Tag Archives: Liberal Democrats
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The Liberal Democrats – where did it all go wrong?
Leave a commentDecember 18, 2019 by Paul Goldsmith
The Liberal Democrats snatched an almost existential defeat from the jaws of relative victory with a combination of policy and …
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How the Remain Alliance failed whilst the Leave Alliance won
Leave a commentDecember 13, 2019 by Paul Goldsmith
From the start of the election campaign, there was a concerted attempt to form a ‘Remain Alliance’, encompassing the Liberal …
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The Exit Poll drops: What does it mean?
Leave a commentDecember 12, 2019 by Paul Goldsmith
IF the exit poll is correct, the Conservatives have a stonking majority. Labour have their worst result since 1935. The …
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What’s happened to the Brexit Party in #election2019 shows how our electoral system is undemocratic and unrepresentative and should change
2December 10, 2019 by Paul Goldsmith
The Brexit Party won the last national election but is effectively unable to compete in this General Election. For this, …
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How the YouGov MRP poll changed this election
Leave a commentDecember 9, 2019 by Paul Goldsmith
The YouGov MRP poll released two weeks ago appears to have massively influenced the election campaign. It may have led …
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Why Liberals winning means the Liberal Democrats lose
Leave a commentDecember 6, 2019 by Paul Goldsmith
The triumph of Liberalism as an ideology in terms of the policies adopted by Labour and the Conservatives has simply …
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Why the #Brexit deal is so important to #election2019
Leave a commentNovember 28, 2019 by Paul Goldsmith
Going into an election in which the Tories can tell potential Brexit Party voters they have a deal to leave …
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The Liberal Democrat Manifesto – the last gasp for a party that has run out of ideas?
3November 22, 2019 by Paul Goldsmith
I’m reading the party manifestos so you don’t have to. Here’s the Liberal Democrats So, the Liberal Democrats have released …
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Why anti-Brexit parties are standing aside
4November 12, 2019 by Paul Goldsmith
There are some very disappointed candidates in England and Wales as they are having to explain to their potential constituents …
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Why the Lib Dems’ ‘Revoke Article 50’ policy isn’t all it seems
Leave a commentNovember 5, 2019 by Paul Goldsmith
The Liberal Democrats’ central policy is to revoke Article 50 and end Brexit. It sounds anti-Democratic, but all is not …
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Ready, Steady, Vote
3November 4, 2019 by Paul Goldsmith
The General Election on December 12th 2019 is arguably the most consequential in many of our lifetimes. The Conservatives are …
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A new political party doesn’t have to win seats in Parliament to be successful
Leave a commentSeptember 18, 2017 by Paul Goldsmith
During the August political news ‘silly-season’, James Chapman, former Chief of Staff to Brexit Secretary David Davis, started a one-man …
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#GE2017 chaos: What happens now?
Leave a commentJune 9, 2017 by Paul Goldsmith
This is the third hung Parliament since 1945. It is also the third failed call of a surprise snap election …
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What your choice means at this election
1June 8, 2017 by Paul Goldsmith
I am an unashamed centrist. I vote for what works. It gets me into ‘trouble’ with people who have far …
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Who should I vote for in Ealing Central and Acton?
2June 7, 2017 by Paul Goldsmith
I am lucky enough to live in Ealing Central and Acton, which is a (very) marginal constituency. It was prised …
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How the Lib Dems plan to make EU think again
1May 18, 2017 by Paul Goldsmith
Assessing this Liberal Democrat manifesto is an odd business. They aren’t even suggesting that it is a manifesto for Government, …
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Why the Progressive Pact may need to be fact.
3May 12, 2017 by Paul Goldsmith
Two days ago I reported details of a tacit ‘reactionary pact’ in which UKIP voters were defecting to the Tories …
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Why the #libdemfightback might not deliver more seats
Leave a commentMay 5, 2017 by Paul Goldsmith
Rumour has it there were high fives in Liberal Democrat headquarters when Theresa May announced she would be calling a …
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Does a political earthquake await in Wales?
Leave a commentApril 30, 2017 by Paul Goldsmith
With thanks to Professor Roger Scully from Cardiff University, I have some strange readings from the political Richter scale to report …
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Can the normal political rules survive the ‘Brexit election’?
1April 28, 2017 by Paul Goldsmith
Within hours of Theresa May’s announcement that she intended to call an election on June 8th, the offices of ‘Open Britain’, …
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Antisemitism antisceptic: The strange case of David Ward’s short GE2017 campaign
Leave a commentApril 27, 2017 by Paul Goldsmith
A fascinating little side show to yesterday’s highly political PMQs debate between Jeremy Corbyn and Theresa May over Brexit and …
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How the British election system could come to Labour’s aid.
Leave a commentApril 25, 2017 by Paul Goldsmith
Predictions for Labour are dire. With no real position on Brexit, and one of the most unpopular mainstream Party leaders …
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Why is Scotland different?
1April 21, 2017 by Paul Goldsmith
Scotland is a country part in this General Election. The issues that matter there are very different from those that …
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Six reasons why the 2017 General Election is so hard to predict
Leave a commentApril 20, 2017 by Paul Goldsmith
So, the vote to overturn the Fixed Term Parliament Act and call a General Election passed with barely a murmur …
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The ‘Progressive Democrats’ – a new Political Party that might just get us out of this mess
1June 27, 2016 by Paul Goldsmith
Sometimes, there’s an idea whose time has come. That time is now, and the idea is a new Political Party …
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Charles Kennedy – the most human of politicians
Leave a commentJune 2, 2015 by Paul Goldsmith
To anyone who argues that Politicians are all the same I give you Charles Kennedy. Despite having spent his entire …
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The end of the Liberal Democrats?
2May 12, 2015 by Paul Goldsmith
The Liberal Democrats are trumpeting the five thousand new members that registered with them in the aftermath of their defenestration …
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5am questions- The Lib Dem meltdown and a possible Tory Majority.
Leave a commentMay 8, 2015 by Paul Goldsmith
I write this just after a massive moment. The Liberal Democrat Business Secretary, Vince Cable, one of the most powerful people …
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5 Midnight thoughts after the three Sunderland results.
Leave a commentMay 7, 2015 by Paul Goldsmith
1) The Pope is Catholic and Labour have won three seats in Sunderland. 2) The good news for Labour is …
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YouGov Poll has a different prediction. Sounds more right, but might not be.
Leave a commentMay 7, 2015 by Paul Goldsmith
Just when the Twittersphere was about to go into meltdown with rumours of a Labour coup to get rid of …
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A look at what might happen on May 8th
Leave a commentMay 4, 2015 by Paul Goldsmith
So here we are, the final week of this election campaign and it has a different feel to most UK …
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Will the main parties ever come clean about their actual tax and spending plans?
Leave a commentApril 24, 2015 by Paul Goldsmith
Yesterday’s election news was dominated for a time by the Institute of Fiscal Studies (an independent think tank aiming to …
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Liberal Democrat manifesto – a UK election first
Leave a commentApril 18, 2015 by Paul Goldsmith
The Liberal Democrat manifesto was a UK election first. It was the first time that a party has actually campaigned …
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Why the Liberal Democrats must be giving thanks for First Past the Post
3April 12, 2015 by Paul Goldsmith
At one stage, during the mass leaders’ debate last week, Nick Clegg turned and demanded an apology from Ed Miliband …
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The leaders’ debate. How they rated.
4April 3, 2015 by Paul Goldsmith
So that was the mass debate (stop saying it quickly at the back). Seven adults shouting at each other repeating …
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Nothing can be ruled out when it comes to post-election deals
Leave a commentMarch 28, 2015 by Paul Goldsmith
A few weeks ago, the Conservatives released a poster by their advertising agency containing a large Alex Salmond with Ed …
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It is constituency polls, not national polls , that matter for the Liberal Democrats.
Leave a commentFebruary 27, 2015 by Paul Goldsmith
In recent weeks Ryan Coetzee, the Liberal Democrats’ director of strategy, has commissioned private polling from Survation in 100 marginal …
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Jenny Willott’s compromises show Parliament needs to change to close the gender gap
Leave a commentFebruary 24, 2015 by Paul Goldsmith
Last week’s episode of the consistently excellent documentary ‘Inside the Commons’ focused on the work of the whips, who enforce …
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Wales 2015 Part 2 – the constituencies to watch
2January 3, 2015 by Paul Goldsmith
As I explained yesterday, it is very likely that the results from Wales will not decide the 2015 General Election. …
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The crack up of the Lib Dem vote is why UKIP and SNP will NOT want to go into government
Leave a commentNovember 27, 2014 by Paul Goldsmith
It was, almost, apocalypse for the Liberal Democrats in Rochester and Strood. Geoff Juby, their candidate in the by-election, got …
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If Scotland’s polls are right, chaos ensues at Westminster in May
6November 1, 2014 by Paul Goldsmith
The political world is agog at Thursday’s poll numbers from Scotland. Commentators are trying to assess whether they are a …
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Why the Lib Dems choosing who to go into coalition with could be fraught with problems
2October 7, 2014 by Paul Goldsmith
As the Lib Dems spend time claiming full responsibility for all coalition policies that they like and no responsibility for …
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Why we should welcome the introduction of free school meals for all
Leave a commentSeptember 2, 2014 by Paul Goldsmith
From today, every single child in the first three year of school will eligible for a free school meal. That …
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Nick Clegg and the politics of border controls.
Leave a commentAugust 10, 2014 by Paul Goldsmith
How can a proper immigration control system exist in his country that counts and checks the people coming in but …
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I hope David Ward genuinely believes what he is saying and isn’t just doing it for votes
Leave a commentJuly 27, 2014 by Paul Goldsmith
This is going to sound strange, but if someone is going to be anti-Israeli, or even anti-Semitic, I would prefer …
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Now the hackers are facing the full might of the law – we must be wary of further attempts to muzzle press freedom
Leave a commentJuly 2, 2014 by Paul Goldsmith
A £100m phone hacking trial has just finished. There are more to come as the law works its way through …
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Nick Clegg’s press conference shows the problems for democracy of being in a coalition
Leave a commentJune 17, 2014 by Paul Goldsmith
If you are ever in need of a primer in the problems of coalition government, you should look no further …
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Lib Dems education policy – pushing them Ed-wards
Leave a commentJune 14, 2014 by Paul Goldsmith
The most interesting aspect of the Lib Dems’ announcement this morning of a manifesto promise at the next election for all …
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2014 election focus: An existential crisis for the Lib Dems
Leave a commentMay 27, 2014 by Paul Goldsmith
If we just talk about the numbers, the last week has been a complete disaster for the Liberal Democrats. In …
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What to look out for in the Local Council and EU Parliament elections
Leave a commentMay 21, 2014 by Paul Goldsmith
I love a good election,me. Tomorrow’s local council elections and EU Parliament are no exception. It is partly because I …
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