Wednesday, September 27, 2006
Roger and out
Rather belatedly I found this entry on David Cornock's blog from last week's Liberal Democrat Conference. David continues his long-running obsession in relation to Liberal Democrat leaders that they should have at least one mention of Wales in their key-note speech.
The fact that Wales has at least two Liberal Democrat leaders of our own who do nothing else but talk about how well we are doing here seems have to passed him by. In our new devolved democracy there is no need for the Federal Leader to namecheck every constituent part of the United Kingdom any more. We are able to speak for ourselves, and in any case Ming will be very much in evidence in Wales during our General Election next May.
David finishes with a rather cruel story about Roger Williams, the Welsh Liberal Democrat MP for Brecon and Radnorshire:
Most delegates went home happy, but the MP for Brecon and Radnorshire had something of a sense of humour failure.
Roger Williams had to withdraw from a fringe meeting organised by the League Against Cruel Sports due to a diary clash.
The organisers responded by replacing him on the platform with a tub of lard. That sounds like a cruel sport of its own.
It is just a shame that the gesture by the League Against Cruel Sports was not original.
The fact that Wales has at least two Liberal Democrat leaders of our own who do nothing else but talk about how well we are doing here seems have to passed him by. In our new devolved democracy there is no need for the Federal Leader to namecheck every constituent part of the United Kingdom any more. We are able to speak for ourselves, and in any case Ming will be very much in evidence in Wales during our General Election next May.
David finishes with a rather cruel story about Roger Williams, the Welsh Liberal Democrat MP for Brecon and Radnorshire:
Most delegates went home happy, but the MP for Brecon and Radnorshire had something of a sense of humour failure.
Roger Williams had to withdraw from a fringe meeting organised by the League Against Cruel Sports due to a diary clash.
The organisers responded by replacing him on the platform with a tub of lard. That sounds like a cruel sport of its own.
It is just a shame that the gesture by the League Against Cruel Sports was not original.
Comments:
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i was listening to the lib dem conference (as i did with PC, L and i will do for C)
and charles kennedy's speech interested me, is it Lib Dem policy to push for a Welsh policy, or was that just his opinion.
Additionally as a federal party, what is LD doing to enhance the English segment of this federation?
and charles kennedy's speech interested me, is it Lib Dem policy to push for a Welsh policy, or was that just his opinion.
Additionally as a federal party, what is LD doing to enhance the English segment of this federation?
We are a Federal Party and have been since well before devolution. As such all devolved matters are decided in Wales by the Welsh Party. Equally, matters debated in Federal Conference are clearly labelled so as representatives know which parts apply Federally and which parts are English only policy. In theory our press releases on our website are also labelled in the same way. As with all parties however there is still a fairly steep learning curve for UK staff. We are getting there.
I may have many obsessions in life, Peter, but the Lib Dems are not among them. Far be it from me to advise the Lib Dems on how to gain publicity, but the party leadership missed a trick by ignoring the Assembly elections, while giving Scotland a platform slot. Conferences offer parties a shop window for their policies for the next election - the Welsh Lib Dems ignored this, waited until the more newsworthy Labour conference before allowing Mike German to make a "major speech" - and then offered Radio Wales a Ming Campbell interview a week after his party conference. In politics, as in comedy, timing is everything.
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