looks very like a Tory /Lib Dem coalition ..oh wait they did that already and it didn't work out well did it?
Good Morning Sunday 10th May 2026
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Liberal Democrats
(639 Posts)Dr Sarah Woolaston MP has joined the Libera Democrats. Great news!
Hummm legislating for same sex marriage isn’t about forcing churches to perform marriage ceremonies but allowing churches to do so if they wish,surely? Why would an MP not want to allow that possibility?
From Wiki:
Lee abstained over Same-sex marriage legislation, noting that Parliament's role should be limited to legislating for equal civil union while calling on the Church to find a way to recognise same-sex relationships.
There were many people who felt the same. They had nothing against same-sex relationships from a legal point of view, but felt that Parliament shouldn't try to force the Church do something against its beliefs.
That's not homophobic.
Sam Gyimah MP tells us what he has joined the Liberal Democrats
news.sky.com/story/former-tory-leadership-contender-sam-gyimah-defects-to-liberal-democrats-11809637
How can you accuse Sam Gyimah of being homophobic, when he has consistently voted in favour of gay rights?
www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/24789/sam_gyimah/east_surrey/divisions?policy=826
He contributed to the filibustering of the "Turing Bill" because he believed that it would mean that some men would be pardoned for having sex with and/or raping young men under the age of 16. He proposed an amendment.
Please don't smear people without knowing the full facts.
Grany LibDems don't claim to be Socialists. In fact, I suspect that Marx wouldn't even consider Corbyn to be a Socialist.
I'd be very interested to know how any
@LibDems
member or supporter who claims to be a Socialist and want a fairer world can accept all the
@Conservatives
and unsavoury people being welcomed into the party ? What about existing candidates being replaced by these defections ?
The Lib Dems have adopted Tory Phillip Lee - who opposes electoral reform and voted more than 50 times to attack benefit claimants.
A xenophobe and homophobe he is now joined by Sam Gyimah, who filibustered the 'Turing Bill' which would have pardoned a 20th century hero.
The Lib Dems are really hoovering up all the nasty dross from the other parties aren't they, considering the voting record of their new recruits shows what a selfish and nasty party the Lib Dems are!
#CrookedConservatism
#LibDemAreTories
Ppl act like Tories joining the Lib Dems is such a huge change. Chill, both parties worked together in the coalition to fuck students and poor people over. They have quite a bit in common!
Boris Johnson has suffered a fresh blow as the former Tory universities minister Sam Gyimah dramatically defected to the Liberal Democrats, accusing the prime minister of “veering towards populism and English nationalism”.
Sam Gyimah: ‘I am an outcast in the Tory party’ In a major coup for the Lib Dem leader Jo Swinson at the start of her party’s annual conference, Gyimah said he had left the Conservatives to fight against the government’s “scorched earth approach” to delivering Brexit regardless of the cost to the country.
Announcing his defection exclusively to the Observer as his new party gathered in Bournemouth, Gyimah said centrists were being “cast out of both main parties”. The East Surrey MP called on them to unite and fight back against the drift to the extremes.
“I listen to ministers undermining the courts,” he said. “Ministers questioning experts because their views are inconvenient for what the government is saying about no deal. You have a government that says law enforcement is the centrepiece of its platform, and yet says in another breath that it will pick and choose what laws it chooses to respect.
“This is in many ways undermining key pillars of our constitution and the functioning of our democracy. The issue for me is not just Brexit. It is beyond Brexit – how you conduct politics and the veering towards populism and English nationalism.”
Gyimah is the first of the 21 Tory rebels who were stripped of the party whip for voting against the government for a bill to block no deal to join the Lib Dems. Swinson’s party hopes that support from liberal Tory voters can deliver them their best ever general election result should a poll take place in the next few months.
The former minister, regarded as a rising star in Theresa May’s administration, is the sixth MP to defect to the Lib Dems this year and follows former Labour MPs Luciana Berger and Angela Smith, and fellow former Tory MP Phillip Lee.
The latest defection will be a further boost to Lib Dem morale as the likelihood of a general election grows amid continuing Brexit turmoil. Gyimah’s switch of allegiance means the Lib Dems now have 18 MPs, up from 12 at the 2017 election. The party has recently updated its targets for a snap election and believes that there are now more than 10
Writing today in the Observer Swinson says: “The Liberal Democrats are the strongest Remain party in the UK, and we continue to grow, adding members, councillors and MPs. When a general election comes, we will be ready for it and ready to take our clear, pro-European message to the country.”
In an attempt to further sharpen the party’s pro-remain message, conference delegates will vote on Sunday on whether to reverse Brexit without a referendum by revoking article 50 if they form the next government. Ahead of that vote Swinson says: “We want to stop Brexit, and if the Liberal Democrats win the general election then we will revoke article 50. Our country deserves better than Jeremy Corbyn and Boris Johnson. The Liberal Democrats are the positive, hopeful alternative that the country needs.”
www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/sep/14/sam-gyimah-former-tory-minister-slams-populist-johnson-as-he-joins-lib-dems
Lib Dem leader Jo Swinson has just announced that Sam Gyimah MP has just joined the Liberal Democrats. She says-
"This evening, I had the pleasure of welcoming Sam Gyimah onto stage at Lib Dem conference, as our eighteenth member of Parliament. Sam Gyimah joins the Liberal Democrats. Sam Gyimah is a fantastic Remain campaigner. He was one of the 21 Conservative MPs that had the whip removed for helping us to stop no deal.
He is a man of principle, and I’m so glad he’s joined the Liberal Democrats this evening. Sam joins Chuka Umunna, Sarah Wollaston, Jane Dodds, Phillip Lee, Luciana Berger and Angela Smith in joining us in recent weeks.
And it’s not just MPs. We’ve been seeing the biggest and most sustained membership surge in our party’s history in recent months. We’ve had 40,000 new members join us, 20,000 more register as supporters, and we’re surging in the polls. There is something special happening in the Liberal Democrats.
Labour and the Conservatives are led by ineffective leaders and have been taken over by the extreme wings of their parties. It is clear that people are rallying around the Liberal Democrats as the strongest party to stop Brexit, fix our broken politics and build a fairer society. "
Great news varian- all we need now is for the Labour Party to make their plans clear so that people can vote accordingly in the next election.
Liberal Democrat party members are in Bournemouth for their annual conference, with the party's leader hoping to convince them to back a new policy of scrapping Brexit without another referendum.
Jo Swinson says holding the referendum got the UK "into a mess". and she believes revoking Article 50 - the formal process to leave the EU - is the only satisfactory way out.
Deputy leader Ed Davey said Lib Dems could offer people finality on Brexit. Up until now, the party's policy on Brexit has been to campaign for another referendum - in which it would again campaign for the UK to stay in the EU. Mr Davey said a referendum would have been the best way to solve the problem. "We want a referendum now, but it does look like other parties won't give us that," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
With a general election expected soon, he said: "People want an end to this, and the only way you can stop Brexit in a democratic exercise like a general election is to say you would revoke. and if we had a mandate of becoming a majority Liberal Democrat government, we're saying that's what we'd do".
If Lib Dem members vote to back their leader's policy proposal on Sunday, revoking Article 50 would be written into the party's next election manifesto.
MPs in all parties are preparing for a Brexit-themed general election, and Ms Swinson wants her party to have the most unequivocally anti-Brexit message - that the Lib Dems would immediately scrap Brexit.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-49698800
"One Nation" Tories are flocking to the LibDems.
www.gransnet.com/forums/news_and_politics/1265041-Liberal-Democrats?pg=5
Tory attempt to attack Swinson's Brexit stance backfires spectacularly
www.indy100.com/article/conservatives-campaign-video-jo-swinson-revoke-article-50-backdired-9101391
Former Royal Marine Lord Paddy Ashdown was a man for "ideals, not shabby deals", a service of thanksgiving at Westminster Abbey in honour of the former Liberal Democrat leader has heard.
Tory ex-prime minister Sir John Major paid the glowing tribute to a man he said was a "spontaneous optimist" as he addressed a congregation that included fellow ex-premiers Tony Blair, David Cameron and Gordon Brown.
That’s nice.
My mistake.
More than two thousand people attended the Memorial Service foe the late Paddy Ashdown at Westminster Abbey.
www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/sep/10/pms-pay-tribute-paddy-ashdown-tony-blair-david-cameron-john-major-service-lib-dem-leader
Today over a thousand people attended the Memorial Service for former Leader of the Liberal Democrats Paddy Ashdown at Westminster Abbey
John Major delivered a moving tribute.
www.westminster-abbey.org/abbey-news/paddy-ashdown
What votes are coming up next week Paddy? I thought parliament had been prorogued.
Next week Ms Swinson will vote with the tories....its what she usually does!
Thank you for explaining their position varian.
And next week?
The Liberal Democrat policy is that we should Remain in the EU .
All analyses have shown that we would be worse off in every way with any form of brexit. Opinion polls for more than two years have shown that most British voters want the UK to REmain in the EU.
Liberal Democrats passionately believe that Britain is stronger in the European Union. We are the biggest, strongest anti-Brexit party and we have led the fight to stop Brexit for three years
We will campaign on that platform.
If, after a general election, the Liberal Democrats are in a position to form a government, we will immediately Revoke Article 50 ensuring that the UK Remains a full member of the European Union.
Otherwise we will support a People's Vote where the option is between a viable leave deal and Remain and obviously we would campaign for Remain.
What's the Lib Dem position?
They're standing aside for pro-brexit Rory Stewart while ruling out working with Labour - who promise a second referendum.
Colour me shocked that the Lib Dems might prioritise electability over their own principles!
Caroline Voaden one of the Liberal Democrat MEPs for the South West (and Gibraltar) tweets-
"A No Deal Brexit isn't a 'bump in the road' for the South West, it would destroy people's livelihoods - @CarolineVoaden
The Solution? Stop Brexit ? www.libdems.org.uk/exit-brexit "
I'm really disappointed by Umunna, I hoped that he would become our first PM of colour, but I now doubt it.
My grandfather was a founder member of ASLEF and a Liberal. However like 10s of 1000s of liberals he left and joined labour when the liberals joined the Tories to keep labour out of power, in the 20s going from memory. I think he would be turning in his grave at the idea of people moving from Labour to the Tories
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