-
Rennard legal action threatens individual officers of the English Party
4 comments on Rennard legal action threatens individual officers of the English PartyThe media were reporting (BBC News) on Monday that Chris Rennard was intending to take legal action against the Liberal Democrats over the suspension of his membership. Having previously written about the role of the different bodies of the English Party in the process of this suspension I was concerned to note that the proposed legal action is directed towards named individuals holding party positions. As The Guardian’s report puts it: The letter keeps open…
-
WTF is the Regional Parties Committee?
I am reluctant to comment publicly on the rapidly spiralling Chris Rennard affair. It is not that I don’t have a view — quite the contrary — but I don’t think that lots of people expressing their opinion is helping the situation. Particularly those who have been especially crass or hyperbolic. However, slightly bizarrely, I have this afternoon been explaining to a journalist from The Times the existence of the Regional Parties Committee. I am…
-
Thoughts on the mass membership of political parties
I’ve been thinking a fair bit lately about the role that membership of a political party plays in the democratic process. I found that this article by Andrew Rawnsley from last month helped me to crystallise my thinking, as much for what it doesn’t say as for what it does: The numbers that add up to trouble for all political parties Here Rawnsley is astute in recognising that the underlying cause of many recent political…
-
My report of the June 2013 meeting of the English Council
My report of the June 2013 meeting of the Liberal Democrat’s English Council was posted on Liberal Democrat Voice this morning. This is a somewhat delayed report. I’d intended to write it up soon after the meeting but I was away visiting relatives the following Sunday and last week I was busy with work and other things. Still if you’ve been waiting impatiently to find out what happened in all its exciting detail you can…
-
Random Thoughts for 9th May 2013
This is the latest in my series of Random Thoughts posts with links, things found on the web and other stuff that has occurred to me between 30th April 2013 and 9th May 2013: Historical Figures for the 21st Century – Telegraph This gallery shows portraits of historical figures updated as if they were alive today. It is a really interesting and thought provoking idea — although I think in most of these examples they’ve…
-
I’m on the Liberal Democrats’ English Council for another year
My political activity during 2012 was very limited but one of the few things that I had made a commitment to do was serve on the Liberal Democrats’ English Council for the year. The English Council is the governing body of the Liberal Democrats in England. It meets twice a year to consider matters of importance to the English Party. My motivation for becoming a member of this somewhat obscure body was partly to find…
-
Qualifications for party membership – a response to Mark Pack
Fresh from sorting out the internal election rules of Unlock Democracy Mark Pack has again turned his attention to the internal rules of the Liberal Democrats and has come up with a new proposal for change. This time he’s looking at the qualification period that applies before someone can vote in the party’s candidate selections. The issue here is that the current rules prevents newly joined up members from voting in candidate selections until they’ve…
-
My report on the November 2012 meeting of the Liberal Democrat’s English Council
My report on the November meeting of the Liberal Democrat’s English Council is now up on Liberal Democrat Voice. The English Council is the governing body of the Liberal Democrats in England and meets twice a year to consider matters of importance to the English Party. This post is part of a series of posts I’ve been writing for Liberal Democrat Voice this year reporting on the activities of the English Party. The main issue I have…
-
My preview of the November meeting of the English Council
My preview of the November meeting of the Liberal Democrat’s English Council is now up on Liberal Democrat Voice. The English Council is the governing body of the Liberal Democrats in England and meets twice a year to consider matters of importance to the English Party. This post is part of a series of posts I’ve been writing for Liberal Democrat Voice this year reporting on the activities of the English Party. The items I’ve…
-
Welcome changes at Party HQ
As one who is known to grumble a fair bit about how the Liberal Democrats have been organised and run over the last few years I think it is worth welcoming some good news. The relatively new Chief Executive of the Party, Tim Gordon, gives the impression of being a Good Thing — and this week he has announced his first big change to how things will work. Alongside the ending of Liberal Democrat News…
-
10 principles for the management of internal elections in membership organisations
In this post I am proposing some principles on which I believe the rules for internal elections in membership organisations should be based. For the background to this post see here. Campaigning is good: Campaigning for votes in internal elections is necessary, healthy, and should be encouraged. Democracy is about more than just voting. Elections should do more than decide who should fill posts or sit on a committee. Ideally they should also be about…
-
Writing about the Liberal Democrats’ English Council for Liberal Democrat Voice
On Tuesday I had my first post published on Liberal Democrat Voice about the English Council of the Liberal Democrats: “What does the English Council do?” Last November I wrote about my decision to put myself forward to be a member of the English Council and my motivations for doing so. Chief amongst these was ‘curiosity’ to find out just what the purpose of this obscure body is. In my, ultimately unnecessary, manifesto for this…
-
What is the English Council for?
A couple of weeks ago I went along the annual conference of the East of England Liberal Democrats. Whilst there, after a sudden rush of blood to the head, I decided to put my name forward for the English Council of the party. This is probably the least known of the party bodies within the internal structures of the Liberal Democrats. So my motivation for doing this can best be described as ‘curiosity’. As there…
-
Conference to vote on changes to the Liberal Democrats internal election rules
As we move towards the end of August thoughts inevitably turn towards the agenda and issues to be debated at the Liberal Democrats’ Autumn Conference. Well they do for me anyway. So this seems like a good moment to update my post from April about the proposed changes to relax the restrictions on campaigning in internal party elections. Back then I welcomed the fact that the Party’s Federal Executive had agreed to support these proposals.…
