A Sizemic Shift in the Lib Dems goes Unnoticed?

Well, having had a week and a half (more later) I have scoured Lib Dem Blogs for any reporting of Tuesday's FPC.........the most exciting night of the year and it goes uncommented on??! Bring back Alex Wilcock - that's wot I say!

A couple of weeks ago I was en route to the member's dining room with a pal when I bumped into Steve Webb - he congratulated me on my re election to FPC and commented about how many "lefties" had been elected..........hmmmmmm. So, little miss big mouth is no longer in a minority in shouting the odds about Trident, Tax Cuts et al?

Tuesday evening was elections night. Elections were held for a number of FPC positions, most importantly vice-chairs to Nick Clegg. The MP vice chair, Danny Alexander, was elected unopposed, but there were 4 contenders for the 2 ordinary member positions, current v-c, fellow blogger and Looz Muze chaperone - Jeremy Hargreaves, ex head of Policy - Richard Grayson, former v-c Ruth Coleman and former chair of the Security Working Group, Julie Smith. The result was a clear win for Richard Grayson and a tie between Jeremy and Julie - leading to a run off. While we were awaiting the result of that contest, we held hustings for FPC rep to ELDR Council. Two candidates, myself and Julie Smith. Julie has been the incumbent for the past couple of years but I had decided to stand on the basis that we both offered something quite different. Julie is an expert in European Politics and clearly brings a knowledge and expertise to the table that I never could, however I felt my strength was in representing the progressive wing of our party, as well as bringing a desire to ensure we really begin to connect with people on European issues. So I was really pleased to win the nomination, although felt bad that Julie, who I had expected to get v-c, ended up with nothing. But, I think both Richard's and my elections demonstrate that shift in the composition of the FPC, a perspective confirmed when I was chatting to an MP this morning (who will remain nameless!) I asked if I had told him about my election, no I hadn't, but he had heard about it - someone else had commented on the fact that a "non establishment" candidate had won.

So we have an interesting year ahead on FPC. It will no longer be quite so easy to push through controversial policy. As my dear readers know, I am still a Cleggophile, but that doesn't mean I agree with all his policy priorities. I trust he will read the runes and consider how we as a party can arrive at more of a consensus on those issues that divide us, rather than it always boiling down to an adversarial battle of wills and manufactured challenge to the leadership.

Sloppy kisses all round..............especially for Alex Wilcock!

Congratulations to everyone on Iain Dale's list, I was especially pleased to see that our top individual blogger was Alix and to see that so many more women are taking this blogging lark more seriously! That is not to denigrate you guys (would I????) but it has always frustrated me that the gender imbalance in Westminster is reflected in the blogosphere. So especial congrats to Steph Ashley as one of the newcomers who has done so well.

And........sloppy kisses to all those of you who voted for me.........without prompting too! I might lobby and canvass hard to be elected to this and that (er.....European Parliament, FPC et al) but I have a blockage about my blog, probably because it is more personal.

Anyway, a tad late, I also finally get round to saying which of my posts I am most proud of. Actually these are the ones which have been recommended by others. If a post ends up in the golden dozen by virtue of the number of clicks (or the outrageousness of its title!) that is cool, but I am always so much prouder when one of my blogging heroes recommends something I have penned.

So - most proud must have been when sparring partner extraordinaire Alex Wilcock described my post on the Lisbon Treaty vote as "the most sensible I've read on the issue" ......... Alex, describing me as sensible, what an accolade! And I still chuckle to myself about Alex's fury when I did this post about gender and the by elections and then went off to Belfast!

The one and only Burbler has been kind enough to describe this post on multiculturalism as a "blinder" - thanks Paul!

And the awesome Stephen Tall has kindly nominated some of my blogs in the "ones you may have missed" from time to time.

If I may be permitted my own indulgence, I quite liked this one on locking up our children, it is one of the things I feel most passionately about.

And thanks to you all for giving me a nice warm glow yesterday, having had a difficult few weeks it was much appreciated!

It's not just Henley that needs Stephen Kearney as their next MP...Its the Country!

Greetings from Henley, where, along with fellow bloggers Millenium Elephant, Alex Wilcock and Helen Duffett, I have just had the pleasure of interviewing Stephen Kearney.

Any one who knows me that there is one sure fire way to my heart........talk about young people and youth work.....did someone tell him?!

I got to ask the first question which was to ask Stephen what motivated him to get involved in politics. His answer was inspiring and, it has to be said, music to my ears!!!

Stephen told the story of how as a teenager he had got involved with a project called Focus. He and other young people had been hanging around on the streets and got to meet a youth worker, one committed to experiential learning - who worked with the young people to develop a Cafe and Theatre and other groups from a building they took over. He reflected that the young people themselves were empowered to run everything, they became directors, managers, developing a huge range of skills in the process. And then as the youth club fell into disrepair the youth worker worked with them to reflect about what had gone wrong and what they needed to do to resolve the problems - linking what we do to the impact it has and making the link between personal growth and actions. This learning had influenced the rest of the course of his life. Learning how you influence policy, support communities and encourage them to take action.

Through the work he was doing through Regenerate and his contact with politicians like Alex Carlile, Simon Hughes and Lembit Opik, he came to the conclusion that the Lib Dems were the party that listened most. Following a meeting with Peter Luff in Henley in 2002 he made a commitment to put his heart into politics and devote the next 20-25 years of his life to seeing the Lib Dems move from a third force in politics, to government.

Stephen's commitment to young people shone through, his understanding of their needs and our responsibility to take those needs seriously as a key to dealing with many of the underlying problems in our society was a breath of fresh air.

The other theme that ran through what Stephen said, was his understanding of and commitment to, listening to and empowering communities. Apparently he was trained in the 90's by the same people who trained Barack Obama and has clearly put a lot of that learning into practice in the way he has developed his charity and also, impressively, has a clear route map of how he would do the same in politics.

His challenge was that politicians had to up their game and that as Lib Dems we could head the way through not only listening to what people and communities were saying but also by creating networks of people within communities to help us deliver. One of his first priorities after being elected would be to create his own listening team within the constituency who would work with him to explore concerns and implement solutions. His first task on a Friday morning after returning to the constituency would be to meet with this team to report back on what he had been doing in parliament and to get feedback from them about what they were doing, reflecting on concerns and deciding on actions.

He said a lot more and I will drip feed some of the specifics, for example on policy, later. But to start with I wanted to get the message across very clearly that here is someone we absolutely MUST GET INTO PARLIAMENT!!!!! Seriously guys, if you were feeling demoralised after Crewe and Nantwich......now is the time to get your pecker up, dust down your walkin boots, polish up your Lib Dem rosette.........AND GET DOWN HERE - ASAP. Or if it is too far, pick up some of the telecanvassing. I am absolutely convinced Stephen can win this, he has the style, personality, drive......and above all a proven deep commitment to making life better for everyone. If elected he will be a breath of fresh air for our parliamentary party, but far more importantly a breath of fresh air for our country. In a climate where politics is stale, people are disillusioned and have lost faith, here is someone who can inspire them and show very clearly........it can be different!