems to be working, with a number of votes already going in Nick Clegg’s favour. This morning, activists backed a motion on green growth and green jobs that included ‘permitting limited shale gas extraction’, and supported an option within that motion that accepted ‘that in future, nuclear power stations could play a limited role in electricity supply’, rather than ‘rejecting the construction of

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Ashdown: We’re ‘a left wing party’ but we’ll do a deal with whoever the voters tell us to

A rather irritable Paddy Ashdown has just told Andrew Neil that the Lib Democrats are ‘a left-wing party’ but that their next coalition would be determined by the voters. Ashdown, whose chairing the Lib Dem election campaign, claimed that it simply wasn’t accurate to say that Lib Dems had a preference for who they’d like as their coalition partner. This is, to put it mildly, a dubious statement and Ashdown did feel the need to concede that senior Lib Dems did have ‘private likes and dislikes’. But he claimed that this wouldn’t influence their decision about who to go into government with. Ashdown’s aggressive approach to this question is designed

Saturday

Isabel Hardman

Tim Farron tells Coffee House: I might vote against leadership on 50p tax

One of the many confrontations between the Liberal Democrat leadership and party activists this week in Glasgow is over tax. When conference debates its tax policy paper, ‘Fairer Taxes’, on Monday, it will vote on a motion that includes a reintroduction of the 50p rate of tax, should an independent review conclude that the cost of introducing it won’t exceed the amount it raises. It is this vote that the leadership expects to lose. But I’ve been speaking to Tim Farron, the party’s president, who tells me that he is considering supporting the motion on 50p against the leadership’s wishes. He says: ‘I am sympathetic to the arguments in favour

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Nick Clegg tells the Lib Dems, we’re the party of jobs

The Lib Dem conference rally was never going to be the same without Sarah Teather and her comedy routine. With Teather persona non grata following her decision to step down, it was duly a much tamer affair. The only risqué jokes were about Lembit Opik being bitten in the nether regions by a sausage dog. But seeing as Lembit has infuriated party loyalists by again calling for Clegg to go, they got a laugh from the leadership. The message of the conference rally was that the Liberal Democrats are the party of jobs. Nick Clegg claimed that the Tories weren’t the party of jobs, but the party of fire at

Friday

Isabel Hardman

Lib Dem conference 2013: The key rows to watch

Nick Clegg is, on balance, starting his party’s conference in a reasonably strong position. There has been an amusing bitch fight today between party grandees, with Paddy Ashdown saying that ‘Matthew [Oakeshott]’s self-appointed position as a sort of vicar on earth for Vince does neither of them any good’, but largely Clegg can expect to at least arrive in Glasgow without any suggestions that this is a crucial conference for him. There will, however, be some bumps in the road over the next couple of days. The Lib Dem leader isn’t facing a leadership challenge, but he still has challenges to his authority as leader to weather: and they come

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Oakeshott attack on Nick Clegg highlights how safe the Lib Dem leader is

The Lib Dems have had a lot to get used to since coming into government: not least the growth of their conference from something that members could stroll in and out of with their knitting needles, and that only the most junior hacks were sent to. But only three years into holding conferences as a party of government, they’re starting to notice a pattern. Firstly, there will be a bit of rabble-rousing from the party’s president Tim Farron, who will drop some flirtatious hints about Labour, his heart beating on the left and how the Tories are a bit naughty. Then Vince Cable will say something a bit melancholy. Then

Thursday

Sebastian Payne

The View from 22: the end of political parties, RBS and Lib Dem conference preview

Have political parties had their day? On this week’s View from 22 podcast, Ross Clark and Fraser Nelson debate whether party conferences are now pointless, filled with lobbyists not members, and whether parties no longer have a purpose. Are we entering a post-party politics? What, if anything, can be done to fix the relationship between Britain’s interest in politics and our parties? The Telegraph’s Iain Martin also discusses the breakup of RBS with the publication of his new book Making It Happen this week. What did RBS fail in such a spectacular fashion? How strong was the Scottish connection to the financial crash? Was Fred the Shred entirely responsible? What

Monday

Isabel Hardman

Nick Clegg: Labour ‘perilously close’ to voters not knowing what they stand for

Nick Clegg gave his monthly press conference today. It might kindly be described as ‘wide-ranging’, which is often code in journalese for ‘not offering very much’. But the Deputy Prime Minister did offer a few nuggets which are worth exploring. The first is that he was very keen to put his name on the list of figures at the top of the Coalition trumpeting the improved economic circumstances. ‘I am not going to use that phrase,’ he said, when asked whether he could see ‘green shoots’ in the economy. ‘I’m happy to use any other euphemism: the clouds are lifting… the sinews of the British economy are starting to strengthen.’