New Political Blog

Dear readers,

Thanks for the interest you have all taken in the past in this blog. To reflect my new independent political status (who are the "Shepway Independents"?) I have now created a new blog called The Kent Roundhead which can be found here.

I hope that you will enjoy it. Over time I will be adding connections to other blogs that I am gradually creating on different topics apart from politics and I hope you will also find them interesting and useful.

Very best regards.


Toby

The Future

I've decided this week to finally quit the Liberal Democrats. Other Parties should not get excited, I'm certainly not coming your way. I am leaving politics completely as I have had enough of waiting for the Party to get its internal house in order. Clearly this isn't going to happen any time soon and I have no further intention to waste my money and continue being party to ongoing unacceptable practices. Had I been the only one in an isolated case then I might have been able to grin and bear it but there is a systematic problem which is being deliberately ignored by the Party's current Federal Executive. I fail to understand why they failed to talk to those affected directly and make a genuinely informed view.

I can't imagine myself in any other Party but it is no secret that I have a pretty awful relationship with the surviving rump of the Shepway Liberal Democrats. So local political involvement is not really an option for me now and I intend to continue living in Folkestone which I consider to be my hometown. I would like to somehow find a way to make a positive contribution to the economic and social regeneration of the town which is dear to my heart and will continue to look for ways to achieve this in the future.

I would like to thank very much the Executive of the Bromley and Chislehurst Liberal Democrats who very kindly agreed to allow me to rejoin them after the miserable time I had to endure at the hands of certain elements in the Shepway Local Party in 2007. This decision is by no means a reflection on you. You guys were great to campaign with and I certainly miss the Red Lion Tendency. Lennard Woods was certainly a great loss and I miss him. May he rest in peace.

I also very much enjoyed campaigning with the gang up in Durham and particularly with Carol Woods who is a great friend and whom I am very sorry we didn't manage to get elected last time around. She will make a great MP for Durham City (and certainly better than the New Labour lackey who currently has "borrowed" the seat). I am thrilled that you all did so well up there in the last lot of local elections. Thanks for some great campaigning memories.

I have made so many friends in the Liberal Democrats over the years and you all know who you are. It is such a wrench to leave and it is sad that unfortunately a few bad apples have spoilt what was mostly a very enjoyable time for me.

I will make a more detailed statement about the reasons for my decision on my return to the UK for anyone who is remotely interested (probably not many). I'm currently still working away in Croatia at present and only have limited time for this for now and want to choose my words carefully.

I plan to resume blogging in 2009 on different issues which will include international enterprise development in which I have a strong interest, human rights, international relations and other similar issues of interest to me so watch this space.

I would like to thank all my readers, both domestic and international, who have taken the trouble to look at what I have written. Although my readership hasn't exactly been huge it has certainly been truly international. Thanks and bye for now.

Good for You Gavin!

I'm very pleased to hear that Gavin Webb, the Liberal Democrat PPC for Burton has finally been reinstated by the Party after enduring two suspensions from Party membership. Details of the going ons can be found on my friend Alex Wilcock's blog.

It would seem that, not for the first time, some people have been exceeding their powers within the Party. Unfortunately there is a small "barrack room lawyer" tendency within the Liberal Democrats. This small group of people have instincts at variance with the core values of Liberalism and a creative tendency "to make it up as they go along" when someone gets in their crosshairs. These are people who, perhaps due to poor eyesight, or maybe because they joined the Liberal Democrats as a vehicle for personal ambition rather than the pursuit of personal liberty for all are unable to read or understand what it says on the Party membership card:

"The Liberal Democrats exist to build and safeguard a fair, free and open society, in which we seek to balance the fundamental values of liberty, equality and community and in which no-one will be enslaved by poverty, ignorance or conformity".

I hope that lessons will be learned by the Party from this sorry episode and I also hope that more attention will be paid to the real need for swift action when there are abuses of power rather than trying to sweep them under the carpet. Sweeping them under the carpet only creates problems further down the line.

Good for you Gavin! May you enjoy taking on our opponents and may your own side leave you in peace to do your job.

The Truth Will Out In The End

Today is a rather bitter-sweet day in many ways. I won't pretend that I am not disappointed with a letter I received from the Council this morning. I dispute some of the statements made within it. My motivation was to protect my personal business interests and there are other interested parties involved as well. The ruling sets an unfortunately precedent as does the subsequent conduct of persons unnamed. Allowing "open season" on members of the local business community will not encourage future investment in the area.

As a professional trainer who undertakes a lot of face-to-face communication in the UK and in other parts of the world I think it legitimate to complain when someone makes a sweeping statement in a local newspaper that you are not competent in this area. People who know me well know that the Councillor concerned was talking bollocks but unfortunately there are a number of people out there I have still to meet who might take the comment concerned at face value until they have had the benefit of a conversation with me. Anyway, I still have 30 days now to consider appealing regarding the decision.........

It does seem that life has a bit of a habit of compensating you though. I have not been the only one who has experienced some "local difficulties". It would appear that a number of other PPCs and ex-PPCs have gone through a similar situation to myself. In an odd kind of way this is a bit of a comfort when you realise that you are not alone. It is even more comforting when some people (who are not you) start to suggest that things need to change for the better. There are some issues that need to be confronted once and for all in the Party about the treatment of PPCs and a recognition that PPCs have multiple roles (husband, wife, worker/self-employed, partner, parent, carer, etc.) and need more support.

I'm certainly never ever planning to stand again for Parliament (I would be divorced faster than you can say "Mao Zedong" if were to suggest it) but it still grieves me that others have also faced a similar situation to my own and next to nothing appears to have been done about it and it is happening again and again.

It is time to end the "Ostrich approach" to these matters and time for someone (English Candidates Committee?) to start showing some real steel and enforce genuine local party democracy.

I've also got some interesting documents but I will try not to mix alcohol and the e-mail system...........

Hu Jia: Nobel Peace Prize Laureate 2008?

Jailed Chinese dissident Hu Jia (and maybe also his brave wife Zeng Jinyan who is also under house arrest and who is bringing up their young daughter alone) is/are being tipped for the Nobel Peace Prize. This is very welcome news in light of the Communist Government's blatant failure to uphold human rights as promised around the time of the Beijing Olympics.

Hu was jailed in April apprently for 5 articles he wrote and 2 interviews he gave criticising the Communist Government in China for failing to uphold human rights. How pathetic is that?

Hu has actively campaigned on behalf of AIDS/HIV sufferers and other dissidents such as Chen Guangcheng over a number of years.

There is a moral dimension to this ongoing oppression which ought to give the Chinese Government pause for thought. Governments that lock up people who don't agree with them (we are not talking terrorism here for goodness sake!) tend to have limited shelf-lives, never achieve the moral authority and acceptance in the eyes of the international community that they crave and ultimately implode on themselves when the final vestiges of their legitimacy disappear. It may not happen today, it may not happen tomorrow or in 20 years, but one day it shall if they carry on like this.

Hu would be a worthy winner and it would be interesting to see how and if the Communist authorities would react. I think it would be highly embarrassing for them that Hu is currently in prison on a pretty flimsy pretext. Perhaps they ought to think about releasing him PDQ?

A Good Week To Be A Liberal Democrat

My impression from afar was that overall Nick Clegg and the Party had a very good week in Bournemouth. I was a bit surprised at Iain Dale (the Tory one) making a bit of an arse of himself over Nick's comments when anyone with half a braincell would realise that Nick was talking to the person in the street about Lehman Brothers, Meryll Lynch etc. I'm really delighted that Making It Happen was adopted without amendment and I think that finally the Party has begun to capture the mood of the moment. People are struggling to make ends meet and they want their money where they need it, in their pockets.

I thought that Iain was better than that but I guess that Tories who like to talk about social justice and then commit themselves to continuing with a REGRESSIVE tax structure which punishes lower and middle income earners at the expense of the wealthy in society must be feeling a little bit rattled and concerned and grasping at straws to discredit Vince Cable and Nick Clegg. There is nothing "right wing" about Making It Happen. That is good economic and political sense in a Liberal and progressive way.

To heap misery on it, it would seem that floating voters and even existing Labour supporters prefer Clegg to Cameron according to Newsnight. HINT: address the incidence of the tax burden and THEN you can be taken seriously on social justice issues. The current Tory message looks like "we hear your pain but we don't really give a damn as we've decided to adopt a Blue Labour strategy".

It's been a tough 18 months or so to stay in the Party with all that has happened, and some of my good friends leaving, but this week has made me glad that I've kept my membership and kept going through the gritted teeth. A good stronger small business and enterprise development policy now to really encourage so many of those millions of small business people to come to naturally support our Party and we will be on the road to longer term success.

Is the Liberal Democrat Business Forum Still Operating?

I'm still working away here in Zagreb and so was not able to get along to Bournemouth and so hence my question.

I'm curious to know if the Liberal Democrat Business Forum is still operating. I would be grateful for any information anyone has on whether or not it is operating and how I could get involved if I wanted to.

Choking on My Museli

I was going to suggest that I choked on my kulen (a type of Croatian sausage) here in Zagreb this morning when I read that the Liberal Democrat leadership had ditched their commitment to joining the Euro at the earliest opportunity but felt that such an image might be a bit of a "Carry on Croatia" double ententre. I can just hear Sid James' dirty laugh and Kenneth Williams intoning "oh Matron" as I write this. So, instead, I choked on my organic museli instead which is far more Lib Dem.

I have to say though that I'm a bit surprised to hear the news and also a little bit disappointed since I have always felt that our strong Europeanism was a distinguishing feature of our Party although I think we had allowed ourselves to become caracatured wrongly by our political opponents as wild-eyed Eurofanatics when the reality has been that we have been arguing for reform of EU institutions and genuine subsidiarity for as long as I can remember. Still, I am left with an uneasy sense that something distinctive has been lost today.

Clearly there has not been the hoped for convergence with Euroland. Much of my business this year has been working with the Euro and the slide of the pound against the Euro has been nothing short of remarkable (and has raised my business turnover significantly more than I had originally forecast).



On the other hand, joining the Euro might have been better for our longer term economic prospects. Sadly, once again we let the European ship leave the port before we decided to get aboard and I guess that although I will always in my heart wish to join the Euro, my head tells me that the moment to do so has passed.

Liberal Legend 2 Currently Available in China

I've had a bit of a shock. Either someone has cocked up somewhere or maybe, just maybe, someone has been listening and realised that censorship is not really on!?

This is my first post ever from Shenyang, China and the first time I have ever been able to read my blog here.

Hats Off to the Beijing Games Organisers

I have to say that that was one of the most spectacular Olympic Opening Ceremonies I can ever remember.

Congratuations to the organisers of the Beijing Games.

Lord Coe, I think you have your work cut out Sir!

A Bit of Fun

See more Adam "Ghost Panther" McKay videos at Funny or Die

Crossing the Line - Former Tory PPC for Watford Ian Oakley Pleads Guilty

Ian Oakley, the former Tory PPC for Watford has pleaded guilty to a significant number of charges related to intimidation of Sal Brinton, the Liberal Democrat PPC for Watford and a number of Liberal Democrat Councillors, activists and supporters.

There are a number of grave concerns here which need to be addressed:

Firstly, who knew what in the Tory campaign HQ in Watford and beyond? Was it really possible for an individual to act alone and wage a war of intimidation against political opponents and not be detected? Did some people in the Tory camp know what was going on and turn a blind eye or worse? Will there be further action against others?

Secondly, why has Conservative HQ sought to wash their hands of the affair when all the intimidation was undertaken whilst Oakley was both a Conservative Campaign Manager and a Parliamentary Candidate? Does David Cameron really believe that just because Oakley quit the party after he was arrested "that's OK then?".

Politics can be a very high pressure activity as those who have been involved in intensive political campaigns when you are fighting to win know all too well. Sometimes the ambition of certain individuals runs beyond their reason (and their ability) and the temptation to take short cuts (such as postal vote farming) or to attempt to intimidate political opponents (which was attempted on me at one point over a sustained period of time) and their supporters can go on.

The real tragedy of this sorry affair is that decent people might develop an even greater sense of alienation and apathy from the political process. Politics is supposed to be about people but if there are other Oakley's in political parties who is going to want to stand up and be counted? Do we really want a cut down form of democracy where the choice available to the electorate is limited and campaigning is stunted due to a small number of psychologically disturbed individuals, anti-democrats or thugs?

David Cameron and his Conservatives cannot wash their hands of this matter. If they truly are democrats then they must help all of us, of all political parties and none, who believe in democracy and pluralism to ensure that another Oakley cannot emerge and do it again. All political parties have had bad apples but it does no one any favours if we fail to learn lessons from this sorry affair.

How I Feel Sometimes......

I think this sums up my feelings from time to time.

You Were Warned!

I've been waiting for a public apology from a certain individual who made a generalised falsehood concerning myself in the 17th July 2008 edition of the Folkestone Herald, it's two other editions in Hythe and the Romney Marsh and on the internet. I believe that I have been generous and patient in waiting more than two weeks for a retraction and an apology to appear in a public format (e.g. the Folkestone Herald).

The individual concerned had already received a public warning from me that I would investigate taking further action. I have researched the laws of libel and believe that I would have a very strong case against you and also potentially against the newspaper concerned which clearly failed to check the accuracy of the statement before it was published. Indeed, the newspaper has, in my personal view, acted unfairly in not asking my side of that particular story and giving me the opportunity to reply to the statement that was made. I know that the Editor is not a foolish man and I suspect that he realises that an error has been made which would leave the paper open to legal action. This can be easily remedied through a simple act of goodwill on the newspaper's part. As a lifelong Liberal I am a strong believer in freedom of expression and only insist that statements made with regard to myself are fair and accurate and that when statements are made about me I am offered a right to reply.

Unfortunately, in light of the fact that this falsehood is both on the internet and has been discussed and brought to the attention of others in the public domain I am now left with no option but to take further action against the individual who made the statement concerned. I had already warned you about my views on the statement. In my view the statement is defamatory and needlessly and falsely damages my personal and more importantly, my professional reputation. Frankly it is downright malicious and I cannot for the life of me understand what you were thinking? Were you really unwise enough to think you were speaking "off the record"?

I will therefore be making a formal complaint in writing this week to Shepway District Council since I believe that the Code of Conduct for Councillors has been breached (after all, even though I am a member of Bromley and Chislehurst Liberal Democrats I am still a Shepway District Council Taxpayer and on the electoral roll in the town and run a business in Folkestone), lodging a complaint against you with Cowley Street and contacting the Editor of the Folkestone Herald in writing to ask for an apology and a retraction of the statement and its removal from the appropriate internet site.

Karadžić Before The Hague

Congratulations to the Serbian Government for sending Radovan Karadžić (a.k.a. Very Bad Santa) before The Hague yesterday.

Here's hoping that Ratko Mladić, Goran Hadžić and the other fugitives at large join him shortly. Here is a link to photos of these individuals and what they are alleged to have done.

I just wonder what bizarre disguises these guys are sporting and cover stories they are using. I suspect that they are probably also bizarre mystics living under everyone's noses. If you have anyone who claims that they studied YOGA in China that tends to be a MASSIVE GIVEAWAY!

Congratulations to President Tadić for his courage in doing the right thing. I hope that Serbia will be incentivised to further cooperate with The Hague and enable the international community to bring these individuals (I won't call them "men" as they are cowards who preyed on the vulnerable) to justice.

Who Thought They Had Really Changed?

I'm just reading David Batty's piece on the Guardian Online site on internet access for journalists who will be covering the Olympics in Beijing.

Surprise, surprise, the internet is being blocked by the paranoid authorities as usual. Did anyone really ever expect the Chinese Government to keep any promises on human rights and press freedom?

All the Chinese Communist Government has been interested in all along has been prestige and shoring up their "legitimacy" through an appeal to their domestic audience via the mechanism of the most prestigious international event going. They have once again put two fingers up to the free world and we have all been conned once again.

Liberalism - The Natural Friend Of Small Business (?)

As my friends will probably know, I have spent a considerable working in the small and medium enterprise research and development field, particularly internationally. I personally have always seen both the Liberal Democrats and liberalism as an ideology as being thoroughly compatible with the worldview of small business people given our historic and current emphasis on the freedom of the individual, concerns with excessive concentrations of power (hence the need for competition policy to mitigate the effects of excessive monopoly power on both consumers and producers), the desirability of self-reliance against dependency and our support for the idea of free trade. The very foundations of the party have made us reluctant, and rightly so, to be dependent on donations from large business and the trade unions. Historically the Tories have always been seen as the creatures of big business and Labour as the friends of the trade union movement. This has started to break down.

In fact, I would even be as bold to suggest that the Liberal Democrats ought to be seen as the natural champions and home of small business people for the pure and simple reason that our campaigning practice has in so many ways shown very enterprising characteristics. I was therefore a little bit surprised when several years ago I bought and read Conrad Russell's "An Intelligent Person's Guide to Liberalism" and noted that his chapter on economics was somewhat brief. I greatly admired Conrad and thought that this book was fantastic except in this one aspect.

Whilst I have been working in Croatia I have become aware that the EPP-ED Group has an SME Union which is effectively a federal forum of SME groups associated with Christian Democratic, Conservative and Centre-Right political parties. I am also concerned that the UK Tories have also tried to make the running a bit on SMEs with the Richards Report.

I know that there are a number of Liberal Democrats who are self-employed and there might be merit in starting an AO to represent our views on SME policy and the (sometimes needlessly difficult) business environment we face and what can be done to create a better business environment in which people can start, sustain and grow their own business.

There would also be strong merit in ALDE member parties and ALDE as a whole creating a representative body to represent the interests of Liberal small business people across the Union and showing why we are the natural friends of the small business community. After all, the EPP 9 reasons why small business people would vote EPP in next years European Parliamentary Elections are pretty insipid to put it mildly (actually, I think they are crap).

The fact that Cameron is about to engage in the usual Europhobic madness and pull out of the EPP group creates an opportunity for both British and European Liberals to become the natural representatives of small business. Let us grab this opportunity!

Come on Kent!

I'm thrilled that Kent have made it into the final of the Twenty-20 Cricket Cup today after an excellent performance earlier against Essex.

Best of luck to Rob Key and the lads for this evening's game against Middlesex!

My Condolences

I'd like to express my condolences to the family of Corporal Jason Barnes, Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers who sadly was killed in Helmand, Afghanistan earlier this week. As the brother of another serving REME soldier out there I am thinking of you at this time.

Very Bad Santa

Sorry I couldn't resist.

I'm very much looking forward to seeing this awful man on trial in The Hague. President Tadić has played a blinder so far. Come on Serbia, get Mladić and we may see you in the EU sooner rather than later.