Tag Archives: nick clegg

Why are so many people unhappy?

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Discontent with our modern lot – that was the theme of my speech at last night’s launch of Reinventing the State: Social Liberalism for the 21st Century:

I started out on my chapter just thinking about how often friends or colleagues bound up to me and say, “Hey Lynne, I feel fabulously happy and I there’s nothing I would want different.”

Duh! Never! We appear to wander round in mild to severe discontent with our lot. It’s not actually the ‘fabulously happy’ answer that I really hope for – but I do wonder what it is that makes us feel such dissatisfaction.

It was a packed fringe meeting – and also featured speeches from Chris Huhne, Nick Clegg and Steve Webb. A good evening all round!

Click here to read the rest of my speech and click here to buy the book now.

Sienna Miller and Alastair Campbell

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The Lynne Featherstone MP with Nick Clegg and some of the Liberal Democrat Haringey councillors at our local social eventbig local fundraising social of the year took place in my home today. Our star guest was Nick Clegg (Lib Dem Shadow Home Secretary). A huge turnout – partly ‘cos Nick is a big draw and also partly because eleven would-be GLA candidates competing for selection on the list came to lobby for votes. (The party is currently selecting its candidates for the next London elections, and as this is done by a postal ballot of party members the wannabes are busy going round to lots and lots of local events at the moment).

Several local members put together a fantastic array of food (which is the real reason this annual event is so popular) and Nick gave a brilliant summation of where we are and where we need to be going.

In his introduction he obviously talked about our time working together in the Home Affairs team – and in describing me – he said I was a mix between Sienna Miller and Alastair Campbell! I was flattered by only one of these – your call as to which one!

Sadly two pieces of bad news today too. One of our long-serving activists and committed party members, Roderick Benziger died after a long illness. Roderick was one of the very first people to kind of believe in me and give me the confidence and courage to go forward. This never stopped us arguing over a range of issues as Roderick was a thinker and liked nothing better than a good political argument in the pub after any of our activities. From high politics to whether FOCUS should be ready-folded or on gold paper! I was so sad. Particularly as having spent seven months or so at the Whittington, he was finally moved to a nursing home only very recently (which his partner Diana had had to fight tooth and nail to even get him in) and I suppose I was hoping that he would have time and peace to make some sort of recovery. But it wasn’t to be. All the Lib Dems and I send Diana our condolences and love. Roderick was held in great affection by all of us.

The other bad news is the stabbing of a police officer who was working at the front counter of Wood Green police station. A young man jumped over the counter and stabbed the officer in the stomach. The officer is recovering in hospital and a fifteen year old has been arrested. What on earth was the motivation? Was it revenge for some grudge against the police? Was it drugs? When I spoke to the police – obviously it was too early to know any of those aspects but it does remind us abruptly and forcefully just what the police can have to face. Best wishes to the officer who wishes to remain anonymous at present for a speedy recovery.

UPDATE: Duncan Borrowman and Jonathan Fryer have now blogged about the Nick Clegg event too.

Control orders: Labour break their word, again

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I couldn’t help thinking, as Blair announced the beginning of a phased withdrawal from Iraq (too little, too late and too slow – but better than nothing) that this was two finger to Brown. For had Brown’s 100 days started with an announcement of withdrawal he would have had instant double-bounce. Sooooooo – that explains the timing!

Sponsored (which means basically booked the room) for the Centre Forum debate ‘Security versus Liberty’ where Nick Clegg (Home Affairs No 1) was able to trail our opposition to the extension of control orders before the debate tomorrow.

When introduced in 2005 as an emergency – the Government promised (oh when will I learn) that they would have a proper review of them one year later. One year later they didn’t review them – but extended them with the promise of a review one year on. One year on they didn’t review them – they just wanted to extend them.

So – we are going to stamp our feet about this and vote against. They will still win – of course – they have a majority. But it is wrong to incarcerate people without trial without making all best efforts to bring them to trial whenever practical. And there’s much more the Government could and should be doing rather than simply falling back on the easy option of locking people up without having to prove their case against them in a proper court case. Examples of what they could be doing include allowing phone-tap and other intercept evidence to be used in court and also the use of questioning after people have been charged.

Queen's Speech: home affairs debate

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Home Affairs debate day on the Queen’s Speech! Nick Clegg (numero uno in the Home Affairs team) gave a bravura performance which clearly rattled John Reid as he stood up to intervene on Nick. He wished to make clear that the leadership question for the Labour Party had nothing, nothing whatsoever, to do with his statements on home affairs. He and Gordon Brown were not trying to out -tough each other and it was absolutely wrong of Nick to suggest any such thing. Of course, the plethora of stories to back this up in the previous week’s papers from ‘sources close to’ etc. were all mythological!

As for me – what I am needed for in reality on occasions like this is to cover the front bench for the hours of the debate when back bencher MPs speak. I quite enjoy listening to the debate – but it was very cold in the chamber. I get relieved for half an hour to go and do a pre-record for Beeb on the escalating cost of the Olympics. Knock around with Sadiq Khan – who gamely tried to defend the indefensible – and with Steve Richards as referee. I am no party pooper – having supported the Olympic bid and been over the moon when we won. But a blank cheque – I don’t think so.

Is webcasting the political future?

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I’ve been a webcast guinea pig!

I was one of a trio of people who tried out doing a daily video diary / webcast / online film / call it what you will from the Liberal Democrat conference in Brighton this year. The other two were our leader, Sir Menzies Campbell, and my friend Duncan Brack – who chairs the conference committee. We were also joined on various days by a few “special guests”, such as Paddy Ashdown who did one broadcast himself too. (Given Paddy’s well-known fondness for hi-tech gadgetry and his background, I was a bit disappointed to find he didn’t go round with his own live web-casting camera sown into a buttonhole!).

So – what to make of it? My pieces were all done in a couple of takes. I simply talked off the cuff – and then repeated the procedure so that if I mangled my words or there was a hitch with the sound etc, there was a second take to use instead. I liked the freedom to talk at greater length than you normally get with the broadcast media – and without a Jeremy Paxman wannabe interrupting every nanosecond to ask another question! Talking off the cuff also made the whole operation quite quick to do.

As to whether the results were worth it … you’ll have to watch and be the judge! Personally decided that use of hands akin to windmills not helpful and somewhat distracting. However, for a first time out – not too painful.

The Lib Dems aren’t the only people trying out such films. I notice that David Cameron has got in on the act too now. The wobbly hand-held camera just tries a bit TOO hard to say, “hey, this is me, I’m real, I’m not really a politician, you know”.

And I am very dubious about the way his family – including children – appear. It’s almost as if they’re extra props to say: “hey, this is me, I’m real, I’m not really a politician”.

I’ve don’t feature my family in photos on leaflets – and only rarely mention them elsewhere in politics. Children are such a big (and wonderful!) part of any parent’s life, you can’t act as if they don’t exist – but I think you have to be very, very careful to avoid being seen to exploit them for political gain. It also leaves you wide open to charges of hypocrisy if you subsequently try to protect them from media intrusion. After all, if you say, “look what a good parent I am”, what answer do you then have to a journalist who says, “that means it’s fair game for me to find out if you really are a good parent?” and so goes nosing around into what you’re children are doing and how they’re faring?

But back to webcasting – is it the future? I hope it helps engage more directly with people who wouldn’t otherwise pay attention to politics – and I’ve tried one on a local hospital issue too – but even for us politicos, it is much more interesting watching a film about the party’s policy on climate change than it is sitting down and reading a policy briefing that contains the same information.

If these techniques help make policy more interesting and digestible, that’s good news for everyone. A similar example is the party’s campaign against Labour’s insistence on building a large-scale database of DNA records of innocent people. There’s an important case to make that this is bad news for innocent people – in answer to that old saw, yes innocent people do have something to fear from Labour’s plans. But I suspect more people will find it easy to sit down and listen to Nick Clegg’s webcast on the site on the subject than will read my lovingly-crafted words in a Liberator article on the same subject.

Love it or hate it – moving pictures and sounds are often much softer on the mind and easier to digest than reading the written word!

Note: this article first appeared on Liberal Review.

The Great Repeal Act

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Yesterday was Nick Clegg’s big moment with his set piece speech (he’s my boss as our Shadow Home Secretary).

Targeting Labour’s favourite tendency – legislation – Nick went for the 3,000 new criminal offences created by Labour (1,300 under Blunkett alone) with the message ‘do less, but do it better’. I guess that’s something Labour just don’t understand. Less is more! Wave after wave of new laws that have broken the Home Office down into a gibbering form of incompetence as they fail to cope. John Reid blaming the civil service for what has been an intolerable torrent of ineffective law.

Far too often Labour goes for bringing in another law that does the same thing as an existing law which hasn’t actually been properly used – which is so often the case.

Nick also reeled off the list of illiberal laws that Labour has brought in taking away our freedoms and indeed, our British values. The right to protest, control orders, curfews, etc etc etc – the list is long, long, long. There is even a law against selling or buying grey squirrels.

So Nick’s big idea is the Great Repeal Act – an Act that will take away unnecessary laws and roll back all the illiberal infringements of our civil liberties. And he wants the public to send in the laws they believe should form part of this – so you can contact www.greatrepealact.com with your ideas.

The basic message is that ‘tough’ and ‘soft’ – the language of Labour and Tories on crime is yesterdays world. For LibDems it’s what is effective that matters.

In the afternoon it was Ming being interviewed by the Guardian’s Michael White (who was quite fabulous I thought). It was Ming in his best setting. He is comfortable and at home in this milieu and came over as relaxed and confident. He did make a mix up with Arctic Monkeys but suffice to say that even Olympic sprinters can occasional encounter a hurdle! But the over-riding impression I got – and indeed always get – is that Ming is a truly decent human being. And in this day and age of political volatility and shallowness – is a welcome change.

And today as I write (Tuesday) is a biggie. Usually they say only two things are certain in life – death and taxes. At the LibDem conference it’s Charlie and taxes!

First day and a half at Brighton

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Arrived Recording my conference webcastin Brighton for conference on Saturday and rushed for briefing by Ming. Then walk out to seafront on Ming’s right arm to greet the media. The media are interested in tax – are we giving up our much loved 50p policy? – and Charles – how will his speech on Tuesday go? Ming gave a good answer – ‘there will be no clapometer’ and he robustly defended parties having real debates on substantive issues without them being “high noon” for the leadership. It’s obviously not a competition and Charles is one of our stars so I expect Charles will lay out some ideas – at least that is what I hope, as that is one of his great strengths.

And lastly – top of the pops for media questions – is this conference a test of Ming’s leadership?

Well – every conference is a test of leadership. Ming will do a good job. He is very charming, intelligent and oozes integrity from every pore – but there’s no doubt that all eyes will be upon him. That’s leadership!

Both Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning see me and the rest of the Home Affairs Team (Nick Clegg and Mark Hunter) holding special sessions. The one on the Saturday with us as a team being there for our party members to question, raise issues, tell us the party’s policies and issues that they feel need addressing and inform us what they think of how the Home Affairs Team is doing!

Today’s session was a more formal consultation on the consultation paper on crime produced by the crime working group chaired by Graham Tope – my former London Assembly and Metropolitan Police Authority colleague. Crime and anti-social behaviour remain the key issues – not Labour’s endless headlines and talk about being tough, but for Lib Dems it’s what works that matters. Rhetoric doesn’t make out streets safer.

First thing this morning I did my first webcast from conference. This is a new ‘feature’ during the Lib Dem conference with daily feeds from Ming, Duncan Brack (Chair of Conference) and myself each doing a minute or two filming to go up on the party website so that members can have a taste of what each of us makes of what’s going on.

Control orders

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Pinch, punch, first of the month and no returns! Constituency matters today and am on media duty as our Shadow Home Secretary (Nick Clegg) is away. Today’s big issue is the report of the JCHR (Joint Committee on Human Rights) in regard of Control Orders. It’s not an earth shattering surprise – and its findings are in line with our position on the whole.

What the Government really should do instead is to change the law to allow intercept evidence to be used in court. Other developed countries use this very obvious tool for evidence – so why a Government that is happy to incarcerate people and take away their human rights should suddenly get coy about an absolutely practical way to gather evidence is beyond me.

Anyway – later in the day the Government lost its appeal on Control Orders and so will have to go back to the drawing board on how to achieve its aims without turning into the sort of country using the sort of practises that we condemn in any other part of the world.

Scouts, hospital and interns

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Off to the Scout Park again for photo op with local commander Simon O’Brian and Ken Ranson (of Scouting Association), two of the Safer Neighbourhood officers from Bounds Green ward and Cllr John Oakes – local councillor. We are there to meet local photographers from local papers to push hard for funding to build replacement buildings for the ones currently not ‘fit for purpose’. They are not only not fit but actually in such a state of disrepair that they can’t be used.

I am a big fan of this project. I’ve written the strongest supporting letters I know how to do to support the lottery and heritage bids. I want it for the Scouts – but I also want this amazing eight square hectares of open space in the middle of Bounds Green (that almost nobody even knows exists) to be opened up for all the local young people.

The Scouts will obviously use what they need first – but that leaves oodles of opportunities for our local youngsters. The two Safer Neighbourhood officers are running a scheme this summer for youngsters from Bounds Green between the ages of 13 and 18 to come and do outside activities. And I would like to see a mix it up program which takes kids from all the different schools – so they are not necessarily with their peer groups – and throw them together for a week of outdoors activities. The buildings and open spaces can be hired for meetings and events. There is so much that could be made of this space.

Back to the constituency office for a management meeting. I am trying to arrange a meeting with Richard Sumray – Chair of Haringey Primary Care Trust (PCT) – to push forward the Hornsey Hospital redevelopment. With the dosh now available from the government there is a possible opportunity of forcing the pace.

The hospital closed despite a massive local campaign – and the deal with the campaigners was that it would be redeveloped as a local community health facility with respite care beds etc. etc. It must be something like four or so years since we have been meeting about its future with the PCT – but nothing concrete (literally) yet.

I have decided to try and force the pace on this. The Health Trust insists it must sell off a large chunk of the land – but a) this isn’t fair and b) there is not guarantee the funds will go back into this particular site. Anyway – I spoke to Richard Sumray a couple of weeks ago and he promised me a public meeting in September. I believe Richard’s assurances that he is committed to pushing the new facility through – but I want to help him by applying as much pressure as I can. My diary organiser had phoned Richard to make the appointment but he is currently in some far flung part of the world. To be continued.

I want to know what the Council are doing about the Noel Park children’s play equipment. It made it into the press when I went over there to meet parents who are outraged that their children are facing a second summer without the promised replacement equipment. I wrote to Cllr George Meehan (Labour Leader of the Council) about it – no reply yet of course. The newspaper had a quote from the council saying they were sorry there had been a delay. But I am now going to write to Ita O’Donovan – who is the Chief Executive – as I expect she will be far more able to efficiently expedite matters than George.

Then it’s in to Parliament for the last official day of sitting – so I finish up odds and sods. I pop over with Nick Clegg (Shadow Home Secretary) for a photo op on DNA and then have dinner with my researcher and interns to thank them for their really hard work. The intern system is fantastic – hopefully for both sides. Young graduates mainly, although I have taken some school leavers and gap year students, work for expenses but get useful experience and a better of idea of what such a career might really involve – and also then get to put that they have worked for an MP on their CV. They come and go relatively quickly – but I have to say I have had some wonderful young people over the last year.