The one where Nick Robinson was turned away by security: A 2011 Birmingham Lib Dem Conference Review

I've been away for a week in Birmingham at the annual autumn Liberal Democrat party conference. Having not had a foreign holiday this year (for the first time since 2004), this was a welcome opportunity to stretch the legs even if the distance to the middle of the country didn't match that of my furthest trip away to Thailand back in 2008. Unlike last year, I decided to keep my laptop at home this time and to blog about it on my return. With it being my 35th party conference over the past 9 years (if my memory serves me correctly), I have much to be able to compare it too.

A Lib Dem conference perspective from Northern Ireland by Stephen Glenn can be read here and likewise another view from Sheffield boy Anders Hanson can be read here. For a Scotitish flavour, Caron had all angles covered. This meanwhile is my distinctively Welsh flavoured perspective on proceedings.

Another 5 days of amusing anecdotes came to a particularly surreal conclusion before my early departure on Wednesday morning. For personal reasons I changed my plans at the last minute and decided to leave for home early which meant missing Kirsty Williams' speech as Welsh Liberal Democrat leader and that of Nick Clegg who closed the conference. Instead, my last action of the week was a set of Radio Cymru and Radio Wales interviews in the ICC. I arrived a few minutes early at 7.55am, only to be told by the police that the security scanners would not be operational until 8am. This would prove tricky as I was expected on air after 8am and would have to walk right around the back of the ICC to the media entrance to gain entry entry in time. As it so happens, seconds later up came Nick Robinson the BBC's political editor seeking entry for a similar reason. I expected to see the police wave him through due to his 'importance' but I must admit to being rather pleased to see him being given the same treatment that I had just been subjected too. With an audible huff, he briskly made his way around the longer 5 minute alternative route around the building and I duly followed him. We both got to our destinations at 8am but it must be said that he did so quicker than I did - I've been known to walk quickly but Nick Robinson outpaced me at an impressive rate!

On arriving back at my hotel to pack for my departure, I was met at the entrance waiting for his taxi, by the immense presence of our Chief Whip Alistair Carmichael. I've only come to know Alistair well over recent months but in that time I've become a big fan and it was a nice way to end conference to see him greet me as I crossed the road towards him.

These events ended what had been another exhausting conference week.

The Policy
It must be said that the mood was one of a party in robust and quietly determined form. From the sheer bemusement of Liverpool 2010 when all walked around in a state of incredulity that the liberals were in government, here now was a party that was much more at ease and settled with itself and understood its role as a responsible party of Government.

No real dramas, no real nasty surprises, no real rebellions with which the media pack could get their teeth into. No, this was a week when the party exerted its controlled opinions on issues of importance such as the NHS reforms whilst acknowledging that we do so now from a position of strength in government and not a position of forlorn hopelessness on the opposition benches.

Things aren't going to be easy, but governing in the national interest is the right thing to do - the simple and unavoidable message from all at the Birmingham 2011 conference.

The Football
Away from the speeches and policy debates, it was a busy time to catch-up with old friends and to meet new ones. I also took the unique opportunity of a Lib Dem conference in Birmingham to make my first visit to the mecca that is Villa Park for some 7 or 8 years. Ironically, it was against the same Newcastle opposition that I saw at my first ever match at Villa Park with my father back some 16 years ago back in 1995 when Kevin Keegan's men were atop the Premiership table. With added irony, the 1-1 draw scoreline from that match was replicated last Saturday. It could've been better yet it could've been worse so on balance, I'll take a point.

The Fringes
The now traditional Roger Williams MP led RSPCA curry and beer night fringe was again well attended and quite bizzarely, our table which was headed up by both Roger and Mark Williams MP, won the quiz! That was followed by a very enjoyable 'Welsh Night' in which our hosts All Bar One had to put up with what I felt was a rousing rendition of Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau by Ollie Dunckley, Chris Took and I - it duly won us a deserved round of applause!

My favourite fringes of the week had to be at the Guardian when an irritable James Landale from the BBC rightly provoked the ire of Paddy Ashdown and Lynne Featherstone who responded with no mercy but with great applause from the assembled throng. Also the Lib Dem History Group's launch of its new history on British liberalism in the company of Shirely Williams and once more, our Paddy.

My Aberystwyth Student Lib Dem Children
It was great to catch up with so many friends from over the years and many of them hailed from earlier times as a student in Aberystwyth University. Indeed this autumn marks the 10th anniversary of the incarnation of the current Liberal Democrat student society in the University as started by Andrew Falconer and Stuart Garlick and which I tentatively got involved in at that time. Over the past decade I have seen students come and students go. Some have moved on to higher things in the party whilst others have remained close friends whilst making a career outside of politics.

I caught up with many of them this past week and helped introduce many from our current intake to the weird but wonderful world of the Liberal Democrat conference. I must admit that as the 'Elder Statesman' of the group, I take a great paternalistic pride at seeing what at once were quiet but keen members grow to become positive, committed and enthusiastic members of the party but more importantly than that, to be good liberals. If my attempt at support and encouragement has helped them in their development as good human beings in any way over the past decade, then I am immensly proud to have played my part.

The Finale - Glee Club
It was particularly pleasing to be able to introduce at least 4 of our students to the almost indescribable event that is Glee Club (although Caron gives a good account of it here). Anyone who knows me within these circles will testify that I am not a Glee Club apologist. I adore it and its crazy, self-depracating ways and I will shout it loud and proud to anyone who will listen.

It really is like Marmite is Glee Club - you'll love it and come back for more each time or you'll never touch it with a 10 foot barge pole for as long as you live. I'm glad to report that my students unsurprisingly fell into the former category with myself. As Caron said in her piece, the comic singing interspersed with patriotic renditions (I led Glee Club in Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau and Cwn Rhondda!) and comedy turns from prominent Members of Parliament makes it an uniquely surreal experience for any first-timer. I also took slightly less clear photos of Paddy Ashdown (it's that man again!) whilst doing his (in) famous joke and also Party President Tim Farron whilst leading his rousing version of the Ting Ting's That's Not My Name which though only in its 3rd year is already becoming a cult classic!

Paddy Ashdown, one more time...
But I was destined to bump into our Paddy just one more time before I left. Whilst waiting for my interview for Radio Cymru on Wednesday morning, Paddy came down beside me to do an interview with Radio Wales. His with Ollie Hides began and Betsan Powys the BBC Wales Political Editor did all she could to stall the Welsh interview with me until the one being broadcast live a foot away from us came to an end. But time run out and we had to begin our Welsh interview despite the live 'interference' from the English interview alongside us! It's the first and probably the last time that I'll find myself going up against Paddy Ashdown!

So, the curtain came down on another conference. It was sad to leave because as I now rarely visit the spring weekend Federal conferences, this is often the only time of the year when I get to catch up with my extended British Liberal Democrat family in full. But at the same time, it is exhausting and I was more than ready to go home knowing that I had yet more anecdotes and stories to tell to the next generation of Liberal Democrat activists.

I'm ready for the Lib Dem conference, but is the Lib Dem conference ready for me?

The shambolic preparations for the 2011 Liberal Democrat conference in Birmingham continues.

With just 10 days to go, scores of members are still awaiting to be given their accreditation to attend. Many have already paid for their travel and accommodation but are currently in limbo. Others meanwhile have delayed the booking of such until they've got confirmation that they can attend which means they'll have to pay more for last minute accommodation and transport once the clearance has finally been given (if it is in fact given).

10 days to go and still not knowing what is happening? Taking away the issue of the principle at stake which is a seperate matter, the process that is currently dealing with delegates' registrations is proving cumbersome and unfit for purpose. It's madness. Pure and simple.

Proper Planning Prevents...
I had my accreditation e-mail last month and as a result have been able to confirm my arrangements.

I booked my hotel room at the Etap on a good recommendation from York's Nick Love a few months ago and I booked my train tickets last week. This for me is rather unheard of - even whilst everything else has fallen into place the weeks running up to a conference, I've never planned my transport so far in advance. But my very reasonably £29 priced return train tickets arrived in the post yesterday.

Ready for a trip to my Nirvana - Villa Park

I've also gone a step forward and taking the opportunity to buy myself two tickets for the Aston Villa Vs Newcastle match on the Saturday afternoon having not been to Villa Park for some 7 or 8 years. At a bargain £40 deal for both tickets, I'll be delighted to lap up the atmosphere of the Hotle End. The tickets likewise landed on my doormat this morning.

So I am ready for conference. But is conference ready for me? Clearly not. Because whilst I've been accredited (for which I suppose I should be thankful) and have received my first conference pack as I commented with some excitment at the time here, I am still waiting for my conference pass to arrive in the post along with the second conference pack. This is rather frustrating. Normally, both packs will have been posted out by the end of August but here I am with barely a week to go before my train leaves Aberystwyth and I'm still unable to plan the detail of my week because that second pack with information on conference fringe events and training opportunites is still lost somewhere in the ether.

Yes, I'm aware that this information is on-line but I'm a conference traditionalist. Just like with the Xmas edition of the Radio Times, I want the hard copy on my lap so I can circle all of those fringes and policy debates that I want to attend. I want to see the fringe clashes in black and white and have to work through which ones I'll attend and which ones I'll have to miss.

But I can't do that yet and that's frustrating.

For once, I'm completely ready for conference except, that conference isn't ready for me.

Lib Dem Blog of the Year 2011 Nominations

I've been a bit slow on this one what with Bank Holidays and birthdays and Council work, but thanks to a tip-off by Spiderplant Land, I have noticed that nominations for the Lib Dem Blog of the Year Awards 2011 have opened and close this Friday, 2nd September.

A number of readers of this blog have already told me that they've nominated me in the recent Total Politics Blog Awards which is madness but a very nice, fluffy and warm kind of madness all the same.

I remember keeping Steph Ashley company at her first conference in Brighton (was it as far back as 2007?!) and she was deadly excited to attend the BOTYs - the Lib Dem Blog of the Year Awards ceremony. I can recall gently scoffing at the thought as the whole idea of blogging had passed me by. But last September in Liverpool conference, just a week or so after I started blogging seriously, I did make a tentative first appearance in the BOTY Awards ceremony to put faces to illustrious names!

Since then, as I stated here in my blog just a few weeks ago, I have greatly enjoyed blogging during these past 12 months.

The 2011 Lib Dem BOTY Award categories are:

• Best new Liberal Democrat blog (started since 1st September 2010)
• Best blog from a Liberal Democrat holding public office (The Tim Garden Award)
• Best use of blogging / social networking / e-campaigning by a Liberal Democrat
• Best posting on a Liberal Democrat blog (since 1st September 2010)
• Best non-Liberal Democrat politics blog
• Liberal Democrat Blog of the Year

Up to 3 Nominations per category can be made and they need to be e-mailed to helen@libdemvoice.org.

I've just cast my nominations for the blogs that I have enjoyed reading over the past year and for Lib Dem minded readers out there, if you haven't done so yet, I would encourage you to do so as well. The only one that I will mention by name now is that of my blogging mentor Andrew Reeves who I nominated for Blog of the Year in recognition of his blogging before his untimely death recently.

If you feel that my little addition to the blogosphere merits a nod in any of the categories above, then it would be great for you to do by nominating them to the e-mail address above.

A Gareth Epps Sized Lib Dem Conference Security Farce

I've been following with some incredulity this evening an astonishing exchange of messages on Facebook between Gareth Epps and the Chair of the Liberal Democrat Federal Conference Committee (FCC), Andrew Wiseman.

A few days ago, I received an e-mail that said:

"Dear Mark, just to confirm, we have received information from Greater Manchester Police that you have been successfully accredited for the upcoming Liberal Democrat Autumn Conference 2011. Your conference pass will be posted to you in September".

My e-mail response to the Lib Dem conference office was this:

"It's good to know. I was worried my past in the Colombian rainforests would come back to bite me. Maybe next year?"

The additional security measures at this year's conference has been met with hostility by a great number of long-standing liberals who deem the illiberal measures enacted for this September's Birmingham conference as a front against our civil liberties.

I sympathise with the sentiment and feel that having been a regular voting conference attendee, as designated by my local party for nearly a decade now, the concept of being 'checked out' by the police to ensure that I am suitable to attend is pretty demeaning.

But then I suppose I should count my blessings because at least I've been given permission to attend.

Gareth Epps
The same can not be said for many long-standing members who have had difficulties with their accreditation. Despite having paid for accommodation and planned for travel months in advance, delegates are now facing the uncertainty of whether they can attend or not.

Gareth Epps

More so, hundreds of already paid-up delegates are still awaiting news from Greater Manchester Police and are therefore in a state of limbo with only 2 weeks to go.

Gareth Epps is one of those in the former category and anyone who knows him realises what a ludicrous situation this is. Andrew Wiseman the FCC Chair has reacted on Gareth's Facebook wall tonight in a very matter of fact way which has not helped matters. Complaints that Gareth hasn't been sending the right passport style photo through to the conference office is missing the point entirely. Gareth Epps is a long-standing and well known Liberal Democrat activist, Federal Committee member and PPC (and nearly an MP in Reading for his efforts). He's opinionated, passionate in his views and is also very importantly, a keen member of the conference Glee Club.

Gareth Epps you could almost say is your stereotypical Liberal Democrat conference delegate for crying out loud and he's being refused entry now not only apparently by the police but by our own conference committee! If this can happen to someone like Gareth Epps who has the stomach to raise his voice and fight back against the authorities and these draconian measures, what about the quieter members who may not be so confident to challenge these dubious decisions? How many delegates may end up missing the conference because of these ill-conceived measures?

It is a complete and utter bloody farce.

Andrew Wiseman and his committee need to sort this out with a cold, sharp dose of common sense. If the likes of Gareth aren't able to enter conference, there'll be a blood-bath on the conference floor in the debate on this very issue on Sunday morning and it will be the members of the FCC that will be scrapped off the walls.

What's that coming over the hill? Is it a Conference? A Lib Dem Conference?

Oh yes it is.

I can't pretend that I wasn't ever so slightly excited when I saw the big brown package waiting for me in the post on Friday morning. I've been waiting for it for a few days now and what it signifies is that we are now on the cusp of the autumn party conference season.

I explained quite comprehensively here last September, why I enjoy attending Liberal Democrat conferences so much.

It really does feel like a family environment to me. Politics is an intense environment and it is comforting at times to be in the likeminded company of those who believe in the same values as yourself. I commented here about that growing Lib Dem family of mine after I attended Andrew Reeves' memorial service in London last month.

33 Lib Dem Conferences...and counting...
By my reckoning, this will be my 34th Liberal Democrat conference in a shade under 10 years since my first conference in Manchester in the Spring of 2002.

I have attended 19 Welsh conferences in that time (including the special conference in 2007 to discuss the formation of a possible Rainbow Assembly Coalition with Plaid Cymru and the Conservatives). Indeed, since my first Welsh Liberal Democrat conference in Llandudno in the Spring of 2002, I have been an ever present apart from the autumn conference in Llandrindod Wells in 2004. In addition, I have attended 14 Federal conferences including every major autumn conference since my first in Brighton in 2003.

Birmingham 2011
So my first venture to a conference in Birmingham will by 15th at a UK-wide level. The pre-conference documentation arrives in two seperate batches - firstly the agenda and policy papers in early August and then at the end of the month, the Conference Directory and Training Guide.

The good news begins merely in the fact that the first pack arrived in the first place. The added security arrangements this year have caused great controversy amongst the rank-and-file and the new hoops that had to be lept through to register was quite off-putting. So the fact that pack 'A' has arrived means that my mamouth attempt to register on-line was not in vain!

I have also already booked into central and more than reasonably priced accommodation for the week so I'm all set for the trip.

I will have to wait for pack 'B' to arrive to plan my whole week around fringe events, training events and policy debates but the first glimpse at the agenda brings a number of very interesting topics to the fore.

The Agenda - Policy Debates & Speeches
The fact that we're now in Government means that our debates mean so much more than they did when we were in opposition. The result of the NHS debate in the Sheffield spring conference led to a change on Government tack on changes to the health service - a clear sign that having the Liberal Democrats in government is helping to moderate the worst excesses of the Conservative Party.

A significant debate on late Sunday afternoon titled 'Protecting Individuals and Communities from Drug Harms' will see the party debate a call for a government-backed inquiry into the decriminalisation of drugs as reported here on the BBC website and as Steph Ashley excellently comments on here in what is a welcome return to blogging after a 9 month hiatus.

Another debate which I expect to find overwhelming support amongst delegates will be the one on Tuesday morning titled 'Science Not Stigma: Ending the Blood Ban' which will focus the fire on the Blood Service for refusing to take blood donations from homosexual men who practise safe sex when hetrosexual men and women who have had unprotected sex can give blood after just one year. With blood stocks running low, this is a scandal.

I'm also looking forward to the 'Community Politics' debate later that same day which will reaffirm the party's commitment to a form of bottom-up politics that has stood it in good stead for some 40 years. This is more important now than ever before since we've become entwined with difficult decision making in Westminster. The Ceredigion Liberal Democrat local party were one of the many who jointly put it forward alongside Party President Tim Farron. I will also take great interest in the debates on 'phone hacking and the Arab Awakening.

Finally, to go back to my earlier barb about the additional security measures introduced by the police for this now Government influencing conference, I will take great interest in the Sunday morning debate on these changes and the attempt by the grass-roots to rest its conference back from the contol of the apparatchiks. I rather wish them well in their attempt and will have my voting card on the day to make my individual mark in this and all of the other debates which I have mentioned above and more.

In addition, there will be the keynote speech by Nick Clegg to close conference but also a Q&A session with him in which party members can ask what they like without any pre-warning. There'll be speeches by Vince Cable and Chris Huhne which I will also want to hear as well as one by Steve Webb MP the Minister for Pensions (a particularly important issue for me representing as I am an area with a high proporition of elderly residents). I'll be looking forward also to Kirsty Williams' speech as our Welsh leader on the final day following what will also be a very interesting Q&A session on international affairs with amongst others, Paddy Ashdown.

So there's much going on but the above is a mere drop in the ocean of what will be occurring during the course of those 5 days in Birmingham.

I can't wait for pack 'B' to arrive in the coming weeks for me to complete my plans. But come what may, I have a particular plan for the Saturday afternoon - I'm off to Villa Park to watch my boys take on Newcastle! Well, kill two birds with one stone and all that!

Lib Dem By-Election WIN!

Yes, you read that right.

The Liberal Democrats in Ceredigion today won a by-election in Aberystwyth. It will not have been highlighted on the major election blogs because it was not a unitary vacancy on the County Council. But a victory in the Rheidol Ward by-election for Aberystwyth Town Council is nevertheless a welcome thing.

The by-election was called when former Liberal Democrat Town Councillor Martin Shewring resigned from the party and from the Town Council recently but decided to stand in the ensuing by-election as an Independent.

Tonight, he lost as the Liberal Democrat candidate Wendy Morris-Twiddy, the daughter of former Aberystwyth Mayor Mona Morris, won the seat back for the Liberal Democrats.

The final vote:

Timothy Foster (Green Party) - 36
Samantha Jane Mackenzie-Grieve (Plaid Cymru) - 57
Wendy Elizabeth Morris-Twiddy (Welsh Liberal Democrats) - 135
Martin Shewring (Independent) - 108

Spoilt - 2

Majority - 28

Well done to Wendy and to the Liberal Democrat team in Aberystwyth - a sterling effort!

Lembit Opik Apologises for Mick Bates Slur

Earlier this morning, Peter Black AM led a justified attack on Lembit Opik for accusing his former Welsh Assembly Montgomeryshire colleague Mick Bates of being the reason why he lost his Montgomeryshire seat back in May last year. Peter's angry riposte can be read here.

Mick Mates and Lembit Opik in happier times

During the course of the day, Lembit has responded by refuting the rebuttal information that was put out on his behalf as a part of his London Mayoral campaign by claiming that it was published without his authority, presumably by a member of his campaign team. His reply for the Western Mail can be read here.

In a comment to Peter's initial post, a former member of Lembit's Montgomeryshire constituency staff puts up a legitimate defence for his former employer and goes on to state why he will lose the nomination for the Mayoralty.

In Paul's own words...

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"Lembit will lose the nomination to be the party's candidate in London like he did the 2008 Presidency, not because there is a better more well suited candidate (that's a debate for another time), but because he's chosen to surround himself by a small group of friends (namely Eric Joyce) who tell him what he wants to hear and do as he says, none of whom are experienced in campaigning, messaging, strategy & direction or communications all of something you need if you want to win. None of these people have the guts to stand up turn the problem around and say, "look we've got a problem here, if we want to win, we need to do this, this and that."

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Paul knows his stuff so I'll take his word for it. The named individual I think is actually Ed Joyce and he has been denounced on Lib Dem message boards over the past 36 hours for the way in which he responds to every slight on Lembit's character.

Is it he who has apparently written this rebuttal piece without Lembit's say-so or somebody else? Whoever it may be, Lembit needs to sort it and his media strategy out before his campaign is blown to pieces before it's even out of the blocks.

My Weird and Wonderful Lib Dem Family

It's been a long weekend away in London.

The primary reason for my visit was to attend Andrew Reeves' Memorial Service in the Union Chapel, Islington, yesterday afternoon. I blogged about my long trip to pay my respects at his Edinburgh funeral last month and I wanted to do the same with his friends in London at his memorial service.

As I rarely visit London more than once a year and hadn't done so since last summer, I took this sad reason for a visit to clear my diary and to make a long weekend stay of it to catch up with old friends. What it has reminded me is that I am a very fortunate person in that as well as having my own family here in west Wales and my family of University friends, I also have a full-on pseudo-family of Liberal Democrats who span the length and breadth of Britain and it is a family that continues to grow.

The Aberystwyth Link
I arrived in London on the National Express from Swansea at 5pm on Saturday and met up as planned with old Aberystwyth University Liberal Democrat friends Alistair Mills, Jo Gudgeon and Beth Fullana at their home in Clapham where I stayed the night. They shared a house in Aberystwyth back in 2005 and 6 years later, are recently back doing the same again! I'd stayed with Alistair and Jo at their previous Clapham address back in 2009 but I hadn't seen Beth since she graduated so it was great to see them all together again and it felt as if nothing had changed from those golden Mark Williams campaigning days of 2004/2005 which resulted, with help from this great gang, in Mark's election to Parliament that May.

It got even better because I then met with more old faces from the same era as their close friends Simon Columb and his partner Sarah Meadows happened to be celebrating their mutual birthdays on that same night as I was in town. I was invited along and it was great to see them again (Simon has a really good film blog at http://screeninsight.blogspot.com/ for those who are interested) and also another member of the gang, Kaff Cornwall. After a meal by Clapham Common, we went on to the local club 'Infernos' where by sheer randon chance, we bumped into another Aber Lib Dem alumni Malcolm James who I last saw in Brussels when he was working with NATO back in 2007 - he's now working with the MoD. The chances of randomly seeing him on the dance floor of a club in Clapham must be up there with winning the Euromillions. Absolutely staggering but brilliant all the same!

Lib Dems Nation-wide
The Aberystwhyth link continued because on Sunday and Monday evening, I stayed with great mate and fellow Welsh Liberal Democrat Sarah Green and her fiance Luke Croydon in Shepherd's Bush as I have also done before. We used to share a house togeher with other friends in what was my 5th and final year as a student in Aberystwyth (again, that fateful year of 2004/2005) in the Trefechan area of town.

Before I checked in with her and Luke for the evening and a pub quiz with their friends (in which we came a frustratingly decent but could've been better 3rd place), I'd spent much of the day with another good Liberal Democrat friend Hywel ap Dafydd who has been unwell recently and who I visited in University College Hospital near Euston. I've known Hywel as a fellow Pembrokeshire lad but who has spent much of his time around the country helping the party in numerous by-elections and also particularly in London and Bristol. My fondest memory of Hywel is when he accidentally locked himself in the HQ toilet on the day of the Blaenau Gwent by-election some years back. Much of our time on that day was taken up by trying to get Hywel out of that toilet!!

On Monday, I met up at Trafagar Square with good friend Anders Hanson who is now a top bod at ALDC but who has worked in his time for Nick Clegg, Chris Huhne and also as the Mid & West Wales regional organiser back in the 2003 Assembly election campaign, based in our Ceredigion office on North Parade. It was then, as a young and keen student member that I first met him and it was nice to catch up with him over lunch before Andrew's memorial service.

Andrew Reeves' Lib Dem Family
It was an excellent turnout at Andrew's memorial service for his partner Roger and I have re-produced photos of the order of service in this blog post to show off what was a brilliant pink theme for the occasion (to which I added my brand of colour with pink-ish shirt and pink-ish tie). I'm sure Andrew would've been bemused at the spectacle but would've chuckled away at the same time. Neil Fawcett blogged here of his recollections of Andrew which sum up the man as well as anyone did in the service itself.

Caron Lindsay has also blogged here about the service itself and I can't add any more to what she said other than that it showed just how strong we are as a party. It was Simon Hughes who said (I'm pretty sure) that it is at sad occasions such as this, that we show that we're not just a party, but a family.

His words particularly rang true to me as we all raised a drink in Andrew's memory afterwards in the chapel bar (yes, you read that correctly!). I bumped into Pete Dollimore there and we caught up briefly and I noted that I only ever saw him at the bar in conference and now here we were, at a bar, at a wake. It was all slightly surreal and so it continued. Seeing good colleagues who I have not seen in some time like former Aberystwyth student Adrian Smith, top trainer-extraoinnaire Candy Piercy, Sally Burnell who I hadn't seen since she worked in Cardiff back in 2003 (full marks to her for picking me out of a crowd because I'm hopeless at such things!), Grace Goodlad and Duncan Borrowman who I also haven't seen in a long time (but who I recall first meeting as a couple when Duncan led a Pageplus artwork designing course in Cardiff back in around 2006) as well as those who I have seen more recently in conferences such as Rhiannon Wadeson and Chris Leaman, Austin Rathe and Katy Riddle, Lucy Watt and Laura Gilmore as well as countless others from across the country emphasised the point more than words could express.

Because, we are a family. We don't always get on with each other, there's often disagreements and arguments but there's a common bond that ties us all together. We all happen to believe that a liberal progressive Britain is the kind that we'd like for future generations and we have all made the decision back in our mutual lives, that the best way to bring about this positive change is through the Liberal Democrats. Like a family, we see it through the good times and also (quite aptly at present) through the challenging times. Like a family, we are so spread out around the country that we often only see each other at weddings or funerals and in our case also of course, conferences. We're a rag-bag of oddities with our quirks, our annoyances, our hobbies and our passions.

Most of all, like a family, we're there for each other in times of need and it was in that kindred spirit of mutual support and care that we gathered at Andrew's funeral in Edinburgh and again yesterday, at his Memorial Servce in London.

I'm sure that Andrew was proud of his weird and wonderful Lib Dem family and this weekend has proved to me if it didn't need proving already, that I am likewise incredibly and fiercely proud to be a small part of this wonderful extended family.

A Parrott in the Welsh Assembly!

That's Eluned Parrott, the Welsh Assembly's newest member, of course!

After what has been a fraught few months for the Welsh Liberal Democrats, culminating in the vote on Aled Roberts' re-instatment to the Assembly yesterday, I think it's time as a naturally glass half-full type, to accentuate the positive.

Eluned Parrott AM

Eluned Parrott AM

Few outside of Welsh Liberal Democrat circles are likely to have been aware of Eluned before her sudden elevation to the Assembly as she swore her oath yesterday as John Dixon's replacement. But this excellent article from today's Western Mail shows that she has bags of experience not only in the real world as a community engagement manager at Cardiff University but also, as a mother of two young children.

As a young 30 something with worldy experience, she has a particular passion for education and will be an excellent addition to Kirsty Williams' team in Cardiff Bay.

An essential character trait as she enters the Assembly alongside Peter Black and that collection of ties, will be a sense of humour! But we're ok because as Eluned herself explained when saying that she enjoys sport, she "is a very poor cricket player" but I'm nevertheless confident that she'll be bowling a few googlies towards her political opponents over the years to come!

Good luck Eluned. The Welsh Assembly's South Wales Central region, comprising as it does the constituencies of Cardiff Central, Cardiff North, Cardiff South and Penarth, Cardiff West, Cynon Valley, Pontypridd, Rhondda and the Vale of Glamorgan are I'm confident, in safe and capable hands.

Natural Justice for Aled Roberts AM

It's been a tough day.

I've not long returned from the funeral of a close family friend who will be dearly missed by everyone who knew her.

I at least returned to the good news that Aled Roberts has been re-instated to the Welsh Assembly after a vote by his fellow Assembly Members (including the newly elected Eluned Parrott AM).

The Elias Report, without saying so in so many words, exonerated him from any blame for the mess that has surrounded the Assembly over the past two months. It was clear for any reasonable person, that natural justice should be served and that the error made by the Electoral Commission should be expunged by this vote.


Aled Roberts AM



Whilst I'm delighted that he won the simple majority necessary, I can not comprehend how 20 of his colleagues still voted against him. The final score after a free vote, was 30 in favour, 20 against and 3 abstentions. The tally sheet can be found here.

Of those who voted against, 14 were from the Labour ranks and 6 from the Conservative benches. I am personally disappointed that Labour's Llanelli AM Keith Davies voted against as I'd heard that he was going to vote in favour. I also feel let down by the Conservative interim leader Paul Davies' vote against having previously spoken high of him in the past in this blog.

It's interesting that of the 3 that abstanined, two of them were Plaid Cymru's leadership possibilities Elin Jones and Simon Thomas. They were joined by Labour's Huw Lewis. My comment here is why abstain? If you're bloody stupid enough to vote against then so be it. But abstain? Can't you make up your mind on the issue one way or the other?

Either way, for those who did the right thing in voting back into the Assembly a decent and honourable human being, they have my great respect. For those who didn't, they have gone down in my estimation.

An Honourable Decision - John Dixon Stands Down

Welsh Liberal Democrat leader Kirsty Williams AM, has just made this announcement with regards to the 'Lib Dem 2':

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“Tomorrow, Assembly Members will be asked to consider whether it is proper to lift the disqualification of Aled Roberts and John Dixon. The advice of Gerard Elias QC enables them to do so with regard to the facts of each case.

“The Elias report treats each case differently, since the circumstances are very different.

“In the case of Aled Roberts, Gerard Elias has confirmed that ‘at each stage of his selection and nomination process, Aled Roberts followed the guidance provided to him by the Electoral Commission and mirrored on the National Assembly website’. He also confirms that the information provided to him referred him to incorrect guidance. Finally, he says that he finds that ‘Aled Roberts did eveything that he could reasonably been expected to do in ensuring that he was not a disqualified person.’

“Gerard Elias also deals with the fact that the guidance offered to Aled Roberts in the medium of Welsh was incorrect and states that ‘he was entitled to assume that the Welsh version would mirror the English version at all times and in every respect.’

“I would like to welcome the statement by the Electoral Commission who have acknowleged their error and offered an apology.

“It is clear that this is a case of enormous importance to the future of the equality of the Welsh language, to the reputation of the Assembly and to Welsh devolution. I will do everything I can to perasuade colleagues that Aled Roberts should take his rightful place in the Assembly. Based on the contents of the Elias report, it is hard to see how any reasonable person could conclude otherwise.

John Dixon

“In the case of John Dixon, Gerard Elias concludes that “he honestly believed that he was eligible to be a member of the National Assembly”. However, he also concludes that he had a responsibility to check the Order but did not do so. I have already accepted the responsibility that the Welsh Liberal Democrats share in this failiure.

“It has always been my view that the disqualification of both men should be lifted. Whatever the rights and wrongs of either case, to impose a ban on either from taking up their seats represents a punishment out of proportion to any error made.

“However, given that Gerard Elias’ report makes clear that the responsiblity to check the Order rested with John Dixon, I do not believe that there is any likelihood of a majority of Assembly Members being persuaded to disregard the disqualification.

“It is with huge regret therefore that the Welsh Liberal Democrats, with John’s agreement, have decided to withdraw the motion to disregard the disqualification of John Dixon.

“John has already served the public diligently and with distinction on Cardiff Council. I have no doubt that would have been an enormously effective and hard working Assembly Member. He is paying a very high price for his mistake. It is personal tragedy for him and I desperately wish that it were different. But I cannot change the facts any more than I can change the opinions of Assembly Members.

“I hope now that Assembly Members will now be able to focus on the case of Aled Roberts and ensure that justice is done.”

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It is with great regret that it has come to this as John Dixon would've made a fine Assembly Member. The fact that the WLGA leader Cllr John Davies said as much during the recent WLGA conference speaks volumes.

Eluned Parrott

I think that John has made an extremely honourable decision to fall on his sword at this point instead of forcing it through to a vote in the Assembly Chamber tomorrow afternoon. It was a mistake that was made that brought about this situation but not one that would've brought any financial gain. We are all human and this is a personal tragedy for John and for the South Wales Central region because he would've served its residents with great distinction.

He and the region are at least blessed in the knowledge that he will be replaced with Eluned Parrott who I know will be an excellent replacement. Married and with a young family, Eluned will be a new personaility within the Assembly Chamber and I know that she will do her region and her party, proud.

Aled Roberts

Aled Roberts

This leaves us with the morale battle to re-instate Aled Roberts to the Assembly tomorrow afternoon.

As Kirsty has said in her statement, the report shows that Aled was innocent of any wrong-doing and that it was the Electoral Commission's error that brought about this regretable situation.

That criticial line again in the report:

"Aled Roberts did eveything that he could reasonably been expected to do in ensuring that he was not a disqualified person".

As Kirsty added: "Based on the contents of the Elias report, it is hard to see how any reasonable person could conclude otherwise".

Dear Lembit Opik, With All Due Respect, Your Opinion Doesn't Matter Here Anymore.

I've been away for a few days at the WLGA conference in Swansea. On my return, I found to my consternation this BBC Wales website article in which Lembit Opik stuck his oar into the 'Lib Dem Assembly 2' debate.

With the news yesterday that the police have found no reason to continue with their investigation, it is now hoped that AMs will vote on the issue of revoking Aled Roberts and John Dixon's expulsion from the Assembly next Wednesday.

It has been a frought number of weeks for the party in Wales and undoubtedly so for Aled and John as their political careers have hung in the balance due to the technicalities that has seen their elections questioned.

Lembit Wades In

The Welsh Liberal Democrat party and its leader Kirsty Williams has in my mind, responded well under what has been immense pressure since the news broke. It is quite right in my mind that they concentrate their efforts on ensuring that Aled and John are given every opportunity to resume their seats in Cardiff Bay.

As the Welsh Liberals Democrats have said: "...her priority was to make sure that Aled Roberts and John Dixon were treated fairly and justly".

It doesn't help when fallen names like Lembit decide to give their tup'pence worth of opinion on the matter.

How much political stock does he think he still has within the Welsh Liberal Democrats let alone within the Welsh political arena more generally? After the way he threw away one of the safest of liberal constituencies when he lost his Montgomeryshire seat last year, his words need to be taken with a great pinch of salt.

This remember is a seat that elected a Liberal / Liberal Democrat MP between 1880-1979 and between 1983-2010 - that's for 126 of the last 130 years. Although I'm sure Lembit wouldn't accept this himself and indeed I gather he doesn't, there is no doubt in my mind that the seat was lost because of his antics. The residents of Montgomeryshire, like here in Ceredigion, like hard-working grounded Members of Parliament who put the constituency first. That's why Mark Williams increased a 219 majority in 2005 to an astounding 8,324 in 2010. Lembit in latter years, was more likely to be seen on the TV or in the glossy magazines - giving the impression that his own stardom was of greater importance than serving his constituents.

So it grates to see him embroil himself in this unfortunate predicament.

What really grates is the fact that he states "I'm asking Kirsty now through your programme..."

No, Lembit. If you've got something to say, say it to Kirsty yourself instead of pandering to the press for more attention.

As the Welsh Liberal Democrat response read: "It's odd that Lembit's helpful advice has been offered through the media rather than directly".

"The Liberal Democrats are focused on making sure that Aled Roberts and John Dixon are able to take up their seats as quickly as possible and this strategy is widely endorsed by party members active in Wales."

Oh and whilst you're at it Lembit, if you're serious about being the Liberal Democrat Mayoral candidate for London, maybe you should concentrate on that?

On which matter, I've heard that Mike Tuffrey is a very good candidate. I wish him well.

A Service in Memory of Andrew Reeves

It's been an emotional rollercoaster couple of days.

When Jon Aylwin notified me on Tuesday that Andrew Reeves' funeral was to be on Friday, something in me said that I should go. As I stated in my blog after his shock, sudden death, it wasn't that I knew him that well but that I knew him well enough and respected him to feel it only right to make the journey to Edinburgh to show my support to the community of friends and family who have been left utterly devastated at his untimely early passing.

So within the space of 48 hours, Jon Aylwin and I planned our road trip north and accommodation in an Edinburgh halls of residence for the Thursday night. I made my way from Cardigan to Shrewsbury via Aberystwyth on Thursday morning where I met up with Jon who drove up from Cardiff.

Travelling north, it was already a mixture of emotions that I felt as I made my way towards a city that I love but that I hadn't visited for some 7 years. I've always been a big fan of Edinburgh having visited there several times but not since 2004 and I had mixed feelings on making the return under such sad circumstances.

Added to the poignancy of the trip north was the fact that Thursday, June 9th, was the 8th anniversary of my father's death in 2003.

Old Friends and New

We arrived in good time at 6.30pm to check into our rooms overlooking Arthurs Seat before making our way to the city centre to meet up with old friends and new at 7.30pm. We toasted Andrew's memory and shared stories of a life which had touched us all. It was particularly nice to meet up with old Aberystwyth University friend Heather Stitt who now lives in Leith who I hadn't seen in 6 years. We really can't leave it so long before we meet again. It was also nice to meet up with Scottish Lib Dems who I knew but who I had never met in person such as Caron Lindsay. In all, it was nice to be able to prepare ourselves for the day ahead with an evening amongst Lib Dem friends in the capital.

A Service in Memory
Yesterday morning saw an increased gathering as the majority of those attending Andrew's service were travelling up on the day.

It was great to meet up with old friends from the campaigns department who had like us, travelled the length and breadth of Britain to pay our respects to Andrew and we all made our way to the crematorium for the 2pm service.

Jokes were shared and there moments of laughter but then, suddenly, Andrew's hearse pulled up in front of the building and it suddenly hit me. Adorned with his adopted namesake's country's flag of St Andrew, seeing the coffin was heartbreaking.

But whilst there were tears of sorrow, there were tears of laughter to as the service remembered so well a life that was fully lived and a man who was well loved. It was a very apt service for Andrew in a packed room of some 150 friends and family. We entered with the Pet Shop Boys' Always on My Mind and we had music from Take That (The Flood) and Lady Gaga (The Edge of Glory and Born This Way). The Secretary of State for Scotland, Michael Moore, gave a pitch perfect tribute which made us laugh and made us fondly recall all that Andrew had achieved both for himself and for others.

After the service, after some confusion about the venue for the wake, a good gang of us congregated at the All Bar One bar on George St where we had also met the previous evening. It was an opportunity to raise a final toast to a man who will be deeply missed by all who knew him.

After saying our goodbyes at 4pm, Jon and I set off on the long road-trip back south and I bought a copy of the Herald which had a lovely obituary to Andrew, written by Graeme Littlejohn. After 7 hours, Jon and I were back in Cardiff at 11.30pm last night having travelled a combined total of over 1,000 miles by car and train to be where we both knew we needed to be on Friday.

It was a desperately sad occasion but one which was made easier by the wonderful support that Andrew and in his absence his partner Roger, received from their extended Liberal Democrat family from across the country.

No doubt if Andrew was looking down at us all, he'd have Tweeted, 'what's all the fuss about'?

My Blogging Mentor - RIP Andrew Reeves

I was on the train on my way to Swansea on Friday morning when I heard the news via Facebook. At first, I thought that I'd got my wires crossed and that there must be two Andrew Reeves because the truth of the situation was so incredulous that it surely couldn't be true.

My Blogging Mentor -
Andrew Reeves

But unfortunately, it is and his position within the party was such that it merited this BBC News article on this sad news. To die aged just 43 of a heart attack and just months after his civil partnership with Roger is just heartbreaking.

Like Anders Hanson said of Andrew in his blog, it would usually only be at Liberal Democrat conferences that I would see him and though I didn't know him that well, he was nevertheless someone who I looked up to in the party.

The outpouring of grief on social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook demonstrates just how popular and well liked Andrew was. Through his many years of work for the party in England to his life in his current role as Director of Campaigns for the Scottish Liberal Democrats, he engendered loyalty from those who knew him.

Andrew Reeves Running Blog
My particular connection with Andrew was via this very thing that I'm doing now - blogging.

For years I poured gentle ridicule on bloggers but I must admit that since I fully embraced the medium back in September. I have enjoyed it greatly.

Throughout that time, there are certain bloggers and blogs that I have followed more than others. One of those was Andrew Reeves' Running Blog. It always mixed well his interest in politics with all of his other life passions. What I particularly liked was how he had so fully embraced his adopted city's Ice Hockey team. I'm a Cardiff Devils fan on the quiet and despite the fact that the Edinburgh Capitals languished at the bottom of the Elite League, Andrew still supported them avidly and would report back their progress to us on his blog.

The fact that there was clearly more to him than just the politics endeared me to him. In my blogging, I have also tried to demonstrate my many and various passions in a readable and user-friendly way in the same manner as Andrew successively did.

As well as enjoying Andrew's blog and his style of writing, he was also of much support to me when I began blogging properly back in September. For a relative newbie to blogging, I had many technical questions that needed answering and I knew that I could always send Andrew a message on Facebook and he would helpfully reply and encourage my progress. He was all to happy to offer support and it was greatly appreciated. I also copied some of the trademarks that he had on his blog. For example, his was the only blog that I have seen which had a 'Map Counter' on the front page, showing readers how many people have visited the site from different countries from around the world. As a geographic geek on the side, I thought this was brilliant and on asking him where I had to go to download this application, he told me and the same counter now sits on my blog.

So Andrew was a great help to me and in many regards, he was my blogging mentor. I would visit his blog on most days and everything he said always came across in a balanced, reasoned, belieavable and passionate manner.

Everyone who knew him knows that we are all at a loss without him. His sudden death is a great shock to us all and I personally, still can't quite believe and comprehend it. Looking back on his blog, it was less than 48 hours before he was cruely taken away from us that he was blogging about the E-Coli outbreak in Europe and the need to ban the import of cucumbers from Spain as a result.

Now, he's gone and his blog will not be updated from that final entry. It is just mind-bogingly difficult to think that someone with such a zest for life, could be taken away from us so suddenly and without warning.

To show my appreciation to Andrew, I have changed the header to my blog in his memory. His encouragement played a large part in my decision to blog seriously and the example he set with his is one that I have endeavoured to follow and will continue to do so in the future. This gesture will remind me of his support for as long as I continue to blog.

Rest in peace Andrew and thank you for being such a kind and genuine human being.

Nick Clegg: Missing in Action?

So, after the abysmal local election results last Thursday, Nick Clegg today used the first anniversary of the forming of the coalition government in Westminster to announce that there would be a more "muscular liberalism" on show to demonstrate "the real Lib Dem input" at the heart of the of the Coalition Government in London.

Most supporters and members will no doubt welcome this more forthright announcement and expression of intent, but it does beg the question...where has Nick been for the past 365 days?

Goodbye No.4 Cowley St - Will the last person to leave please turn out the lights.

I suppose it was on the cards.

As revealed on Liberal Democrat Voice here on Saturday, the Liberal Democrats are in the middle of confirming a move from its only home since meger in 1988, to a new HQ in the heart of Westminster, this summer.

With the loss of the opposition cushioned 'short money' and with the badly handled news of a change in the campaigns structure of the party in recent weeks, it is not particularly surprising to hear that there will be a change to a new office - one which it must be said, looks set to be in a more modern setting than the one which was laid out over 5 floors in the old HQ.

A New History

But we are looking at a significant change in the history of the Liberal Democrats.


No.4 Cowley St - Liberal Democrat HQ since 1988

The party have been based at No.4 Cowley St since the merger of the old Liberal Party and the SDP in 1988. It was the base of the old SDP who leased the building in the early 1980s whilst the Liberal Party was based in the Natonal Liberal Club.

Now, after some 25+ years as the HQ for either the SDP or the Liberal Democrats, the lights are to be switched off for a final time.

I can only recall visiting Cowley St on one occasion. It was probably sometime around 2004-2006 and it was for a campaigns training course in the Board Room on the first floor (if my memory serves me correctly). It struck me as being a great big town house and yet I was still ever-so-slightly in awe of being there, knowing of the part in liberal and British political history that it represented.

But history can not hold us back. The Conservatives moved from their historic Smith Square HQ in 2004 having been there since 1958. After 3 years in Victoria St, they moved to No.30 Millbank in 2007.

We need a modern HQ and a move to Great George St, within a stones throw of Westminster and opposite the Treasury, will ensure that the party remains at the centre of Westminster political life.

'Bloody Cowley St'  'Bloody George St'
It seems now then that for years to come, the old membership gripes at the on-goings and doings at 'Cowley St' is to be replaced no doubt with the same old complaints at 'George St'.

My best wishes to everyone as they make this historic move.

An AV Referendum Battering? Good.

I don't mean for the heading of this blog post to signify my pleasure at the core result of the AV referendum last Friday. Indeed, as with any other progressive, forward-thinking individual, I hoped for a Yes vote so that we could at last move incrementally forwards towards a fairer voting system and finally get rid of the First Past the Post system that is unfit for the 21st century.

But it was clear as D-Day approached that the portents all pointed towards a poor result. But whilst the last opinion polls showed a 2:1 feeling against, no-one surely must've realised that far from over-estimating the sentiment to keep the staus quo, they actually under-estimated it with 7 out of 10 voters saying a resounding NO to electoral reform last Thursday.

Discredited Campaigns
The No campaign was nothing short of a disgrace. The lies that they peddled were shocking. Yet, the Yes campaign retaliated poorly and could not get the positive message of why a Yes vote was needed across to a sceptical public. This undermined the hard work being put in by volunteers across the country who faithfully put their all into getting a Yes vote.

What irked me most was that locally, all I got through my door was the No Freepost - no sign of an equivalent from the Yes campaign. If this was all many people read of the campaign, who should be surprised that they overwhelmingly voted No?

I for one spoke to residents on the door-step during the Assembly campaign and put across the positive reasons for why we needed a Yes vote and I made sure that all of the literature that we put out had this positive message on it too. But with what seemed like the bare bones of a Welsh campaigning infrastructure for the Yes vote, it was never going to be enough.

Who's to blame?
Clearly, and hindsight is a wonderful thing, the referendum should've been seperate from the other polls on that day. Only a handful of Council areas voted yes and many of these were in London where it happened to be the only poll of the day. Did linking it onto English Council and Welsh Assembly/Scottish Parliamentary elections work? Clearly not. It meant that those who voted were doing so through the prism of the local and national political scene and with the No camp linking it to Nick Clegg, this was always going to make it more difficult to win.

Holding the referendum on a seperate day would've made it easier to concentrate on the central questions themslves. But what is done is done.

At the end of the day, I'm glad that it was lost so convincingly. That's not to take anything away from those who worked tirelessly for a positive result, but points to the fact that AV really was the 'squalid little compromise' that Nick Clegg had called it before the General Election last year. Do I blame Nick Clegg? On putting it on the same day as the other elections, maybe - but as I said before, hindsight is a wonderful thing. On the question of it being a referendum only on AV and not on the PR alternatives, certainly not. Anyone who now blames the Liberal Democrats for only being able to achieve a referendum on AV and nothing more substantial are living in cloud cuckoo-land. The fact that Nick Clegg was able to get a referendum on changing the electoral system through the Conservative Party as a part of the coalition negotiations is a remarkable achievement in itself. There was no chance of getting the Conservative Party or indeed the House of Commons to agree on a referendum for a proportional alternative - the numbers just weren't there. Indeed, it is the half of the Labour Party that opposed the change that should hang their heads in shame. Call yourself progressives? Hypocritic dinosaurs more like.

Thanks to the Liberal Democrats, we got a chance at last to move away from FPTP but in the end, and for all of the reasons mentioned above and more, it was answered with a resounding no.

Next?
Fine. If that's what the people of Britain said then that's what they'll get. No more complaints now about wasted votes and jobs for life - it's what the country wanted.

What then for the concept of AV? Well, at a national level, it will now be confined to the dust-bin of British electoral history. Such a resounding defeat for this particular system means it can never again be put forward to the British public in another referendum - one of the reasons why if it was going to be lost, the referendum may as well have been lost big-time.

What then of the future for electoral reform? Well, there's no doubt in this mind that the battle has been lost for a generation. Here was an opportunity and it was not taken. Why would the people of Britain want another referendum vote on such an issue when the bigger issues in these economically difficult times are more basic - like putting the bread on the table?

For those of us who wish to see a change in the way in which we elect our politicians, we should now embrance the whole shoot. Proportional representation - fair votes in its proper meaning - is the only alternative left. We will not have an opportunity to enact it for decades but it's all there is left.

But here's a warning for those across the political spectrum but particularly in the Liberal Democrat party who see electoral reform as the holy grail - move on. We will not let this candle fade but neither can we cherish it as the be-all-and-end-all of our quest in politics. Sorting out or nation's finances and delivering a fairer and more equal society is what we must now be for. Electoral reform is one piece in this jigsaw of fairness but there are many others. For now, that one piece in the jigsaw has been lost. Whilst we go about finding it over the years ahead, let's not take our eyes off the other pieces on which can play a constructive and positive role in Government over the remainder of this parliament.

My Ceredigion and Welsh Lib Dem Assembly Election Review

Well, it has been an emotional rollercoaster of a night.

A lack of sleep, nerves torn to shreds and a distinct lack of fingernails have all pointed to what has been a dramatic and indeed, for many of us liberals, a traumatic electoral evening.

Last night, before the polls closed, Daran Hill gave an excellent non-partisan look on the Wales Home blog here at what he knew would be a testing night ahead. He mentioned the essential humanity that is evident on these nights when friends from across the political spectrum witness their political stars rise or indeed, fall to earth with a shattering thump.

As he said: "My stomach is in a knot of both anticipation and worry. I am not looking forward to tonight because there will be losers as well as winners. And they are all real people who may, through just a handful of votes, see their careers end or their dreams begin".

So, it turned out.

As the night went on, it was clear from listening to our radios at the Ceredigion count in Aberaeron that all was not going well throughout Wales. Losing Wyn Williams in Montgomeryshire in the end didn't come as the greatest surprise because the pointers had been moving in that direction for some time but it was still a huge loss to us because Wyn would've been a great asset to the Liberal Democrat group in the Welsh Assembly. Then the news that we lost Cardiff Central by just 38 votes - again, Nigel Howells would've been another great addition to the Cardiff Bay team but by the smallest of margins, his magnificent campaigning team were pipped at the post. Then there was the loss of Veronica German on the South Wales East list. Again, with her expertise and knowledge, she had already in just a year in the Assembly, proven herself to be a formiddable opponent. Her experience will be missed.

Light at the end of the liberal tunnel
But something changed during the night. If Veronica lost out on the regional list, then what of Peter Black on the corresponding list in South Wales West? After 12 years in the Assembly, he admits in his blog post here this morning, that he'd began to mentally prepare himself for defeat when the numbers looked against him. But as that quirk of fate has it, whilst we lost that one battle in Cardiff by a wafer-thin margin, so it was that Peter held on to that 4th and final list seat by just 54 votes out of a regional total of 154,381 ballots cast. Incredible.

Then came the news that because of the Conservatives strong performance across the mid and west Wales region, their Assembly leader Nick Bourne had lost his seat to our very own Bill Powell who becomes the first Welsh Liberal Democrat Assembly Member for Mid and West Wales. This certainly gives us some respite after the loss of Montgomeryshire. Also the news that the flip side of losing Cardiff Central meant that John Dixon was elected on the South Wales Central regional list.

Then finally this afternoon the fantastic news that a stronger than expected North Wales regional vote for the party helped elect Aled Roberts to the Assembly. Aled, as the current leader of Wrexham Council, is a formiddable political operater with much experience in the Welsh and English media. He will stengthen Kirsty Williams' Assembly team immeasurably.

So having for a time looked as if we may sink to as little as just 2 or 3 members, we finally finished up with a total of 5 - only one down and certainly a good case of damage limitation. Certainly when compared to the relative decimation that the party has suffered in English city councils and up in Scotland where 16 MSP's have been whittled down now to little more than 5 or 6, we can say here in Wales that we held our own.

But we have lost ground across the country and a number of deposits (a bank sapping 17 if my tally is correct) and even in a handful of seats, fell behind the BNP. Clearly, the blame-game from the Westminster coalition has played a significant part but we must dust ourselves down, keep calm, move on and re-build.

The Ceredigion Experience
It certainly wasn't doom and gloom where we were in Aberaeron last night at the very least.

After what had been a spirited and enjoyable campaign with our fantastic and energetic candidate Elizabeth Evans, on a 3.5% swing from Plaid Cymru to the Welsh Liberal Democrats, we more than halved the Plaid Cymru majority from the 3,955 figure in 2007, down now to just 1,777. It must be remembered also that Plaid's majority in 1999 was a staggering 10,249 and in 2003 was down to 4,618 so we have continuously eaten into their majority over the past 12 years.

Our share of the vote held steady whilst Plaid's fell by 8% and it was a pshycological boost for us to mainatin a vote count of over 10,000.

It certainly demonstrates that in this old bastion of liberalism, which once shone brightly when the golden candle was reduced to only 5 MPs in Westminster in the late 1950s, that candle is still shining brightly.

Ceredigion does things differently. It's always a much more 'local' campaign here on the ground and the calibre of the individual candidates stands much greater scrutiny. I suppose the only other Welsh constituency that can share our maverick status is Anglesey which curretly returns an MP and an AM from different political parties.

I was happy with the result that we had on its own merit as we've now well and truly made this Assembly seat a 'marginal' for the future. But on witnessing the scale of the losses that the party were suffering across the UK, it struck me that actually, ours was in the circumstances, a herculean effort and Elizabeth, Mark Williams MP and our fantastic, enthusiastic team of volunteers, both young and young at heart, deserve great praise for their efforts.

It's been a challenging night for our party but we must fight on. Here in Ceredigion, we do so in great heart after another excellent performance which stands us in good stead for the future.

Welsh Liberal Democrats Launch Assembly Manifesto in Ceredigion

It's been a busy week. Amongst all of the campaigning, we hosted the Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg MP to Ceredigion last week when he visited our candidate Elizabeth Evans' hometown of Aberaeron to meet local representatives of the local business community.

Today, we were back in Aberaeron for the launch of the Welsh Liberal Democrat Assembly Manifesto.

Kirsty Williams, our popular Welsh leader, officially launched the manifesto this lunchtime in front of the TV cameras (and Newsnight's Michael Crick!) and a gathering of supporters. Our Elizabeth Evans introduced Kirsty and the assembled media pack to Aberaeron and Kirsty's manifesto launch went out (so I'm told) live on BBC News 24.


Kirsty Williams launching the Welsh Liberal Democrat
Manifesto Today in Aberaeron

Kirsty Williams, in launching our manifesto said:

“This election is the chance for the people of Wales to set the direction of the Welsh government until 2016.

“My children are at primary school. By the time we next debate these issues at a Welsh election, by the time we next decide the direction of schooling in Wales, they will be kapproaching their GCSEs. For them and for thousands of other children, this will be their chance.

“This election is too important to allow the Labour Party to ignore Welsh issues. Labour and Plaid have left us with a weak economy, underfunded schools and an NHS that costs more but delivers less. The Welsh people deserve a proper conversation about how we in Wales address these issues.

“No more excuses. The Welsh Liberal Democrats believe that Wales can do better. That is why we are setting out a radical manifesto full of positive ideas to:

· Create jobs and improve our economy by offering companies £2,000 for staff training if they provide jobs to unemployed young people.

· Tackle the spending gap, providing more money for schools by targeting additional money at the 80,000 pupils who need it the most so that schools can afford to invest in the things that really matter, such as smaller class sizes or one-on-one teaching.

· Cut waiting times by cutting waste. We will improve healthcare by switching ineffective spending in the NHS to the frontline.

· Radically overhaul the energy efficiency of an extra 12,000 homes by doubling the money available for tackling fuel poverty.

· Make sure your council can deliver for you by cutting restrictions that stop them innovating and acting in the best interest of local communities.”

The fully costed manifesto gives the people of Ceredigion and indeed Wales more generally, an opportunity to support a party that wants to support enterprise and not hold it back. Here in Ceredigion, as the Deputy Prime Minister heard last week, that will be greatly welcomed.

It was great to have our launch, the day after Plaid Cymru had theirs, out in 'real' Wales. Plaid Cymru decided to hold theirs in the Cardiff Bay bubble but we rightly took it out into the country. Indeed, on asking the formiddable BBC journalist Michael Crick (who I can exlusively reveal, is partial to some victoria sponge), when did he last come to this part of the world, he answered by saying that this was the first time that he had visited Aberaeron and his last visit to Aberystwyth was some 10 years ago.

So it was nice to bring the media out of their comfort zone as well!

Now it's back to the door-steps to spread our message of optimism which can be read in the manifesto which Elizabeth and Kirsty launched today in the heart of Wales.