Tag: Liberal Democrats

Liberal Democrat Chief Executive Chris Fox steps down

Liberal Democrat Party Chief Executive Chris Fox today announced he is to step down as Chief Executive in November. He stated “on a personal level I feel that now is the right time to move on. “. Lord Rennard, his predecessor as Chief Executive, was approachable friendly and genuinely cared about people and kept in … Continue reading “Liberal Democrat Chief Executive Chris Fox steps down”

Liberal Democrat Party Chief Executive Chris Fox today announced he is to step down as Chief Executive in November. He stated “on a personal level I feel that now is the right time to move on. “.

Lord Rennard, his predecessor as Chief Executive, was approachable friendly and genuinely cared about people and kept in touch with the grass-roots of the party.

Chris Fox on the other hand was a different type of person to Lord Rennard with a more aloof management style, the party headquarters will benefit from someone different ready to lead the party into the future challenges it faces. I look forward to finding out who it will be.”

The new address for the Liberal Democrats is 8-10 Great George Street, London, SW1P 3AE which they recently moved to from 4 Cowley Street, London SW1P 3NB.

Wirral Council – Wirral Council 23rd May 2011 – Part 12 – speech (Cllr Adrian Jones) on leader motion

Cllr Adrian Jones then said he hoped people would support the position that the Conservatives almost sought to prolong. He thanked Cllr Lewis for the gracious way [he referred to Labour in his speech] and his past association with Pat Hackett. He asked if Ian Lewis was willing to revise that. Cllr Ian Lewis replied that he wasn’t that desperate.

The Mayor said [following advice from the Borough Solicitor Bill Norman] that it was safest to have a separate vote first to remove the leader and then one on who the new leader would be rather than the motion as a whole.

The first vote was to remove Cllr Jeff Green and Leader of Wirral Council. This vote was along party lines.

Labour councillors (for) 30
Conservative councillors (against) 26
Lib Dem councillors (abstain) 9

So the vote was carried by four votes and Cllr Jeff Green was removed as Leader of Wirral Council. The next motion was to choose Steve Foulkes as leader of Wirral Council. A card vote was requested. The voting was against along party lines.

Labour councillors (for) 30
Conservative councillors (against) 26
Lib Dem councillors (abstain) 9

So the vote to appoint Cllr Steve Foulkes as Leader of Wirral Council was carried by 4 votes. In total from the start of the meeting it took 98 minutes to get to this point!

The Mayor asked Cllr Steve Foulkes if he accepted the nomination to be Leader of Wirral Council. He did.

Wirral Council – Wirral Council 23rd May 2011 – Part 10 – speech (Cllr Lesley Rennie) on leader motion/amendment

Cllr Rennie next to speak said “If it was true [in relation to the Foulkesworld Twitter account] she was really worried, however she thought it was the product of a twisted mind. She said there had been signs of progress and that never before had the Council, staff, officers and residents worked together. She said they had run things in an open and transparent manner and hoped it would continue. Never in [Wirral Council’s] previous history had there been such a wide consultation exercise. The wishes of the people had been carried out or if impossible they had been written to. The next administration had to engage openly and honestly. Cllr Green’s leadership had supported a strong and able Cabinet with the support of the Liberal Democrats. However not here today were three Lib Dem former Cabinet members [Gill Gardiner, Bob Moon, Simon Holbrook]. She was concerned that a new administration would take Wirral Council back to the “bad old days” driven by dogma.

She said whenever a party is in government that members of that party who are local councillors suffer. She referred to John Major telling Conservative councillors in 1995 to take a sabbatical and that it may be a while. After 24 years, Wirral Council was Conservative led, run for the people of Wirral. She took a dim view of the Lib Dems and said there were not nine empty seats as there had been in 1991. She said she couldn’t imagine they were elected to Wirral Council to sit on their hands. Cllr Rennie repeated they were not elected to sit on their hands, but thought perhaps they had lost the glue that kept them together under the strong leadership of Simon Holbrook, deputy leader Gill Gardiner, Bob Moon and Stuart Kelly (who had been to one Cabinet meeting). She said it would be a shame to be tearing things apart when they had been willing to challenge when necessary.

Wirral Council – Wirral Council 23rd May 2011 – Part 9 – speeches (Cllr Dave Mitchell & Cllr Chris Blakeley) on leader motion/amendment

Cllr Dave Mitchell (Deputy Leader, Lib Dem Group) said he had stood up against his own group regarding the library fiasco. No fingers had been burnt but soon he hoped it would be put to bed. The last administration had brought benefits to the people of Wirral. However we needed to look into the reality of the election and where [the Lib Dems] sit. He agree with Cllr Harney that they were now the smallest group. He said it was a cheap shot of the Conservatives as when they had been in opposition as the largest Group there had been all party support for a minority administration but they had turned it down.

Dave said they needed to move forward and the electorate had spoken. A tsunami had hit the Liberal Democrats, who were affected badly and had lost councillors as had the Conservatives. The Labour Party had fought on national issues not local issues. The Lib Dems would be making sure they were doing the right thing.

Cllr Chris Blakeley said it was an honour to be the last speaker. He said he won’t repeat what people have said. He thanked Cllr Green and the support from the Liberal Democrats. He said they had moved things forward in change local government as well as removing more items from exemption. They hadn’t waived as many call-ins. He said he was confused by the Lib Dems who had stated they were proud of their achievements over the last twelve months, but said there was a lot more to be achieved. He considered a Labour administration as a backward step.

Reminding people of the Strategic Change Programme, the Care Quality Commission report, swimming pools he pointed out that 60% of people hadn’t voted. If this was added to the people who had voted it was a mandate. He wanted to let people know about the FoulkesWorld Twitter account and said if this motion was agreed Wirral would go into Foulkes’ world.

Wirral Council – Wirral Council 23rd May 2011 – Part 8 – speech (Cllr Stuart Kelly) on leader motion/amendment

Cllr Stuart Kelly said he had heard what the Conservatives were saying. However it was frankly not enough to address and debate, when this should’ve been done in the closing weeks of the local election campaign. The points that had been made should’ve been put to the people. However the people had spoken. He thanked Cllr Ian Lewis for not mentioning him. Cllr Dave Mitchell also thanked him too. Cllr Kelly said that people vote for a raft of reasons. He said it was said many people voted for reasons that were not linked to success or otherwise but that was the way democracy was. The voters however knew best.

However, there were two critical things, the number of votes and the number of seats commanded. If they [Labour] had slightly more seats then they would have the critical seats needed for the formula. On both counts the Labour Party was the party with the most votes and seats. Wirral Council had invited the public to tell us and they had said No to AV and that they prefer FPTP. He said they must respect this. He referred to the Localism Bill and pointed out the opportunity to reconsider local government structure. He said a “strong leader [model]” was not for us and doesn’t work with a balanced Council. There was the option to reform the committee system to involve more councillors in the issues that had all-party support. He said he had not been in the Cabinet very long, but recognised its achievements and the way forward.