Type of site | Blog |
---|---|
Available in | English |
Founded | 8 September 2006 |
Founder(s) | Rob Fenwick |
Editor | Caron Lindsay |
URL | http://www.libdemvoice.org/ |
Registration | Optional for forums |
Launched | 8 September 2006 |
Current status | Active |
Liberal Democrat Voice (also known as "Lib Dem Voice") is a political blog. The site claims to be read by over 50,000 individual visitors per month [1] specialising in British Liberal politics.
Robin Fenwick created the site on Friday 8 September 2006. [2] Since July 2007, [3] it has been run by a collective of Liberal Democrat members, activists and bloggers. [4] [ non-primary source needed ]
The site aims to present views from a range of people and perspectives on the Liberal Democrats. [5] The editorial line is neutral on matters of debate within the party and party selections and elections.[ citation needed ]
The site conducts regular surveys of Liberal Democrat members, [6] [ non-primary source needed ] which serve as a respectable bellwether of party opinion: mainstream UK press such as The Independent cite these, most notably over the issue of Vince Cable being the preferred candidate to succeed Nick Clegg as party leader. [7] For example, in a 2011 survey, Vince Cable was also voted Lib Dem minister of the year. [8] [ non-primary source needed ]
The site is rated as the top Liberal Democrat blog by Total Politics for 2011 [9] and has been consistently rated by Wikio as the 5th most influential political blog in the UK. [10]
Contributors to Liberal Democrat Voice include Senior Liberal Democrats such as Charles Kennedy, [11] John Pugh, [12] Danny Alexander, [13] Tim Farron, [14] Sal Brinton, [15] Caroline Pidgeon, [16] Ed Davey, [17] Brian Paddick, [18] Jenny Willott [19] and Mark Pack [20] [21] as well as new and long serving members of the party.
The site also features regular polls of Lib Dem members showing where they agree and where they disagree with party policy.
As well as being a blog which is open to any contributor the site also contains a Liberal Democrat party members-only forum which members use as a place for debate and discussion. [22]
Lib Dem Voice's current editor is Lib Dem commentator Caron Lindsay. [23] [24] [25] She is supported by a team of day editors (Mark Valladares, Alan Muhammed, and Mary Reid), contributing editors (Joe Otten, Alex Foster, Sara Bedford and Nick Thornsby), and a technical editor, Ryan Cullen. [26]
Former editors include Stephen Tall, Lib Dem Party President Mark Pack and founder Rob Fenwick. [27]
Sir Edward Jonathan Davey is a British politician who has served as Leader of the Liberal Democrats since 2019. He served in the Cameron–Clegg coalition as Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change from 2012 to 2015 and as Deputy Leader to Jo Swinson in 2019. An "Orange Book" liberal, he has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Kingston and Surbiton since 2017, and from 1997 to 2015.
Christopher John Rennard, Baron Rennard, is a British life peer in the House of Lords, appointed to the Liberal Democrats' benches in 1999. He was Director of Campaigns & Elections for the Liberal Democrats from 1989 to 2003, and Chief Executive of the party from 2003 to 2009.
Timothy James Farron is a British politician who served as Leader of the Liberal Democrats from 2015 to 2017. He has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Westmorland and Lonsdale since 2005 and is currently the Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. Prior to entering politics, he worked in higher education.
The Beveridge Group is a centre-left group within the Liberal Democrat party in the UK. It was set up in 2001 by MPs Alistair Carmichael, Paul Holmes, John Barrett and John Pugh to promote debate within the party regarding public service provision.
The Liberal Democrats are a political party in the United Kingdom. Party members elect the leader of the Liberal Democrats, the head and highest-ranking member of the party. Liberal Democrat members of Parliament also elect a deputy leader of the Parliamentary Party in the House of Commons, often colloquially referred to as the deputy leader. Under the federal constitution of the Liberal Democrats the leader is required to be a member of the House of Commons.
The Liberal Democrat Conference, also known inside the party as the Liberal Democrat Federal Conference, is a twice-per-year political conference of the British Liberal Democrats, the third-largest political party in the UK by the number of votes cast. The Conference is typically held over three days in Spring and four in Autumn, during the party conference season, at a variety of venues. It culminates in a speech by the party's Leader.
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Caroline Valerie Pidgeon is a British politician serving as the Leader of the Liberal Democrats in the London Assembly since 2018, and a Londonwide Member of the London Assembly (AM) since 2008.
The Liberal Democrats are a liberal political party in the United Kingdom, founded in 1988. Since the 1992 general election, with the exception of the 2015 general election, they have been the third-largest UK political party by the number of votes cast. They have 15 members of Parliament in the House of Commons, 84 members of the House of Lords, four Members of the Scottish Parliament and one member in the Welsh Senedd. The party has nearly 3,000 local council seats. The party holds a twice-per-year Liberal Democrat Conference, at which party policy is formulated. In contrast to its main opponents' conference rules, the Lib Dems grant all members attending its Conference the right to speak in debates and vote on party policy, under a one member, one vote system. The party also allows its members to vote online. The party served as the junior party in a coalition government with the Conservative Party between 2010 and 2015; with Scottish Labour in the Scottish Executive from 1999 to 2007, and with Welsh Labour in the Welsh Government from 2000 to 2003 and from 2016 to 2021.
The 2010 Liberal Democrats deputy leadership election began on 26 May 2010, when the sitting Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats, Vince Cable, announced his resignation following his appointment as Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills in the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government. Nominations closed on 2 June, and the balloting took place on 9 June. The election was won by Simon Hughes.
The list that follows is the Liberal Democrats Frontbench Team/Shadow Cabinet led by Menzies Campbell from 2006 to 2007.
The 2015 Liberal Democrats leadership election was held on 16 July 2015 following the resignation of Nick Clegg as leader on 8 May 2015, after almost eight years as leader of the Liberal Democrats, following the party's poor performance at the 2015 general election.
Tim Farron succeeded Nick Clegg as Leader of the Liberal Democrats on 29 July 2015, unveiling his Frontbench Team shortly afterwards. Farron conducted his first reshuffle on 28 October 2016. A second reshuffle was conducted on 8 May 2017. In July of the same year Farron resigned and was succeeded by Sir Vince Cable.
The London Liberal Democrats are the regional party of the Liberal Democrats that operates in Greater London. The organisation is associated with the English Liberal Democrats.
The Liberal Democrat Home Affairs spokesperson is the spokesperson for the Liberal Democrats on matters relating to the work of the Home Secretary and Home Office. The office holder is a member of the Liberal Democrat frontbench team. The post exists when the Liberal Democrats are in opposition, but not when they in government, for example during the Cameron–Clegg coalition.
In British politics, a Lib–Con pact is a working arrangement between the Liberal Party and the Conservatives.
The 2017 Liberal Democrats leadership election was held following the resignation of Tim Farron as leader on 14 June 2017, after just under two years as leader of the Liberal Democrats. At the close of applications on 20 July 2017, Vince Cable was the only nominated candidate and was therefore declared the new leader of the party.
The president of the Liberal Democrats chairs the Federal Board of the Liberal Democrats of the United Kingdom.
The 2020 Liberal Democrats leadership election was held in August 2020, after Jo Swinson, the previous leader of the Liberal Democrats, lost her seat in the 2019 general election. It was initially set to be held in July 2020, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic it was delayed by six weeks, having been at first postponed until May 2021.
Mark Anthony Pack is a British politician who has served as the president of the Liberal Democrats since 1 January 2020. After the party's leader, Jo Swinson, lost her seat in the 2019 December election, Pack served as acting leader alongside Ed Davey from 1 January 2020 to 27 August 2020, when Davey was elected as leader.
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