Welcome to Lib Dem Newswire #198 and I should start with condolences and sympathies to the family and the many friends of David Boyle, the writer, policy thinker and former editor of Liberal Democrat News, who died just a couple of days ago. Editing the party’s former newspaper was but one part of David’s many contributions, to which Jonathan Calder has paid tribute here. Typically, David’s last email to me was him kindly taking time to forward on an article he thought I might enjoy - and he was right. Further tributes to David are over on Lib Dem Voice.
Before we get to the main part of this newsletter, a quick plug for the research into political donations which Chris Butler carried out with some help from me. Here is The Guardian’s coverage of one aspect of what we found. You can read our research in full here.
Congratulations also to our councillors newly elected since last time, along with their agents: Corina Watts, Sarah Dodsley, Mike Smith, Sam Raby, Erika Woodurst-Trueman, Jane Davey, Sam Mearing, Mohtasem Billah, Kirsten Sutton, Nick Russell and Greg Neall.
Finally, you may have noticed that I have started including more video clips in these newsletters. Do hit reply and let me know what you think: would you like more, the same as now, or fewer? A one word answer will do!1
Happy reading,
Mark
P.S. If you haven’t had a chance to read the previous edition of Lib Dem Newswire it is online here: How MI6 tried to recruit Ed Davey.
Why has a political donations rule not been implemented 16 years after Parliament voted for it?
I asked the government what plans they have to commence the provisions in section 9 of Political Parties and Elections Act 2009 which have been sat there, unimplemented, for 16 years despite the provisions being introduced to tighten up the law after a party funding scandal.
Summer reading: a new history of Liberalism
More on this book in my latest podcast (see below).
Liberalism by Jonathan Parry is available from Amazon, Bookshop.org or Waterstones.
Ed Davey on Iran
Lib Dems do best at beating Reform
Here’s my latest report for Liberal Democrat members and supporters. These reports also appear on the party website.
Here are some statistics that should both encourage us and spur us on. They are for principal authority council by-elections since May 1st where a Reform candidate finished as one of the top two:
Reform and Conservative in the top two : 0% Conservative wins
Reform and Labour in the top two: 17% Labour wins
Reform and Lib Dem in the top two: 78% Lib Dem wins
In fact, the figures are even better than that, because those other 22% of contests where Reform finished first and the Lib Dems second were all contests in previously Labour held seats and where we had moved up from further behind to second. Even though we did not win in those, they were still good results for us, taking significant steps forward.
In other words, just as liberalism is the philosophical answer to populism, so Liberal Democrat campaigning is the practical answer to populism.
Thank you, Dick Newby
The leader of the Liberal Democrat group in the Lords, Dick Newby, has announced that he is standing down as leader of the group after almost a decade in post. That period has been a real rollercoaster for the party, and included a long stretch when the Lib Dem Lords group had to take on a big extra burden of work due to the shrunken size of the Commons Parliamentary Party.
Huge thanks for everything you have done, and for making me so welcome as one of the newest members of the group.
Constitutional amendment
The Board is still consulting on the wording of a ‘tidying up’ omnibus amendment to submit to Autumn Federal Council. This is designed to tidy up slight ambiguities of wording, missed cross-references and the like rather than to make any substantive change. Such periodic housekeeping does however end up saving time and making things easier.
So please grab your constitutional magnifying glass, ready your pedantic skills and take a look at the consultation.
Party posts
Mo Waqas has been appointed to the vacant Vice Chair, Racial Diversity Campaign (RDC), role, and Prue Bray, Matthew Foster and Peter Truesdale have been appointed to the Disciplinary Sub Group (DSG) which oversees the procedures used by the party’s complaints system . One further vacancy on the DSG is currently being filled and a decision on the Lead Adjudicator is also due shortly.
A recount of the votes has also seen Ian Franks fill a vacancy (caused by a resignation) on the Federal Council.
Are committees always filled by the same faces?
One recommendation passed the Federal Board’s way was to consider the merits of term limits for elected party committee posts. This idea is sometimes prompted by people saying that the same old faces always fill roles and that therefore we should force greater turnover.
It is of course important that there is turnover on committees. It is also the case that there are of course some benefits of having at least some consistency in faces, such as the greater experience and preservation of institutional knowledge that can come with that.
Following discussion of this in the past, the present position is that the Party President and those holding leading roles on committees are subject to term limit rules as well. But there are no term limit rules to be ordinary members of Federal Committees.
The Federal Board has therefore looked at data, kindly compiled by John Swarbrick, covering Federal Committee elections since the introduction of one member one vote (rather than the electorate being Conference representatives).
The Federal Board has been excluded because there has only been one election since the number to be elected in this election was set at 3 and so there is not enough data yet to spot any patterns.
This data shows that around half of those elected to federal committees each time are new faces, i.e. neither incumbents nor people who had been elected and defeated for and coming back again:
It is a subjective question as to what the ideal churn rate, but it is worth noting that a turnover rate of around half is pretty chunky, and of course also means that the churn rate over several cycles is (even) higher.
Based on this data, therefore, the Board decided not to propose any term limits to Conference.
Complaint about the Parliamentary Candidates Association (PCA)
The Federal Board received complaints from several people about an email sent by the PCA to its members about our Parliamentary candidates process. The complaints said that sections of the email were racist in the way it described the party’s efforts to encourage more ethnic minority candidates and warned people about the possible entry into our candidates system of new people.
After considering the PCA’s response to the complaint, including its acknowledgement that mistakes were made and their willingness to apologise, the Board decided on six remedial steps it has asked the PCA to take:
To send an apology letter (email) to their members and the complainants.
To send a message from the Vice President responsible for working with ethnic minority communities to PCA members setting out the steps the party is taking to improve the ethnic diversity of candidates.
For a Q+A session on the candidates process more generally to be held with the PCA Exec, members and the chair of the Joint Candidates Sub Committee (JCSC).
For the PCA to agree an editorial process for future messages to members, including at least one person who was not involved in agreeing the email that was the cause of the complaint.
For inclusive language training to be completed by those involved in the sign-off process.
For the scheduled AO review of the PCA due next year to be brought forward, and to focus particularly on its plans to improve its diversity and promote candidate diversity.
The Board did not use its power to suspend the PCA, but will review progress on these steps later in the year.
Do you have questions on any of this report, or other Lib Dem matters? Then please drop me a line on president@libdems.org.uk. Do also get in touch if you would like to invite me to do a Zoom call with your local party or party body.
Podcast: An interview with the author of ‘Liberalism’
The latest episode of Never Mind The Bar Charts features an interview with Emeritus Professor Jonathan Parry, whose new book mentioned above, Liberalism, explores the history of liberalism as a political idea in Britain.
Parry emphasises that liberalism is best understood through the actions of politicians rather than the abstract theories of political intellectuals:
You can take a listen in your favourite podcast app, as well as on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube or the web.
🎧Find all the episodes of Never Mind The Bar Charts here.
📟 Sign up for a dedicated email notification each time a new episode appears here.
Patients are being left in the lurch: Lib Dems in the news
Health and social care
Helen Morgan: “Patients are being left in the lurch, forced to wait in pain and distress for potentially life-altering operations. Each of these delays represents an extra month that someone’s misery is prolonged.”
The Guardian on Ed Davey: “The Lib Dem leader wants to rewrite British politics – not with the language of crisis, but that of care. In a Westminster hooked on ‘tough choices’ and resistant to compassion in policy, he offers something rare – moral clarity rooted in lived experience.”
Ed and Emily's moving interview for This Morning on life as carers:
Clive Jones: “If a man feels a lump, don't let anybody put you off and insist on having a test to rule out or rule in cancer.”
Rachel Gilmour urges more local training for dementia carers.
Economy and cost of living
Daisy Cooper on the Spending Review:
Clive Jones: “The scourge of shrinkflation needs to be exposed.”
Environment and water industry
Charlie Maynard on Thames Water: “They should be in bankruptcy.”
Max Wilkinson MP celebrates victory in his campaign for solar energy generation technology to be included in new homes as standard.
Lib Dem run Winchester named best District Council in the country for climate action.
Reform UK
“They’re coming in with false promises … It’s more likely a fairy story than a reality”: listen to Amanda Hopgood, Leader of the Opposition on Durham County Council, take on Reform’s Elon Musk-inspired ‘DOGE’ on the latest Politico podcast.
Reform accused of paralysing Kent Council amid spate of cancelled meetings.
Housing
Lib Dem MPs push for vote to force the government to set a target on social homes.
Education
Munira Wilson celebrates campaign victory over free school meals.
Other issues
Dick Newby: “This is a moment for Parliament to send a message, united across party lines, that the freedom of the British press is not for sale”.
Ed Davey tables Early Day Motion (EDM) on Gaza.
Welsh Liberal Democrats criticise Labour over rail funding.
Christine Jardine: “I asked the Government to commit to a UK-wide ban on conversion practices and to consider fresh legislation to protect trans rights following the EHRC guidance and Supreme Court ruling.”
William Wallace: “It should have been a priority for Labour’s first year to set up a stronger independent commission to oversee ethical standards in government.”
Floella Benjamin and Josh Babarinde mark Windrush Day for the Liberal Democrats:
People news
Congratulations to the Liberal Democrats who featured in the King’s Birthday Honours.
Adam Dance shares his story in a new documentary about Dyslexia from Jamie Oliver.
MP falsely accused of calling Farage a ‘****’ in AI-edited video shared by Reform.
Best wishes to Sarah Gibson: MP diagnosed with autoimmune condition after illness.
Lib Dem LGA Group election results.
Other party news
Venue announced for Federal Conference, Spring 2026: 13- 15 March 2026, York.
Liberals and Democrats for Nature and Climate (LDNC) launched.
📲 You can get more updates like the above in real time through my WhatsApp updates 2-3 times a week. Sign up details here.
Problems for Reform
In case you missed them first time, here is a selection of posts from my websites and newsletters since last time:
Lessons from the Lords: the odd lethargy of government, or the government takes four years to do things volunteers have to wrap up in a few weeks.
The Sunday Times is very generous to Reform UK.
Reform keeps on shedding councillors: Mark Broadhurst (Doncaster), Adam Smith (West Northamptonshire), John Bailey (County Durham), Daniel Taylor (Kent) and Michael Ramage (County Durham).
Add to all that, a Reform councillor has reported a pair of other Reform councillors over election expenses and the party had to drop a candidate elsewhere just before polling day.
How leaflets used to look: Colchester 1951.
What the polls are saying
Votes
Leaders
For more details on both the above tables, and for updates in-between editions of LDN, take a look on my website here.
Top issues
In other polling news…
Selections news
The winner of the first Westminster Parliamentary selection of this cycle is Katie Mansfield, picked by members for Hampstead and Highgate.
You can follow Katie Mansfield on Bluesky.
Meanwhile for the Scottish Parliament, Neil Alexander has been selected for Inverness and Nairn.
See all the Liberal Democrat Westminster PPCs selected and publicly announced so far here.
Council by-elections round-up
The by-elections since the May local elections have seen the Lib Dems show up an absurd Green Party bar chart, the Lib Dems gain outright control of another council, Reform lose out due to standing too many (!) candidates, and the Lib Dems gain a ward our party had not contested the previous five times.
The net seats changes are Reform +11, Lib Dem +4, Green +1, Plaid +/-0, SNP +/-0, Independent/Others -4, Conservatives -6 and Labour -6.
This brings the total net seat changes since the last May elections to Reform +14, Lib Dem +4, Green +1, Plaid +/-0, SNP +/-0, Independent/Others -4, Conservatives -7 and Labour -8. For more details, see my table of net seat changes since the last May local elections.
Here is how the vote share changes are working out.
Two-horse race, anyone?
In other changes, a Conservative councillor has joined the Lib Dems in Wychavon and a residents’ councillor has joined in Rochford, but one has become independent in West Oxfordshire.
Can you help?
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And finally…
A Labour MP’s initiative we can all get behind.
If you enjoyed this newsletter, why not forward it to a friend or share it online:
Thank you and best wishes,
Mark
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