Reggie the Antisocial Swan of Avon finds love in Devon

There's a happy sequel to a recent Headline of the Day. Reggie the black swan, who was removed from Stratford-upon-Avon because he was "terrorising" other birds and tourists, has found a new home – and love – in Devon.

BBC News reports:

Donald Phillips, from the Dawlish Waterfowl Centre, said Reggie had "settled in very well" and had already found a mate.

He explained: "I'd put him into the enclosure with two females and he just walked up to them and they sort of followed him around and there was no aggression at all ... he was just as good as gold." ...

"I selected one of the females and I moved him on to a farm where they've got a big lake and ducks and he settled in very well. I think he's picked his swan, his wife-to-be."

One of the judges was heard to blow his nose loudly.

It's worth noting that Reggie was moved from a Liberal Democrat constituency to a Liberal Democrat constituency. Manuela Perteghella could have handed him over to Martin Wrigley at a service station on the M5.

Lord Bonkers' Diary: Streets given over to foxes and feral cats

Bertie Wooster refers to the Shakespeare's "fretful porpentine" at one one point: "Odd that he should have said porpentine when he meant porcupine. Slip of the tongue, no doubt, as so often happens with ghosts." But then, with the use of abbreviations like F&F and WBOs, this column has been owing more to Wodehouse lately.

The key is to steal from lots of different writers. Then you become original.

Wednesday

Westminster in high summer is strangely deserted – the irony is that I normally have to dodge F&F when here, but today I’ve come to the House to be sure of avoiding them. The Whitehall mandarins have left for Tuscany or the grouse moors, and the only politico you see is the odd junior minister who’s been naughty and made to stay behind. Otherwise, I find the streets given over to foxes and  feral cats.

As a result, when I chance upon a Labour peer we clap each other heartily upon the back and make a beeline for one of my clubs. Said peer then unfolds a tale that makes my each particular hair to stand on end like quills upon the fretful porpentine. (A good line that: I got it from our own Manuela Perteghella.) 

It seems the prime minister was locked in a store cupboard in No. 10 for the best part of a fortnight and had to survive on luxury biscuits and those boiled sweets they have at meetings with flipcharts. “Whatever did you people do?” I ask. “That’s the worrying thing,” replies my companion. “No one noticed for the first ten days.”

Lord Bonkers was Liberal MP for Rutland South West, 1906-10.

Earlier this week

• Dallas and its notorious School Book Suppository
• "He spelt his name with an omelette"

The belligerent youths are back: The sacking of Christine Jardine

When Christine Jardine was sacked as the Liberal Democrats' spokesperson Women and Equalities and on Scotland, some bright spark briefed the press that:

"We are not in the business of dancing to the tune of the Conservatives through symbolic votes and virtue signalling."

Simon Titley used to talk of the "belligerent youths" who surrounded Nick Clegg. Judging by that statement, they're back under Ed Davey.

Christine Jardine was universally regarded as an effective front-bench spokesperson, and to lose her over what has been called "an arcane procedural matter" - she voted against an appalling Conservative amendment she had been told to abstain on - is poor leadership.

Nor was her vote a matter of "virtue signalling", for reasons she explained in her dignified resignation letter:

As you know, my late husband Calum, was bipolar. Several people around me have mental health conditions the amendment dismissed as ‘minor’, and not worthy of support. I could not in good conscience do anything other than vote against another Conservative attempt to remove help from those who need it the most. Regardless of my personal circumstances, as Equalities Spokesperson, this is an equalities issue and I could not let down those who are relying on people in power to speak on their behalf. The expression of support I have had from members of the public, the membership and members across the House, has reassured me the choice I made was right, and I am content with that.

Some of the other Liberal Democrat MPs who voted against the amendment will have had equally personal reasons for doing so. There were eight: Lee Dillon, Andrew George, Rachel Gilmour, Tom Gordon, Wera Hobhouse, Freddie van Mierlo, Manuela Perteghella and Cameron Thomas.

I do wonder why it was so important for the Liberal Democrats not to be seen to oppose punitive action against people who are sick or have a foreign national in the family. Are their plans to change party policy in an unwelcome direction? 

I've no idea, but already I hear of rumblings of discontent in the parliamentary party and in constituency parties over Christine's sacking.

And to the belligerent youth who briefed the press about "virtue signalling"... 

The Conservatives are His Majesty's Opposition. They're meant to have some influence over the agenda of the Commons. If they had a halfway-competent leader, they would have rather more.

Manuela Perteghella: "Young people want closer ties with Europe - they know the rights they have lost"

Manuela Perteghella believes Britain will one day rejoin the European Union. 

Asked in an interview with the Europe Street news agency if she thinks such a move will ever take place, the Liberal Democrat MP for Stratford upon Avon replies:

"In my opinion yes, because it is important for the UK to have partners who care about the future of Europe. ... When I speak in schools, it is clear that young people want closer ties with Europe. They know the rights they have lost with Brexit and they want to experience Europe without hurdles, so I hope the new generation will take us back into the EU, where our place is."

She is also critical of Labour's and others' rhetoric on immigration:

"The language that we have heard recently reopened old wounds and reignited the toxic debate of the Brexit campaign, while immigrants have over the centuries enriched massively British society. We need to have an honest debate and my mission will be even more to highlight this."

And, as an expert in the translation of British drama, including Shakespeare’s work, Manuela speaks of the "huge honour" of representing his birthplace in parliament.

Ed Davey: "It feels even better than the general election"

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Ed Davey gets a good write up in the Guardian today and is not afraid to sound optimistic about Thursday's local election:

According to Davey, the general election trend of less ideologically minded Conservative voters fleeing a party they see as overly weighted towards populism and culture wars has shown no signs of slowing under Badenoch.

"People who were lifelong Conservatives haven't forgiven them, they're not impressed by the leader, and some are put off by this talk of some sort of arrangement with Reform," he said.

And:

While Davey is making no predictions, he is scornful about Farage’s success thus far in building up a Lib Dem-style on-the-ground army.

"This is just anecdotal, but Reform have tried door-knocking one or two places, and they got such a hostile reception from quite a lot of doors, they quickly give up. So they’re not fighting the campaign that we do."

The Guardian correspondent, Peter Walker, make a good point when he says these elections are different for the Lib Dems. We are used to winning council elections as a way of building up strength so we can eventually make a realistic challenge for the Westminster seat.

But on Thursday we will be hoping to strengthen our grip on many of the seats we gained at last year's general election by getting more councillors elected there.

Let me end with a word in support of Ed Davey's stunts for the media. They show that the party has grasped that if the media can get good photos or video from an event, they are much more likely to cover it.

I remember the EU referendum campaign, when the Leave campaign showed much more awareness of this than Remain did. In fact the only thing I can remember from the Remain campaign is George Osborne threatening to put everyone's taxes up.

As Walker says:

Days before the local elections, with Kemi Badenoch demanding apologies over gender identity and Nigel Farage complaining about mental illness diagnoses, Ed Davey was quietly getting on with what he perhaps does best: having fun.

In a converted shed near Stratford-upon-Avon, the Liberal Democrat leader was joking with photographers as he made chocolate truffles alongside Manuela Perteghella, his party’s MP for the formerly true-blue constituency.

Eight Liberal Democrat MPs have been barred from Russia

The Putin regime has banned 15 British MPs from entering Russia, accusing them of making "hostile statements and unfounded accusations". And eight of those 15 are Liberal Democrats.

Our congratulations go to: Alistair Carmichael, Chris Coghlan, Will Forster, James MacCleary, Helen Maguire, Mike Martin, Manuella Perteghella and Cameron Thomas.

Helen Maguire, the party's defence spokesperson, told Politics Home:

"I will wear this retaliatory sanction as a badge of honour - as will my Liberal Democrat colleagues also placed on Moscow’s blacklist."

Six peers have also been sanctioned by Moscow, among them the Lib Dems Jeremy Purvis and Julie Smith.

Lib Dem bill challenges Labour's rabbit-in-the-headlights stance on dark money in British politics

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Manuela Perteghellas, the Liberal Democrat MP for Stratford-upon-Avon, yesterday tabled a private member's bill that would cap how much individuals and companies can give to political parties in the UK. It would also restrict the ability of foreign nationals to donate through UK-registered companies.

She told Byline Times:

Our politics has been exposed. It’s far too easy for those who don’t have our country’s national interest at heart, or who have made money through illicit means, to funnel dark money into British politics.

The bill would establish an independent committee to determine an appropriate cap on political donations for UK parties. It would also assess the impact of donation limits on political parties' ability to function, while ensuring legitimate political participation isn’t undermined.

You can read Manuela's full speech in Hansard - her bill is listed for debate on 16 May.

It stands no chance of being passed into law, but it will increase the pressure on Labour to change its rabbit-in-the-headlights stance on dark money in British politics.

Manuela Perteghella, Stratford-upon-Avon and John Profumo

Liberal Democrat Voice is doing sterling work posting the maiden Commons speeches of all those new Lib Dem MPs. It's a particularly valuable feature if you write a satirical column about the party that purports to be the diary of an Edwardian peer from Rutland who has somehow survived into the 21st century.

One of the new MPs featured today is Manuela Perteghella from Stratford-on-Avon, who reminded the house:

Although I am proud to be the first female MP for Stratford-upon-Avon, I am not the first to bring Italian heritage to the role. That distinction belongs to another of my predecessors, John Profumo, who beat me to it - although I plan on a much quieter stay in the history books.

This gives me a chance to recommend Bringing the House Down, David Profumo's book about his parents - John Profumo and the actress Valerie Hobson.

Accounts of the Profumo Affair often suggest that John Profumo was a future prime minister whose political career was ended by scandal. But David makes it clear that his father was not a good minister and had done well to get as far as he had.

But John kept his sense of humour through it all. As Tim Adams' Guardian review of Bringing the House Down records:

He recounts a telling little story of wheeling his father into Edward Heath's memorial service not long before his death: 'It's the great and the good - and us,' Profumo senior noted.