A gentler form of politics: Ed Davey among the pumpkins

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It's not so much a stunt as a photo opportunity, but there's something to be said for Ed Davey's approach to politics.

While Robert Jenrick drags the Conservative Party further into blatant racism, Ed has been harvesting pumpkins with young carers, along with Wendy Chamberlain and Willie Rennie.

There are more photos of the event on Getty Images.

Thanks to General Boles.

A Lib Dem reshuffle is coming after this conference

Photo by Amanda Jones on Unsplash 

Senior party figures have told PoliticsHome that the Liberal Democrats will reshuffle their frontbench after their party conference in Bournemouth this weekend.

Among the names tipped for promotion in Harriet Symonds' article are Alex Brewer, Jess Brown-Fuller, Josh Reynolds, Anna Sabine, Mike Martin and Bobby Dean.

Given the calibre of the new Lib Dem MPs elected last year, this sounds like a positive move.

But don't get too excited:

Continuity will prevail in some key areas: deputy leader Daisy Cooper is expected to remain in the Treasury brief, as are Callum Miller in Foreign Affairs – seen as a "safe pair of hands" –and chief whip Wendy Chamberlain.

The Joy of Six 1336

"The government is trying to solve the wrong problem. They are focusing on those who are out of work, when it is increasingly clear that one big reason people with disabilities are not in employment is because work environments have fewer roles they can fill." Ruth Patrick and Aaron Reeves argue that cuts and caps to benefits have always harmed people, not helped them into work.

Fred Garratt-Stanley, writing for The Lead, finds malaise, discontent and the rise of Reform UK at the English seaside. "When you take away someone’s belief in the place they live in, you lay the groundwork for radicalisation. And when progressives lose the argument and subscribe to the right-wing view on the roots of this deprivation, it creates a vacuum waiting to be filled."

Wendy Chamberlain reviews The List - a moving documentary about one family’s attempt to rescue hundreds of artists from the Taliban during the fall of Kabul in 2021.

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the state-controlled international news channel RT has all but disappeared from Western screens. But, report Rina Nikolaeva, Anastasia Korotkova and Dmitry Velikovsky, vloggers are being paid to spread the same pro-Russian propaganda.

"In 1968, when I was 28, I wrote the first English book on art deco." Bevis Hillier talks to dezeen about the centenary of the style.

Jim McCarthy, in an extract from his book Flowers in the Rain: The Untold Story of The Move, writes about the band and drugs: "Trevor Burton was definite and truthful, about the path into drug taking, 'It was only Ace and me that took drugs in The Move. We were like kids in the sweet shop. Our other thing was amphetamines. When you’re gigging six nights a week - you don’t mind a little help.'"

David Laws and Jim Wallace on Lib-Lab cooperation 1903-2019

The Liberal Democrat History Group website is a goldmine. With my pick and my mule, I have found this video of a fringe meeting the group held during the Lib Dem Conference last September.

Its title was Friends or Enemies, Allies or Competitors? Liberals and Labour 1903–2019, and the speakers were David Laws and Jim Wallace. Wendy Chamberlain was in the chair.

You can also hear David Laws speaking on the subject on a recent edition of Never Mind the Bar Charts - I endorse David's condemnation of Lloyd George, but am slightly mystified by the parallel Mark Pack draws between him and Boris Johnson. 

David's book Serpents, Goats and Turkeys: 100 years of Liberal–Labour relations is published by Politicos.

Max Wilkinson and Roz Savage come second and third in ballot for private members' bills

Congratulations to the Liberal Democrat MPs Max Wilkinson (Cheltenham) and Roz Savage (South Cotswolds) who finished second and third in this session's ballot for private members' bills. With such high placings, they do have a realistic chance to getting a bill through parliament.

Further down the list, you will also find Danny Chambers (Winchester) in 17th place and Wendy Chamberlain (North East Fife) in 19th.

The 20 places in the ballot were filled by 15 Labour MPs, these 4 Liberal Democrats and 1 Traditional Unionist Voice. Remarkably, no Conservatives were drawn out of the hat.

My Tory MP, who once put up a creditable fight against the anti-Covid-vaccination nutters, seems to have taken this badly.

I may well be about to embarass myself here - so please do put me right - but if we assumed all 121 Conservative MPs put in, and exclude Sinn Fein and government ministers, then isn't the probability of no Conservatives in the top 20 for the PMB ballot less than 1% ? https://t.co/jLo47WhHBJ

— Neil O'Brien (@NeilDotObrien) September 5, 2024

Vote for Hobbes

Wendy Chamberlain is the new Liberal Democrat MP for North East Fife and her cat Hobbes is competing to be Westminster's top cat

You can read his manifesto and vote for him on the Battersea Dogs and Cats Home website.

Hobbes, I am informed, is named after Hobbes in Calvin and Hobbes and not after the philosopher.

Wendy Chamberlain on potholes and social justice

Wendy Chamberlain, the new Liberal Democrat MP for North East Fife, is profiled by The House Magazine:

In keeping with her varied professional career, Chamberlain has a range of interests she wants to push from the backbenches. As well as a passion for veterans’ resettlement, she is a keen supporter of equal access to sports based on social background. ... 

“How many of our Olympians went to private school?” she asks, “How many talented children have we missed because they don’t get the opportunities for sports?” 

However, if she became prime minister, the first “really mundane” thing Chamberlain would do is invest in “a machine that deals with and eradicates potholes for good”.

Wendy comes over well in this piece, but I'd like our MPs to leave potholes to councillors and concentrate on social justice,