Liberal democrats

Monday

Nik Darlington

In Birmingham, dreaming of opposition

The intrigue of the Liberal Democrats’ conference has centred on the party’s split personality. A Sunday Times/YouGov poll disclosed that as many as 50 per cent of Lib Dems believe that it was wrong to go into coalition in the first place, leading one to assume that only the small clique of ‘conservatives’ around Nick Clegg is keeping the Lib Dems in government. There is a still a strong feeling that going into coalition was the right thing to do for party and country. Lib-Dems who think otherwise, I’m told, “should seriously question [their] logic” because there was no alternative. However much that is true, Lib-Dems still miss opposition.

Sunday

Alex Massie

A Drugs Question for David Cameron

Though scarcely the main thrust of James's most recent post, this is still notable: Lib Dem conference delegates have just provided the press with a nice easy story, they’ve voted to set up a panel to look at the legalisation of cannabis and the decriminalisation of all drugs. I know James is tweaking the press corps just as much as he is enjoying the Lib Dems living up to their reputation on these matters. Those wacky dope-fiends in the grow-your-own-pot party! Nevertheless, could it be possible that the sandal-wearing geography teachers (sorry, this stereotyping thing is contagious) are right? I mean, are the drug laws defensible in either moral or practical terms, let alone both?

Fraser Nelson

Don’t mention education reform

A new rule seems to have been adopted at Lib Dem conference: don’t mention Academies. The coalition’s greatest single success story – something David Laws and Michael Gove agreed on before the election – is being airbrushed out. A favourable reference to Academies taking on kids from deprived backgrounds was proposed for a conference motion, but has been excised by the delegates. Lib Dem activists are heavily drawn from the ranks of local authority councilors, many of whom hate the way that schools have been given the power to break free from council control. Confronting them was a key part of Nick Clegg’s modernization programme. It seems that this has been aborted.

James Forsyth

Alexander distances himself from the Tory bashing

Lib Dem conference delegates have just provided the press with a nice easy story, they’ve voted to set up a panel to look at the legalisation of cannabis and the decriminalisation of all drugs. But away from the main hall, Danny Alexander has just given an interview to Andrew Neil in which he has distanced himself from the almost incessant Tory bashing going on at this conference. When asked whether he agreed with Simon Hughes’ description of the Tories as ruthless extremists, he replied "I wouldn’t engage in debate in that way." Alexander said that, contrary to the Jasper Gerard book, there will be no new coalition agreement to cover the second half of the parliament.

James Forsyth

Farron brings the hall to its feet

For Lib Dem modernisers there are few more depressing sights than how conference reacts to a Tim Farron speech: he serves up social democratic red meat and they absolutely lap it up. Farron, the party president, delivered one anti-Tory jibe after another. He declared that the government would be an ‘absolute nightmare without’ the Liberal Democrats in it, boasted that Nick Clegg was ‘leading the opposition’ as well as being deputy Prime Minister and accused the Tories of believing it was ok for the super-rich not to pay tax. There were also a slew of attacks on ‘the reactionary Tory drivel’ that the Tories have supposedly sprouted since the riots.

James Forsyth

The real 50p split

Nick Clegg’s interview on Andrew Marr this morning subtly shifted the Lib Dem position on the 50p tax rate. When Marr asked him what he would do if the George Osborne commissioned HMRC study showed that it raised no money, Clegg replied ‘then I of course think we should look at other ways in which the wealthiest pay the amount that we’d expected through the 50p rate.’ So, in other words, he’ll accept its abolition if something else is put in its place. But, crucially, Clegg wants any replacement to raise not what the 50p rate actually raises but what it was supposed to raise. This presages the next debate in government over 50p.

David Blackburn

Teather pledges to double the pupil premium

Assorted acolytes from the teaching unions are padding around the Lib Dem conference, fomenting discontent around activists who are opposed to the coalition’s adoption of academies and free schools. Officials from NASUWT and the NUT have pricked the airwaves with tales of concern and frustration. Education minister Sarah Teather addressed the conference earlier this morning and she was unrepentant. She eviscerated Labour’s record on education and, by extension, the system that has been dominated by the teaching unions. She also pledged to double the pupil premium next year to £1.25 billion, which will allow schools to increase their expenditure on tuition, parental support, after school clubs and so forth.

David Blackburn

Clegg on Marr, a few highlights

Nick Clegg was in combative mood on the Andrew Marr show earlier this morning; he railed against the press and the Daily Mail in particular. It wasn’t exactly an illuminating session, but here are some highlights: Clegg on the Mail: “Can I put this mildly? I really wouldn't believe a word you read in the Daily Mail. This is the paper that called me a Nazi. They and other papers have got a bee in their bonnet about the coalition. They come up with drivel every single day. I'm in this because I believe it's the right thing to do...I want to see us succeed in the coalition and beyond...Miriam supports me...” Clegg on his leadership: “Absolutely. I intend to serve well beyond one term. There you go. Daily Mail wrong.

David Blackburn

Laws and Hughes spar as Danny and Vince tease the hall

The two conflicting wings of the Liberal Democrats are perhaps embodied by Simon Hughes and David Laws. Their political and strategic differences have surfaced in this morning’s Observer, where Hughes gives an interview to say that the Liberal Democrats have to rein in the “ruthless” Tories, and David Laws argues in an op-ed that the “Liberal Democrats must not serve as this government’s brake, but its engine.” That tension needn’t be destructive. As Lord Rennard wrote yesterday the Lib Dem’s long-term strategy is to prove that coalitions work and the junior partner can be both a driving and tempering force on the senior partner.

Saturday

David Blackburn

The Lib Dems celebrate their achievements

Sandals are being rattled in Birmingham this morning. The Liberal Democrat conference opens to a chorus celebrating the party’s achievements in government. Nick Clegg tells the Independent that “Liberal Democrat fingerprints” are all over flagship coalition policies on schools, welfare, pensions, banking reform and the NHS reforms. He says of the latter that the Liberal Democrats have tempered the Conservatives. Clegg will reiterate this point at a rally later this afternoon. Despite news that the Liberals seek an electoral accommodation with the Conservatives, senior party figures are at pains to accentuate their differences with the Tories.

James Forsyth

Clegg kicks off the conference

If you can judge a party’s mood by the number of bad jokes it tells, then the Liberal Democrats are in better form than last year. Their rally to open conference was characterised by a string of appalling gags. George Osborne was a particular target with both Don Foster and Sarah Teather trying to raise a laugh at his expense. However, several of Teather’s jokes, which moved into real bad taste territory, fell totally flat. The main speech of the rally, though, was Nick Clegg’s. Clegg, who was welcomed with a standing ovation, made his pitch that the party was governing from the centre, for the whole country.

Fraser Nelson

Clegg’s humdinger of a rally

That was a great wee speech by Nick Clegg. “We have only five ministers in the Cabinet,” he said. “Well, six if you include Ken Clarke.” His mission was quite tough: to go meet the membership of a party that had just lost half of its popular support, was spanked in an AV referendum, seen its troops massacred in English councils and seen its support in Scotland shrink to staff members and blood relatives – all simply because Clegg joined the Tories in government. But he made the case brilliantly. The BBC estimates that the Lib Dems have implemented three quarters of their manifesto he said, more than the Tories. “Not bad for a party with just 8 per cent of the seats.” He handled criticisms of him rather well.

David Blackburn

Hughes implies that the 50p rate could be dropped

The 50p rate is dominating the media backdrop to the Lib Dem conference. Simon Hughes has made the latest intervention, telling Sky News that the wealthy could and should be taxed in other ways if the 50p rate was “not very tax efficient”. He emphasised the importance of fairness by adding that you “don’t start (tax cuts) by taking the tax away from those who have the broadest shoulders.” Hughes’ position mirrors that of Clegg, as detailed in an interview with the Independent. This episode is a further indication that the economic arguments against the 50p rate are beginning to hold sway.

Fraser Nelson

Clegg’s leadership conundrum

If Nick Clegg has decided that he won’t run for re-election, what are the implications? Today’s Daily Mail serializes a book by Jasper Gerard about the party, where he claims Clegg told his wife Miriam that he’ll only do one term as Deputy Prime Minister. That makes sense. The Lib Dems will want to separate from the Tories before the next election, and that’ll probably mean choosing a new leader who can more plausibly attack Tories during the campaign. Clegg will doubtless have post-Downing Street job offers involving various forms of European statesmanship, a political afterlife where he can speak Spanish from podiums without being given funny looks.

David Blackburn

Making the NHS a battle ground

Lord Rennard, the Lib Dems’ former chief executive and campaign supremo, is a frequent attendee at Westminster events. He usually makes just one point: the party’s polling may be poor, but the situation can be saved. Rennard points out that the party was delivered from disaster in 1997, thanks to targeted campaigning and a successful scheme to differentiate the party from Labour and the Tories. That campaign should be the model for the next one, which Rennard believes has already begun. He has elaborated on these ideas in the Guardian. He writes: ‘I always told candidates to think as much about the psychology of Maslow's "hierarchy of needs" as any market research.

James Forsyth

Compassionate conservatism the key to gay marriage pledge

When David Cameron spoke to the Carlton Club political dinner on Thursday night, he stressed that the Conservatives must not subcontract out compassion to their coalition partners. The Prime Minister’s desire to hold this ground can be seen at the speed with which Downing Street has briefed out that it was Cameron’s personal commitment that was key to the coalition’s decision to consult on how to introduce gay marriage. The message is clear, this isn’t just a bauble for the Lib Dems for the opening day of their conference. Personally, I think that the move on gay marriage is a welcome one.

James Forsyth

Clegg biography claims the Lib Dems want a new coalition agreement

Lib Dem conference this year brings with it the serialisation of Jasper Gerard’s biography of Nick Clegg. The focus will be on the claims that deputy Prime Minister has promised his wife he’ll only serve one term and that senior Lib Dems are interested in a soft electoral pact with the Tories. But, to my mind, the most interesting point is that the Lib Dems are keen on a new coalition agreement to cover the second half of the parliament. Coalition insiders have always admitted that the legislation mentioned in the agreement should have been mostly passed by 2012. But the Tories have been keen to spend the second half of the parliament concentrating on delivering on what’s already on the statue book rather than dealing with a whole new set of bills.

Wednesday

David Blackburn

A report to worry the two Eds?

The Institute for Fiscal Studies enjoys quasi-divine status in Westminster: chancellors and their shadows bother it for its blessing, and Budget Day is never complete until its judgment has been passed. Both parties have bent a suppliant knee before the institute in the past, but the IFS became particularly important to Labour after it declared last autumn that George Osborne’s policies to be ‘regressive'. This is why the IFS report on the tax system, released today, is important. The review, conducted by Sir James Mirrlees, is a damning indictment on tax system that has fallen from 5th to 95th in the World Economic Forum’s tax competitiveness rankings.

Monday

David Blackburn

Vickers provides the best of both worlds for George and Vince

It’s the moment of the truth for Britain’s banking sector: the publication of the Vickers report. The headline is as expected: the Commission recommends the imposition of a ringfence on banks' ‘core operations’ (such as consumer deposits and small business lending) from the riskier elements of their business. According to the FT (£), the banks will have discretion over where the ringfence will fall, giving lenders and users a degree of flexibility, which suggests that Vickers is not recommending the full separation of retail and investment banking, as some had hoped.

Sunday

Hamish Macdonell

SNP stretch lead over woeful opposition

How long will Alex Salmond's honeymoon with the voters of Scotland continue? Given that his next mission is to hold and win an independence referendum, much depends on his popularity and that of his party. Today, a third opinion poll puts support for the Scottish National Party at just under half of the national electorate. Angus Reid, polling for the Sunday Express, puts support for the SNP has now hit a remarkable 49 per cent. Given that the Nationalists only won 45 per cent of the votes in May's election – enough to sweep all the unionist parties into the background – this new high just shy of 50 per cent really does represent an extraordinary development in Scottish political terms. The poll also shows how far the Liberal Democrats have fallen.