Richard Foord helps launch campaign to revive the River Otter

Richard Foord, the Liberal Democrat MP for Honiton and Sidmouth, has joined forces with the Otter Valley Association in a new campaign - #ReviveTheRiverOtter - to restore the health of the River Otter.

The middle and lower reaches of the Otter are now so contaminated with sewage-related pollutants that it's classed in the bottom 20 per cent of rivers in England for water quality.

For the last four months, the Otter Valley Association has mobilised 48 volunteers, who have been monitoring the river’s health every two weeks. In the latest round of testing, phosphate levels were found to be over four times the upper safe limit, peaking at six times just downstream of the major sewage works.

Richard says:

“The river Otter should be crystal clear and teeming with fish and invertebrates, but instead, the middle and lower sections are murky, slimy and sick. This is largely due to untreated or inadequately treated sewage being endlessly discharged in the river, by South West Water.

“We felt we had no option to but to launch #ReviveTheRiverOtter to stop SWWs appalling use of the River Otter as a free extension of their sewage infrastructure. This is just the start. We’ll keep going until we succeed in getting the investment the River Otter desperately needs to thrive once again.

The Lib Dems have learnt one of the lessons of the EU referendum

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One thing that struck me during the EU referendum was how much better the Leave campaign was at staging events and stunts that appealed to the media. All we had to offer was George Osborne threatening to put your taxes up.

I wrote that two years ago, defending the Show Boris the Door stunt with which we celebrated Richard Foord's victory in the Tiverton and Honiton by-election.

Since then, cheesy Liberal Democrat stunts to mark by-election victories have become a thing - and a thing the media expect and are happy to photograph.

That lesson has been carried over into the general election in the shape of Ed Davey's daily death-defying feats.

Not only do these provide good images for the media, they give Ed a chance to talk about the Lib Dem policies that have inspired them.

And those images are all of Ed surrounded by happy people, which is surely more appealing than the ring of mourners that now surrounds Rishi Sunak wherever he goes.

As to Keir Starmer, it seems that Lord Bonkers' description of the Labour leader - "like Ed Davey without the pizzazz" - was spot on.

Talking of Lord Bonkers, he suggested to me over dinner last night that we should end our campaign by firing Ed Davey from a canon "to demonstrate that the other parties have no one of his calibre".

Court of appeal rules that wild camping is allowed on Dartmoor

Good news from the Guardian:

Wild camping is once again allowed on Dartmoor after the national park won a successful appeal against a ruling in a case brought by a wealthy landowner.

Camping had been assumed to be allowed under the Dartmoor Commons Act since 1985, until a judge ruled otherwise in January. It was the only place in England such an activity was allowed without requiring permission from a landowner.

The case hinged on whether wild camping counted as open-air recreation, leading to a long debate in the court of appeal.

That question gave rise to some top judging by Sir Geoffrey Vos:

He said a walker who lay down for a rest without pitching a tent would be present for the purpose of open-air recreation. It was the same if that walker fell asleep. It made no difference if the walker rested or slept on a plastic sheet to prevent the damp, or in a sleeping bag to protect from the cold, or under a tarpaulin or in an open tent or in a closed tent to protect from the rain. The fact that a tent was closed rather than open could not convert the wild camping from being an open-air recreation to not being one.

Richard Foord, the Liberal Democrat MP for Tiverton and Honiton, was a strong supporter of this appeal by the Dartmoor National Park Authority and the Open Spaces Society.

All roads lead to Frome: How to help Sarah Dyke in the by-election

Frome wasn't built in a day. Nevertheless, Somerset Live reports that the Liberal Democrats immediately got stuck in to the Somerton and Frome by-election.

Less than a week into the campaign, the party has set up their main shop in Frome, with satellite hubs across the constituency.

Activists from across the country gathered to hear a rallying speech from Sarah Dyke and Tiverton and Honiton by-election winner Richard Foord MP.

The Liberal Democrats overturned the Conservative’s 24,239 majority with Richard Foord’s win. His victory continued the party’s winning streak in rural blue wall seats, adding to previous by-election success in Chesham & Amersham and North Shropshire.

In Somerset, Sarah Dyke has seen similar success. During last May’s local elections, she beat the man in charge of the Conservative party's 'Lib Dem unit.' Overall, the party won 61 seats and took control of the council from the Conservatives.

But, of course, Sarah needs as much help as possible from Lib Dem supporters and members. So until polling day on 20 July, all roads (and railways) lead to Frome.

The Lib Dems' by-election headquarters is at Unit 3, Station Approach, Frome BA11 1RE.

Helpers coming from west of Frome are asked to go to 1 Parrett Close, Langport TA10 9PD.

Four East Devon Independent councillors to stand for the Lib Dems in May

Four Independent councillors on East Devon District Council  - the leader of the council and three cabinet members - are to stand for the Liberal Democrats in May.

They are council leader Paul Arnott and the cabinet members Nick Hookway, Geoff Jung and Marianne Rixson.

Since 2019, the council has been run by the East Devon Alliance, comprising Lib Dem, Green and Independent councillors.

A spokesperson for the four told Devon Live:

"The historic election victory of Richard Foord MP last summer was a watershed moment. In order to grow a progressive, centrist East Devon – with Homes, the Environment and Economic Growth at its heart – we believe that by standing as Lib Dems we can help guarantee this for the future."

Richard Foord deeply concerned at wild camping ruling

Richard Foord, the Liberal Democrat MP for Tiverton and Honiton, has expressed deep concern at a judicial ruling that has removed the right to wild camping on Dartmoor.

In a thread on Twitter he said:

As a child, I wild camped on Dartmoor when training for the Ten Tors expedition and for the Duke of Edinburgh Award. Without these experiences I would not have joined the Army or trained to be a Mountain Leader.

Like many people across the South West, I regularly enjoy getting out into nature with my children and spending evenings camped under the stars. Restricting people’s right to do this is damaging and will really limit the opportunities our kids have to explore the countryside.

We must protect people’s right to respectfully enjoy our green spaces and national parks. They must remain open and accessible, not closed off. I will seek to raise this issue in Parliament next week and push for action to safeguard this historic right.

I'm all in favour of private property, but the exact rights that owning property brings with it are something for public debate and political decision. I see nothing to be said for a legal position that allows large landowners to act like Smaug on his hoard.

The people campaigning for change include the campaign group Right to Roam.

One of the books I read at my mother's bedside in her final months was The Book of Trespass by Nick Hayes. 

As the Guardian review by William Atkins says:

Summarising English property law, from the first Act of Enclosure in 1235 to the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act of 2005, Hayes persuasively implicates the country’s large private estates - and the very notion of such large-scale exclusive land ownership - in the nation’s foundational evils. 

"Race, class, gender, health, income are all divisions imposed upon society by the power that operates on it," he writes. "If this power is sourced in property, then the fences that divide England are not just symbols of the partition of people, but the very cause of it." 

To peer through these palings is to gaze into the country’s dark heart: on the other side, ordinarily hidden from public view, is a scene of vampiric exploitation sustained by a quasi-religious belief in the sanctity of private space.

I recommend this book, though I can see Richard Foord's arguments playing better in Conservative marginals.

The new issue of Liberator is ready for you to download

The latest issue of Liberator has been posted on the magazine's website. You can download as a pdf free of charge - look for Liberator 414 at the top of the list.

I always turn first to Radical Bulletin, the section that tells you what's really going on in the Liberal Democrats.

This time you can learn, among other things:

• how Richard Foord's path to selection as the candidate for the Tiverton and Honiton by-election was eased
• all about the row over the LGB Alliance being sold a conference stall and then having the booking cancelled because of an "administrative error"
• the dropping of alarming plans to police Lib Dem members' use of social media

You would also find this sad footnote to the Commentary:

You will find references to "conference" in this Liberator, which refer to matters scheduled for Brighton but now expected to resurface at future conferences.

Tractor porn MP may split Tory vote in Tiverton and Honiton

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There's encouraging news for Richard Foord, who gained Tiverton and Honiton for the Liberal Democrats in a by-election earlier this year.

It seems Neil Parish, the former Conservative MP for the seat who resigned after admitting to twice watching porn in the Commons chamber, is considering a comeback. 

A report in the I says he is thinking of standing in Tiverton and Honiton as an Independent at the next election. This could make it easier for Richard to hold the seat.

Parish is qoted in the report:

"I'll run as an independent if I think I can win," the 66-year-old farmer reveals.

"Am I trying to rehabilitate myself? Well, yes, it is partly that, but it’s also I do have a genuine desire to continue to fight for what I have done throughout my political career.

"I think I can do some good both for people, for food, for farming, for society.""

He rules out running for reselection as a Tory – "once you’re out you’re out” he notes, “I don’t think they would have me."

There's more good news for Richard Foord. 

The i says Helen Hurford, who stood for the Tories in the by-election and was generally thought not have been a strong candidate, has told BBC Radio Devon she will not be a "one-trick pony" and intends to fight the seat next time too.

The last news we had of Hurford came from Lord Bonkers:

Politics is a rough old business and it is easy to forget that for every winner there are many losers and that our opponents are but human. Take our recent triumph and Tiverton and Honiton: delighted as we remain at the victory of our own Richard Foord, it behoves us to spare a thought for his Conservative opponent. 

When she arrived at the count she was told by her agent that the game was up and took it very badly: she locked herself in a dance studio and refused to speak to anyone. I am told by my agents in the West Country that she remains in that studio to this day.

People slide pizzas and slices of Parma ham under the door to keep her going, but every day crowds of disappointed women in leotards and distinctly miffed little girls in tutus gather outside. 

The manager of the building is concerned that the latter, in particular, are getting restive and will have the door off its hinges one day soon.

In defence of the Lib Dems' door

Here are Ed Davey and Richard Foord, the newly elected Liberal Democrat MP for Tiverton and Honiton, showing Boris Johnson the door.

I've seen a lot of criticism of this stunt on Twitter today: it is "cringe"; would you believe someone thought this was a good idea? That sort of thing.

But it has worked. The video above come from Sky News and there's a similar one on the BBC News site.

For a while this afternoon a photo of our door led the Guardian's online coverage of yesterday's by-elections.

But then what was their alternative? A couple of people few would recognise looking happy? A couple more such people looking unhappy?

There's only so many pictures of people holding orange diamonds that anyone can stand.

We have learnt that the media need engaging images and that if you help them get those images then you have more chance of getting coverage, even favourable coverage.

One thing that struck me during the EU referendum was how much better the Leave campaign was at staging events and stunts that appealed to the media. All we had to offer was George Osborne threatening to put your taxes up.

And when the Remain campaign finally woke up - sadly this was just after the referendum had taken place - we were still poor at providing the media with good images and footage.

What we gave them was lots and lots of people marching. And when they failed to screen much footage of that marching, we yelled about their bias rather than ask ourselves what we could do that might appeal to them more.

Now we do provide the media with good images. So much so that the media have come to look for them.

What stunt the Lib Dems will put on becomes a live question to them in the last days of the campaign if it looks like we're going to win.

And if there is a slight cheesiness to what we offer, that is part of its appeal. These post-victory stunts have become the Lib Dems' Eurovision.