FEB/MAR: Party Presidency Monthly Write Up
Elections tour
With May 7th fast approaching, I’ve been zipping across the country meeting some of our great Liberal Democrat teams taking the fight to our political opponents and championing our liberal values.
I’ve pounded the pavements in Woking with Will Forster’s team, Cardiff with our Senedd candidate Rodney Berman, Hull with Mike Ross and his team, Stockport with Lisa Smart and her crew, and in Southwark where huge momentum is with our team! It was fantastic to welcome Ed down to Eastbourne, too!
It’s been great to support fundraising efforts for the Welsh Lib Dems at their Spring Conference dinner, for the East Riding Liberal Democrats at their inaugural Gala Dinner and for the Haringey Liberal Democrats too.
I’d also like to pay tribute to Jackie Pearcey who ensured that the people of Gorton and Denton had a liberal and Liberal Democrat candidate to support at the recent by-election. It was great to visit her in polling week and see how fond people were of her and her long track record of community politics in the patch. Thank you, Jackie!
Spring Conference in York
What a conference! A huge thank you to all staff and volunteers who were involved in organising it.
We passed some powerful new policies on jury trials, student loans, social media and much more. Lots of fantastic training was on offer to power us up ahead of the May elections. Fringes facilitated fiery debates - and Ed delivered an impassioned speech that challenged Trump’s, Reforms and the Conservatives’ warmongering ways and instead out the pursuit of peace first.
For my own part, I was chuffed to officially open Conference, to attend the Party Body Forum to hear about what support our Affiliated Organisations need, to give the Federal Board report and take your questions, to tour the exhibition with lots of fantastic stands, to meet with with trans and non-binary members to reflect on how we can ensure they feel welcome in our party, to host a reception and dinner for some of our generous donors, and to have presented awards to members who have given so much to this party. And in between all of that, plenty of time getting to meet so many of you!
An important moment also was seeing the Board’s diversity and inclusion business motion passed! This will trigger review of diversity and inclusion on our internal committees, and action to boost it.
Youth engagement
When I stood for President, I made youth engagement a clear priority.
To help drive this, I’ve been to speak at Cambridge University Liberal Association, and later held sessions with students at King's College London and the University of York. I’ve had some great discussions with Will Tennison, Young Liberals Chair, on this too. The energy and commitment of our university societies is brilliant to see. We need to strengthen the support we give them so they can continue to bring young people into the party, and we’re cooking up plans to do exactly that. Watch this space.
In the media
This month I was back on Question Time in Croydon, championing Liberal Democrat values on behalf of members! I challenged the Conservatives to apologise for Kemi Badenoch’s disrespectful comments about our RAF, her warmongering position on Iran, and took on Nigel Farage’s stooge over his plans if Reform gets anywhere near our NHS. Not on our watch.
A few weeks ago, I appeared on Cross Question with Iain Dale on LBC, where I took on Reform MP Sarah Pochin over her racist comments and challenged Reform's divisive politics.
More widely, the Federal Party is making significant investment in our social media operation to help boost our cut-through. The team is about to treble are there are currently 5 new roles in the team being recruited for! This is great news for our party.
Strengthening our party internally
Alongside campaigning, the Board has been holding interviews for key roles on our internal committees that help to govern our party. A huge thank you to all who applied, and congratulations to those appointed. We could not run this party without any of you.
I met with 50:50 Parliament to discuss how to boost representation of women in our party, as well as attending multiple away-days with our brilliant committees. I also had my first official meeting with all Regional and Campaign Chairs from right across the country. It was so valuable to hear directly about their priorities, what support they need from the centre, and how we can improve our strategy, technology and retention.
Do you have questions on any of this report, or on other Lib Dem matters? Then please drop me a line on president@libdems.org.uk