Layla Moran on Gaza: "Starvation shouldn't be a weapon of war"

The senior Liberal Democrat MP Layla Moran has warned that people in Gaza face "unbearably cruel levels of destitution" and called on the government to match its recent tougher tone on Israel with action.

Speaking to the Guardian she said:

I remain frustrated that while the government’s words and tone have changed, in terms of concrete actions, not much has changed.”

She called on the government to recognise a Palestinian state, which would "safeguard Palestinian interests and also send a very clear signal to Israel that there are consequences to their actions". She also condemned the government for allowing trade from illegal settlements and for "still arming Israel when they shouldn’t be".

The report goes on to detail the suffering of the family of Mohammad, an NHS doctor who operated on her last year and whose elderly parents remain stuck in northern Gaza.

He describes conditions on the ground as a "slaughterhouse" and says people are on the brink of starvation.

Layla told the Guardian:

"Starvation shouldn’t be a weapon of war and it is unbearably cruel that it’s got to the levels of destitution that Mohammad’s family are describing, but their story is just one of millions that are now trapped in northern Gaza in a situation that seems even worse than at the beginning.

"It has to stop now and the UK government needs to redouble its efforts to make that happen."

Layla Moran calls on government to stand up to Trump over Gaza

Interviewed here on The News Agents podcast, Layla Moran calls on the government to take a stand against Donald Trump's plans for the resettlement of Palestinians from Gaza. 

She wants Britain to recognise the state of Palestine and to call for an immediate meeting of the United Nations security council.

Her point that Trump respects strength, and certainly won't respect the government's current timidity, is well made.

Layla Moran's Murphy robbed in vote to find Parliament's Top Cat

Disappointing news this evening: Layla Moran's cat Murphy ("The most Experienced, Character-filled and Determined cat in the race" - L. Moran) finished runner up in the contest to find Parliament's Top Cat.

According to a news report from the organisers, Battersea Dogs & Cats Home, the contest was won by Mr Speaker's cat Attlee by only 40 votes.

Now, I'm not saying that Attlee used his occupancy of Speaker's House to pull strings, but shouldn't he come forward and clear this up once and for all?

Vote for Layla Moran's Murphy: Other cats can't win here

Battersea Dogs and Cats Home has opened its Purr Minister contest for 2024. It sees politicians' cats competing in a public vote to draw attention to animal welfare issues.

Running an eye over the runners, there's only one choice for the loyal Liberal Democrat. Step forward Murphy, a 21-year-old veteran belonging to our own Layla Moran.

Among the opposition are Mr Speaker's Attlee and the Bishop of Newcastle's Ebba.

Oxford Lib Dems ready to run the city after more councillors resign from the Labour group

Oxford City Council's Liberal Democrats group is ready to take over running the council after the resignation in recent days eight Labour councillors. They have left the party over Keir Starmer's apparent endorsement of Israel's cutting off of water and power supplies to Gaza.

Chris Smowton, leader of the group on Oxford City Council, told the Oxford Mail:

"Oxford needs a stable administration, united to deal with the city's most urgent problems: to get on top of the city's spiralling housing costs, to decisively set Oxford on course to net zero, and to ensure much-needed affordable homes don't come at the cost of the city's parks and wilderness.

"Labour has lost its majority on Oxford City Council. If they can’t get a grip, then the Liberal Democrats stand ready to get on with the job of governing in the best interests of our city."

Smowton criticised Starmer for failing to "communicate that both terrorism and inhumane response to terrorism are unacceptable" and praised the approach of Layla Moran, MP for Oxford West and Abingdon and the Lib Dem foreign affairs spokesperson:

"I think  Layla Moran has set an excellent example here, consistently condemning terrorism, and also calling for innocent civilians in Gaza to be protected and for the delivery of humanitarian aid to be expedited."

Yesterday's local by-elections and a progressive alliance

There were two local by-elections yesterday. Both were in Conservative-held seats and the Conservatives lost both of them.

The results also pose questions about the practicality of and need for a "progressive alliance".

Take the by-election in the Frensham, Dockenfield and Tilford ward of Waverley Borough Council in Surrey.

Here, Labour and the Liberal Democrats stood down to give the Green Party a clear run against the Conservatives. The Tories lost all right, but it wasn't the Greens who won.

The victor was David Munro, an Independent who used to be the Conservative police and crime commissioner for the county. Munro is a former Army office who lost his career because he was openly gay.

This should serve as a reminder that parties do not own their supporters votes and cannot deliver them en bloc to another party. And also as another reminder that Twitter is not the real world.

Last night there was also a by-election in the Peacehaven ward of Lewes District Council.

There was no progressive alliance here: Labour, the Lib Dems and the Greens all fielded candidates. But this did not stop Labour from gaining the seat by a mile.

The result was Labour 641, Conservatives 477, Lib Dems 32, Greens 32,

If the electorate is determined to get rid of the Tories, as they were in 1997 and as I sense they are now, then it will organise itself to do so.

Remember that in 1997 Labour came from third place to take two seats from the Tories - Hastings & Rye and St Albans - that had been Liberal Democrat targets.

You can hear these issues debated in the latest Oh God, What Now? podcast, where Layla Moran is the guest. I share her view that any alliances must be locally determined and not imposed from on high.

And is it good for Liberal Democrats to taken on a "progressive" identity?

I have seen a quote online from my much-missed friend Simon Titley that exposes its weakness:

"Progressive." What does it mean? The only discernible meaning is "not conservative" or "not reactionary"... negative definitions. The "p" word is a lazy word, so give it up. It will force you to say what you really mean. We need real politics not empty slogans.

I don't know where this comes from, but there is an archive of Simon's writing on the Liberator website.

Let me end by once again recommending the weekly local by-election previews by Andrew Teale.

Layla Moran and Michael Meadowcroft on the Lib Dems and a progressive alliance

In Liberator 408 we’ve done something a bit different by running extended pieces by Layla Moran and Michael Meadowcroft on Liberal Democrat strategy. 

Layla argues for a progressive alliance with Labour and the Greens, while Michael calls for the party to make itself matter again across the widest area possible. 

See which (if either) you think is right.

Issue 408 of Liberator can be downloaded free of charge from the magazine's website.

Compass calls on Labour and Lib Dems to cooperate

Compass today published a report calling on progressive parties to work together.

We Divide They Conquer concludes:

For the next two years we need to build relationships of trust around values and ideas, and against one of the most incompetent governments in living memory. We need to test all the things that unite us and understand where we don’t agree and why. We need to be combinational, open-minded and exploratory. We have the time - but not a moment to lose.

Cooperation under FPTP - an adversarial, winner-takes-all system - will not be easy. Political parties are tribal, and we need to respect that. But it is the "Open Tribe" that adapts, thrives and survives in a future that will increasingly be negotiated not imposed.

To make this cooperation a reality has set up networks for Liberal Democrat and Labour Party members who support such moves.

On Monday an online rally is taking place on Monday afternoon to launch this move to cooperation between progressive parties.

It will include speakers from the Lib Dems, Labour, the Greens and the SNP. The Lib Dem speaker will be Layla Moran.

This emphasis on getting parties talking seems to me exactly right: parties cannot simply instruct their voters to support another party en bloc. It also recognises that neither Labour nor the Lib Dems currently have a clear alternative agenda to offer.

This is a development to watch.

Download the new Liberator free of charge to read what's really going on in the Lib Dems

The new Liberator - the first online-only issue of the magazine - can be downloaded free, gratis and for nothing.

While you are on the Liberator website you can sign up for its email newsletter so you will know as soon as a new issue is posted.

The magazine always carries a wide range of articles, but I usually turn first to Radical Bulletin, which has news about the Liberal Democrats that you will not find anywhere else. 

This time, for instance, you can learn who funded the two leadership candidates' campaigns, what went wrong with the selection of the party's London mayoral candidate and how our internal disciplinary mechanism is being choked with minor complaints.

In case that all sounds good too be true, tomorrow I shall start posting Lord Bonkers' Diary from the new Liberator.

Is social class the elephant in the Liberal Democrat room?

One of the best things about our party is that we are so sensitive to the many reasons that people can suffer discrimination.

Yet I cannot recall any Liberal Democrat blogger or tweeter noting that, after two consecutive Lib Dem leaders educated in state schools, this year saw a contest in which both candidates has been privately educated.

Is social class the elephant in the Liberal Democrat room?

At least 2020 did not see a contest where the two candidates had been to the same expensive school. This happened when Nick Clegg and Chris Huhne disputed the party leadership in 2007.

Congratulations to Ed Davey, but we must look beyond the South East of England

Ed Davey is the new leader of the Liberal Democrats.

The result of the ballot was:

• Ed Davey - 42,756 votes (63.5 per cent)
• Layla Moran - 24,564 votes (36.5 per cent)

Worryingly, that is a turnout of just 57.6 per cent - 117,924 ballot papers were issued to Lib Dem members, but only 67,320 were returned with valid votes - there were also 540 abstentions and 39 spoilt papers.

I voted for Layla but I congratulate Ed and wish him well.

He has pledged to listen to the voters, which is good. Mind you, we have received the clear message from our former voters ever since 2010 that they did not like us going into coalition with the Conservatives. 

And this result suggests that, as a party, we are still unsure whether to listen to them or tell them they are wrong.

What worries me most about the future is the refrain from Ed's supporters that we have to concentrate on appealing to Conservative voters in our target seats.

Given that most of these are in London and the Home Counties, there is a danger that not upsetting people in Esher will become our party's principal reason for existing.

And that is no basis for a radical political party. 

Yes, the affluent middle classes express progressive social values, but I suspect they will remain as sharp-elbowed about their financial interests as they ever were.

Ed said in his brief speech today that he will listen to voters "from the North, South, or somewhere in between".

That could have been better put and it had better be true, otherwise this party does not have much of a future.

Will it be Ed or Layla? Watch the announcement live tomorrow

Embed from Getty Images

The new leader of the Liberal Democrats will be announced at 11.30 tomorrow morning.

Why not join the millions who will be watching the announcement live on YouTube?

The Stranglers: Something Better Change

Voting in the Liberal Democrat leadership contest closes at 1pm on Wednesday.

The title of this 1977 Stranglers single expresses one of the main reasons I voted for Layla Moran.

If you are a party member and haven't voted yet, I hope you will vote for her too.

Six of the Best 952

"For an innovative, democratic, liberal party caring about human rights and income security for all, and for thereby securing the future of our movement, Layla is the leader we need right now." James Baillie on why he has voted for Layla Moran to be the next Liberal Democrat leader.

John Cassidy offers a brief history of MAGA money grubbing from Paul Manafort to Steve Bannon.

Julie Harding looks at the real-life experience of animals that led George Orwell to write Animal Farm.

"As they stood in the winter chill, preparing to begin their bloody work, the troops cannot have known that what they were about to do would forever be remembered as one of the most horrific acts of political violence in British history." Allan Kennedy explains what led to the Glencoe Massacre.

"Odd Man Out is a transcendent example of the heist gone wrong film: a manhunt across eight hours of a bitingly cold November night with a poetic, haunting snowscape finale that some say surpasses Reed and Krasker’s later Viennese whirl, The Third Man." Tim Pelan watches a neglected Carol Reed film.

The Red House pays tribute to the guitarist Julian Bream and his work with Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears.

Layla Moran: We have to show we've learnt from what we got wrong in the Coalition

Embed from Getty Images

Here's an interview with Layla Moran you may not have seen. 

Earlier this month she spoke to Simon Barrow from High Profiles. This website interviews prominent figures about their values, beliefs and principles and about the experiences that have formed them.

The results are often more revealing than your average political interview.

Here are a few of the things Layla has to say:

"I spoke Arabic as a child – my first word was daw’, which means ‘light’. [Up to the age of three] I spoke exclusively Arabic with my mum and English with my father, who doesn’t really speak any Arabic at all."

"The way that I approach politics is collaboratively in general, you know, and especially when [our support is] 6 per cent in the last poll I looked at. If we are going to actually achieve anything for people from our current position in Westminster, we have to forge alliances. And that includes with backbench Conservative MPs, incidentally, so I’m proud to chair the all-party group on coronavirus and I’m even more proud that [the former Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union] David Davis is part of it."

"There are some who blame us for that Coalition period, and particularly austerity; and, to be perfectly honest, there are parts of that legacy that I’m not very proud of, either. We can’t ever write it out of our party’s history, and if I’m leader of the party I’ll face questions on it; but I think we need to demonstrate that where we got it wrong we’ve learnt from that and we won’t do it again."

And there is something telling about a former Liberal Democrat leader in one of the questions:

In 2008, when I interviewed Nick Clegg for High Profiles, I asked him whether he saw any tension between economic and social liberalism, and he seemed to be genuinely puzzled by the question.

The mismatch between the Lib Dems and their voters after 2010

Embed from Getty Images

Christopher Butler has been interviewing figures involved in the Liberal Democrats' decision to support an increase in tuition fees after entering government in 2010.

His research is published in the academic journal British Politics, but he has also written a blog post for the London School of Economics' British Politics and Policy blog.

There he quotes a 'former adviser' as saying that it turned out that a lot of Liberal Democrat support came from

broadly public sector workers who were being hit in numerous different ways with the policy choices we were making. Fees is probably a good example but certainly not alone; NHS reforms, pension caps, wage caps this kind of stuff; hugely problematic for them.

This would not have been news to many Lib Dem activists, because our local campaigning had for years presented us as the people who defend local services. 

Instead, writes Butler:

Having finally got back into government, the party’s initial strategy was to focus on delivering the four policies which had featured on the front page of the manifesto (of which tuition fees deliberately was not one), on the assumption that these were the policies which had secured its support at the 2010 election.

Those four policies were raising the income tax allowance, introducing the pupil premium, electoral reform and the environment. Yet, as Butler says, this ignored the campaign the Lib Dems had fought at the 2010 election.

He reprints one of Nick Clegg's own leaflets:

The Liberal Democrats are committed to getting rid of tuition fees and oppose the top-up fees that Labour and the Conservatives support.

And people in Leicester remember that when Clegg's battle bus swept into Leicester it made for De Montfort University so he could be filmed receiving the adulation of students.

Butler ends by pointing to new research that suggests a developing core vote for the Lib Dems in certain seats in London and the South East.

He complains that, despite this, both Ed Davey and Layla Moran are claiming the party can win parliamentary seats across the country.

But I believe Ed and Layla are right. You cannot build a national political party on the interests of a handful of seats in the Home Counties.

In order to listen to your voters you have first to acquire them.

Cancellation of the Radical Association leadership hustings

The first item in my last Six of the Best read:

Ed Davey has pulled out of the Radical Association hustings because James Baillie was to chair it: "I hope sincerely that this conduct by Ed’s campaign has been a one-off which they will on reflection agree was not up to the standards to which they would wish to hold themselves, and is not representative of their wider attitude to my fellow party activists."

Today the party issued a statement that gives a different explanation for the cancellation of those hustings:

On the 1st of August, we notified both Leadership Campaigns of a proposal from the Radical Association to conduct an event.

An agreed Chair wasn’t then identified before Saturday 8th. At this stage, we were advised that the Layla Moran campaign could no longer attend the event. 

The Returning Officer’s team believes both campaigns acted reasonably and in good faith, indeed they have been notably helpful and flexible with the shifting arrangements throughout this campaign. 

We would also like to note our appreciation of the Young Liberals for including some RA questions in their event: a positive example of members working to support one another regardless of individual interests.

And see this tweet from James Baillie:

Re the Returning Officer's statement today: objecting to chairs or pulling out of hustings, on whatever grounds, is allowed under election rules, and it's fair to have that clarified.

I do respectfully disagree that Ed's team acted reasonably, and stand by my statement in full.

— James Baillie (@JubalBarca) August 11, 2020

Later. The Radical Association has issued its own statement on the affair. These are its main points:

We approached this entire process in good faith on the basis that we were excited to host a Q&A for our members and wanted to do the best job we could of it. 

Our biggest regret from the entire process is that the many excellent questions submitted by our members, several of which have not been asked anywhere else during this leadership campaign could not be answered. We have published the list of questions in a Google Document online in order to rebut any suggestion that we intended to conduct a biased event. 

We consider the cause of the cancellation of the event to be primarily the consequence of Ed Davey’s leadership campaign. This is on the basis that they proved slow to respond to suggestions, refused to communicate with us directly, and that they rejected several reasonable suggestions including that of an experienced chair who was publicly and privately neutral, as well as the opportunity to vet the list of questions themselves prior to the event. 

We do not consider it unreasonable for Layla Moran’s leadership campaign to have declined to proceed with a Q&A, on a day on which other hustings were already happening, due to it being confirmed at less than 24 hours notice. We also note that Layla Moran’s team showed, from the beginning, complete openness and willingness to agree to any reasonable format for chairing the event. 

Given that various other leadership election hustings and Q&As have been held with chairs who were, to varying degrees, committed supporters of one candidate or another, we feel as though Ed Davey’s campaign were trying to hold the Radical Association to a standard which they had not insisted upon for any other event. 

HQ’s statement on the cancellation of the Q&A is, in our eyes, fundamentally misleading as to the events which transpired. We are disappointed that HQ did not contact us prior to issuing their statement. 

It should also be noted that, contrary to HQ’s statement, although the Young Liberals kindly allowed us to submit our questions to their own hustings, they ended up having more than enough questions from their own members and therefore do not appear to have used any of the questions we submitted. This is, of course, perfectly reasonable on the part of the Young Liberals and they still have our gratitude. 

We consider the treatment of James Baillie in particular to have been utterly unacceptable. Whilst it is perfectly within the rights of a leadership campaign to object to a suggestion for an event chair, we do not consider it acceptable for a leadership campaign to baselessly accuse someone of bias and intended partiality to party headquarters, particularly when he was not given any opportunity to respond. The fact that several supporters of Ed Davey’s leadership campaign have doubled down on this on social media following the cancellation of the event has been extremely disappointing but should not be blamed on Ed Davey himself.

Lord Bonkers' Diary: 'Layla Moran Saves Ducklings from Drowning'

It seems Lord Bonkers has been playing a more important role in the Liberal Democrat leadership contest than I realised.

No ducklings were harmed in the writing of this entry, so I shall vote for Layla Moran.

Thursday

I ring Layla Moran with the news about her radical stance, only to find her a little downcast. It seems the slogan Freddie and Fiona wrote for Ed Davey - 'I’m very important and wear a suit' - is hitting the mark with the Liberal Democrat membership and she is at a loss to know what to do by way of a response. 

I tell her of an old friend who was faced with the loss of his marginal seat, only to be returned with an increased majority after rescuing a child from drowning. The most important thing, he always maintained, was that he ensured no one spotted him pushing the child into the water in the first place. 

"Baby animals are popular too," I remark, just before bidding her farewell. Sure enough, the evening papers all bear the headline 'Layla Moran Saves Ducklings from Drowning.'

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

Previously in Lord Bonkers' Diary:

• Joy Division - what a charming girl she was!
• The great Liberal philosopher L.T. Duckworth
• Layla Moran’s radical stance

Lord Bonkers' Diary: Layla Moran’s radical stance

If I didn't know him better, I would think Lord Bonkers was making fun of me. Only this morning I wrote that I am going to vote for Layla Moran. 

Apologies to whoever it was who first made this joke on Twitter.

Wednesday

With the village hall being a little too cosy to permit of social distancing, we now hold our discotheques for the young people on the green. 

Whilst spinning the discs, I observe that many erstwhile dancers are standing stock still with their feet planted and arms at various angles – rather as if they have remembered an urgent appointment whilst halfway through a pull shot. I ask one young lady the reason for this.

"It’s Layla Moran’s radical stance," she explains.

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

Previously in Lord Bonkers' Diary:

• Joy Division - what a charming girl she was!
• The great Liberal philosopher L.T. Duckworth

I shall be voting for Layla Moran

It's make your mind up time and I have decided I shall be voting for Layla Moran in the Liberal Democrat leadership contest.

The contest has been billed as one between Layla's ideas and Ed Davey's competence, which is rather unfair on both candidates.

I voted for Ed last time round because of his clear policy offer, but I have not seen any difference in competence between him and Layla this time. I am therefore going with Layla's more ambitious vision for our party and winning personality.

Ed's supporters are quick to remind us that we are competing with the Conservatives in the seats we have some hope of gaining next time round.

But I worry about the thinking behind this. I don't want to see the Lib Dems reduced to a party that expends its energies on not upsetting moderate Conservatives in a dozen or so seats in the Home Counties.

So it's Layla for me.