New Liberal Democrat Leader

Lib dems along with Tories voted in the Health and Social Care Act 2012 NHS to be offered for up to privatisation

Only Labour will save our NHS

The choice will be made in a secret ballot of all the 100,000 or so Liberal Democrat members.

There are two excellent candidates - Jo Swinson and Ed Davey, either of whom I would be happy to support.

As far as I know, none of the other MPs will be declaring which candidate they support. There will be a number of hustings events around the country and I will decide who I vote for after that.

varian

I tried to keep to the question in your OP

Who do you as a Lib Dem supporter think is the best candidate.?

Conservative members are “a breed apart” from members of the other main political parties, with much stronger tendencies towards socially illiberal and authoritarian attitudes and completely different views on Brexit, a study has found.

The biggest ever polling of party members’ opinions shows that Tories are half as likely to support gay marriage as members of Labour, the Lib Dems or the SNP and significantly more supportive of the death penalty, obedience to authority and censorship of the media “to uphold moral standards”.

The findings by academics at Queen Mary University of London could spell trouble for the chances of a more socially liberal candidate such as Ruth Davidson succeeding Theresa May as Tory leader, given that the final choice is made in a vote of party members.

www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/jan/04/tory-members-a-breed-apart-from-other-main-parties-study-finds

Forgive me but wouldn’t it be simple to join the Conservative party to make it more representative?
Maybe that’s the solution?!

The Lib Dems are a party for people with no conviction. The Lib Dems are destroying Britain and keeping Britain in this mire of stagnancy. Britain will remain a second rate country until it gets a true leader of the Donald Trump/Thatcher ilk. I hated Thatcher but I am talking about leadership, not just who is the PM? The strength of the UK parliamentary system comes from strong opposition - holding the government to account. Lib Dems are middle road walkers ... a path to nowhere. They stand for nothing of conviction and thus take Britain further down to being a second rate country.

day6 varian was talking about Conservative party members not being representative ( not the voters). The members are overwhelmingly over 55, male, white, live in the shires i.e. not representative.
Do keep up.

"I'm not sure why those who have never voted LibDem need bother posting here. For those who have supported the party, but never considered joining here are some of the benefits of membership"
--

Dear lord Varian, if you follow your own logic why do you post on threads about Labour/Conservatives ?

Who ever becomes the new Lib Dem Leader they will I have no doubt have to form a Coalition or get Supply and Confidence with other parties.

What Irony.

I did watch Jo Swinson the other day and the subject was going green , use of plastics etc. She made me have a wry smile when at the end of her the Lib Dems are the Party for protection of the planet kind of rhetoric she said she was a new mum I won't stop using baby wet wipes. Hmm

I think Layla Moran if she has her name down would dominate the others, very confident in her abilities if I am putting it politely.


:

the Tories, whose members are so far removed from the general population

Varian, what a strange and outdated notion. Do you really believe that? On which planet do you live? Does it comfort you to think of Tories as landowners who go shootin' and fishin'? Get with the programme!

Factory workers, shopkeepers, bus drivers, nurses, teachers, doctors, students,hairdressers, etc, etc, etc - people from all walks of life vote for the Conservative Party and have for some time, given Labour no longer has a function as it does not represent the working classes any longer.

Are you a Lib Dem activist using Gransnet as a tool to garner members Varian......because it certainly looks that way.

Jo Swinson ....waste of space,told blatant lies oon TV the other day and refuses to acknowledge them even though the director of Education has given here the true figures ...a typical politician she just wants to do the" everybody else is rubbish and I can save you thing.We remember her voting record and its not pleasant reading .

The Liberal Democrats are the biggest party of Remain - join us today and you can vote for our next leader ?

twitter.com/LibDems/status/1136302156871454720?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet

I didn’t take to Ms Swinson, sorry

the new PM chosen by .7 of the population average age 65+ sad
Has this ever been an issue before in the centuries of our political history?

Liberal Democrat Deputy Leader Jo Swinson has told the BBC's Andrew Marr that a no-deal Brexit would be irresponsible, and repeated calls for a second referendum.

Jo Swinson, who is running to be the next leader of her party, criticised Conservative leadership hopefuls who have said they are planning for no-deal - likening it to planning for your house to burn down.

Ms Swinson said: "You might get contents insurance but you're still going to lose all your stuff."

www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-politics-48489526/jo-swinson-brexit-decision-must-go-to-a-people-s-vote

Talk about Democracy- the new PM chosen by .7 of the population average age 65+

Indeed Varian. Would love Jo to get Caroline on board too.

Westminster voting intention:

LDem: 24% (+6)
Brex: 22% (+4)
Con: 19% (-5)
Lab: 19% (-5)
Grn: 8% (+2)

via @YouGov
Chgs. w/ 17 May

Funding is the key. The LD's will need money to fight an election so where will it come from?
Apparently, the Tories are losing money dramatically; no doubt Labour. Power is bought (look at Trump) imo..

The contest for leadership of,the Liberal Democrats comes at a time when the party is leading in the opinion polls.

news-sky-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/news.sky.com/story/amp/lib-dems-top-national-poll-for-only-second-time-ever-11731962?amp_js_v=a2&_gsa=1#referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&_tf=From%20%251%24s&share=https%3A%2F%2Fnews.sky.com%2Fstory%2Flib-dems-top-national-poll-for-only-second-time-ever-11731962

How could anyone possibly claim that the 100,000 or so Tory Party members who will be in a position to chose yet another unelected Prime Minister, are in any way representative of the general population?

The next Leader of the Liberal Democrats will be chosen by 100,000 or so Party members, but will not automatically become PM. That decision should belong to the electorate.

"the Tories, whose members are so far removed from the general population, yet will chose our next PM,"

Just to correct you, Varian dear; you do talk such tripe, but with such assurance that at least some people believe you.

The Tory MPs choose two candidates and the party members, so far removed from real life, vote for one or the other.

David Penhaligon was mourned by many when he died at the age of 42.

Paddy Ashdown, who was very fit and active until shortly before his death at the age of 77 was one the most remarkable politicians this country has ever seen. He had an astonishing early career as a Royal Marine, served in the Special Boat Service, was an interpreter, a diplomat and a spy. He gave up a glamorous lifestyle in Geneva to become the Liberal PPC for Yeovil, a safe Conservative seat where the Liberals always came a poor third.

He was genuinely interested in helping people and by dint of sheer hard work and a very persuasive personality, gradually built up support, becoming MP and the first Leader of the Liberal Democrats.

After leaving frontline British politics, he accepted the post of the High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina reflecting his long-time advocacy of international intervention in that region.

Hundreds of people attended his memorial service yesterday at St John's Church in Yeovil. Among those paying public tribute was David Laws, who succeeded him as Yeovil's MP in 2001.

Mr Laws said: "Paddy did some of his best work not just in Yeovil and the United Kingdom, but overseas; in Bosnia; he was a passionate supporter of the European Union and the United Nations.

"But he was very definitely not the 'Citizen of Nowhere' that our current Prime Minister once talked of.

He saw no conflict at all in his loyalty to his home village of Norton-sub-Hamdon, his constituency of Yeovil, his county home of Somerset and his country, but also simultaneously to Bosnia, to the European Union, the United Nations, to the children of Africa he fought for in his Unicef role.

"He rejected a false choice of country or town versus the wider world and he believed instinctively in pulling down the walls and barriers that divide us.

"It is a tragedy that we lost Paddy in our country at a time when he had some much to contribute to the current debates about our future."

A sad day for the Libs was the death of David Penhaligon, he was so respected

We would be so fortunate if the Liberal Democrat Party , or indeed any political party in the UK, should ever again have such a great leader

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-48382850