Liberal democrats

Vince Cable’s announcements about shaking up the Liberal Democrats don’t exactly inspire confidence in the party as an energetic force in British politics. Despite pitching themselves squarely as the anti-Brexit party, and despite there being growing talk of a group of voters – and MPs – who feel politically homeless, the Lib Dems are struggling to attract attention or offer a sense of purpose. The Lib Dem leader’s plan to open up the party’s membership to a ‘new class of supporters who pay nothing to sign up to the party’s values’ has sparked a fair bit of criticism from those who think this would leave the Lib Dems vulnerable to

When the Liberal Democrats unveiled their new slogan – ‘Demand better’ –earlier this month, critics were quick to point out that it might not have the desired effect. One Lib Dem source soon snarked to Mr S that many Lib Dems do want to demand better – at least, of their lacklustre leader Sir Vince Cable. So with party conference now just weeks away and the prospect of Cable having to stand next to a lectern which reads ‘demand better’ nearing, it appears Cable may have taken the message to heart. Reports are swirling that the Lib Dem leader will signal next month that he plans to step aside before

Oh dear. With Theresa May in Brussels today for the EU Council summit, Remain campaigners have been keen to do what they can to undermine her latest Brexit efforts. In that vein, Vince Cable held a meeting with the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) on Brexit today. The Liberal Democrats subsequently issued a press release announcing that ‘liberal prime ministers from eight EU countries’ had publicly backed Cable’s call for a vote on any Brexit deal: Only that appeared to come as a surprise to those listed. The ALDE were quick to rebuff the claims – stating that while they regret the Brexit vote, they respect the result

A common question in Westminster is ‘what is the point of the Liberal Democrats?’ The Lib Dems, it turns out, are asking their own existential questions: about PMQs. Since taking over as leader of the party, Vince Cable has been oddly absent from a number of these Wednesday sessions. His office says he has been to three out of the six PMQs held so far this year, and tends to turn up when he has a question allocated, which is around once a month. Tim Farron would make a great show of bobbing up and down to get Speaker Bercow’s attention at every PMQs, his face growing redder and redder

Although Christmas is supposed to mean peace on earth and goodwill to all men, this goodwill appears not to extend to the Liberal Democrats – or Vince Cable anyway. The Lib Dem leader has become the topic du jour for political journalists over the December dry season – with both the Guardian and Times publishing scathing articles on Cable’s failure to unite his party and ‘spark Lib Dems into life‘ (see Steerpike’s November report for a pre-cursor to the latest Lib Dem fear and loathing). Now questions are being asked over Cable’s suitability – and whether he even wants the job. This hasn’t been helped by Cable telling Politico his new

Oh dear. Trouble is brewing at Lib Dem HQ over Sarah Olney. After losing her seat by 45 votes in the snap election, Olney was quickly appointed as Vince Cable’s Chief of Staff – beating several more conventional candidates (i.e. trained press officers) to the coveted job. At the time, Olney made a verbal agreement with Cable that she would not stand as a Parliamentary candidate – given that this would mean she would be unable to continue as Chief of Staff. So there was much surprise this month when Olney stepped down from the role so she could campaign to retake her old seat. At the time, Vince Cable

On Tuesday, for the first — and undoubtedly last — time in my life, I found myself mounting the platform at the Liberal Democrat conference. This was because my father, Richard Moore, was receiving a richly deserved award there. He is 85, so I was assisting him up the steps in Bournemouth. Part of his distinguished service to his party consists in the fact — surely unique in human history — that he has attended every Liberal annual conference since 1953: these shows have taken up a year of his life. He told me that he spoke at the first one he attended, in Llandudno, in favour of what was

It is with a real sense of pride that I stand before you as leader of the Liberal Democrats. First of all, I’d like to put on record my thanks to my predecessor, Tim Farron. He hands over a Party, which is larger, stronger and more diverse than the one he inherited. He stood up for refugees whose plight the government had shamefully ignored. He established our very clear identity as the only real, undiluted pro-European party. We are all hugely indebted to him. It’s good, today, to be amongst friends. So please forgive me if I start by addressing people who are not yet our friends, but whom we might persuade.   People who say they

Last week, Sir Vince Cable was appointed – unchallenged – as leader of the Liberal Democrats. While some in the party would have preferred a younger leader or at the very least a two-horse race, there is one thing they can all agree on: Cable comes with less baggage than his predecessor. There is a general consensus that the party’s ‘liberal’ appeal was not helped in the election by Tim Farron spending so much time talking about how gay sex and abortion fitted in with his Christian faith. But is it too early for the Lib Dems to breath a collective sigh of relief? A little (yellow) bird tells Steerpike that there is concern

So Vince Cable is now the new Lib Dem leader, after no-else opposed the 74-year-old Twickenham MP for the party’s top job. Of course, in the Lib Dems the ‘top job’ is a little less powerful than in other parties, thanks to a spider’s web of structures that mean the leader can’t always do what he (or maybe one day she) wants. But Cable clearly knows what he does want to do, which is to make up for the party’s miserable election campaign in which Tim Farron spent far too much time having to talk about gay sex, and the rest of his party spent far too much time trying

It’s the casualness with which they’re saying it that is truly disturbing. ‘I’m beginning to think that Brexit may never happen’, said Vince Cable on Sunday morning TV, with expert nonchalance, as if he were predicting rain. He echoed Newsnight’s Nicholas Watt, who a few days earlier informed viewers that there is talk in ‘some quarters’ that ‘Brexit may not actually happen’. Leaving the EU? ‘I think that is very much open to question now’, said Lord Heseltine last month, with imperious indifference. He could have been asking a minion to pass the butter. They say it matter-of-factly, sometimes a little gleefully. As if it wouldn’t be a disgrace, a

What a very different atmosphere the House of Commons Chamber will have today for its first PMQs since the election. In the week before Parliament dissolved, Tory MPs were in a most obsequious mood, reciting the ‘strong and stable’ slogan that Theresa May started her campaign with, and even telling the Prime Minister that ‘I am confident that the country will be safe after the election under strong and stable leadership’ (sadly Peter Lilley, who made this prediction, stood down at the election and so is not in Parliament to offer his insight into how he feels about the state of the country now). It will be interesting to see

There was a time when progressives thought that politics had become too much of an old boys’ club. In the place of ageing male politicians, liberals called for more women and ethnic diversity in politics. However, times are a’changing. After Jeremy Corbyn defied all expectations in the snap election by hoovering up 40 per cent of the vote, the Lib Dems could have found their own pale, male and stale answer to Corbyn: Vince Cable. The 74-year-old announced this morning that he is running to replace Tim Farron as Lib Dem leader. Cable said he was ready ‘to commit my energy, enthusiasm and experience to the task of leading the Liberal Democrats through

It feels like an age since I was knocking on doors in the pouring rain in the final hour before polls closed, then hearing the shock of the exit poll on the car radio heading home to a hairdryer and somewhat less bedraggled attire for the count. Yet here we are just a few days later, embarking on an election for leader of the Liberal Democrats. I went to see Tim on Wednesday afternoon to tell him I thought he should definitely stay on, and I was excited at the prospect of putting myself forward to be Deputy Leader.  I was stunned when he told me he would be resigning

The resignation of Tim Farron has left a bad taste in the mouth, don’t you think? There were a number of reasons why he was an unconvincing leader: the puppyish demeanour, the want of eloquence, style or confidence – even if you agree with him about Brexit, but they weren’t the reasons why he resigned. He was quite clear: the reason was “I have found myself torn between living as a faithful Christian and serving as a political leader,” he said in a televised statement. To be a political leader – especially of a progressive, liberal party in 2017 – and to live as a committed Christian, to hold faithfully