It seems it's not only Gordon Brown who's good at making enemies of the ladies and gentlemen of the press. At the LibDem hustings between TweedleClegg and TweedleHuhne, journalists are only allowed in to hear their ten minute speeches. They're then gently ushered out of the room before Mr Beard and Mrs Sandals ask questions. As a consequence, many journalists are threatening to boycott the events.
At the twelve Conservative leadership hustings in 2005 the press were allowed in to the whole event. Who's the liberal party now then?!
10 comments:
Maybe they want to avoid the embarrassment of all the journalists falling asleep if they're allowed to stay longer?
Marvellous website seeking 'Justice for Leyton Ward'. It's worth visiting just to observe the truly staggering levels of self-deception and cant.
So Grell, having been rightly convicted of quite disgusting behaviour is now saying that her Ward has been "denied Justice". Really? So if she went out on the streets an blew away, say, half a dozen OAPs with a MAC 10 and - after due process of law - was banged up, her position would be that her Ward was "denied Justice"?
Which particular planet is this woman on? What sort of twisted logic is it that says when a councillor (advisedly) is convicted of any crime, his or her Ward is subject to that sentence as well? Astounding!
Maybe all her apologists should band together to provide a fund for her appeal, after all, it'll make for huge entertainment. But they should be darn careful that, a) the accounts are independently vetted and, b) they do not align themselves with this crackpot position. It will be very interesting to see what the Appeal Court says. I look forward to attending the session and hearing the judgement.
Grell's website says "My previous professional experiences have included working as a Senior Policy Advisor to the conciliation service Acas, at the Trades Union Congress (TUC) as a research assistant in its EU & International Relations department, and at the European Commission in Brussels, as a trainee speechwriter to Anna Diamantopoulou, the European Commissioner for Employment and Social Affairs (1999 - 2004). I have also spent some time at the GMB and Amicus trade unions and at the European Parliament in Brussels, where I shadowed Claude Moraes MEP, Labour Member for London.
My political heros are The Suffragettes, the Tolpuddle Martyrs, Harriet Tubman and Barbara Castle." She's also apparently a member of the board of Compass, who have seen no reason to ask her to step down.
Maybe these individuals and organisations have enough political sense to disassociate themselves from this unprincipled and dangerous woman. Then again, maybe not.
err no they weren't.. well certainly not at the hustings I was at.
Nothing in the principles of liberalism says that you should let the press in to hear such a thing. To say the press must be allowed in is in fact illiberal as it negates property rights.
Whether its a PR cock up or not is another matter though...
What happens if you are a journalist AND a Liberal Democrat member? Or a LibDem blogger? It's totally mad.
The Frimley Green husting in 2005 certainly kept the press firmly outside on the doorstep.
But I thought Nick Clegg was saying that they should be 'looking outwards not inwards' or 'extrovert not introvert' or some words to that effect ? Or have I gotten hold of the wrong end of the stick ??
I AM a journalist and a Lib Dem member, and I certainly intend to attend...
They're not TweedleClegg and TweedleHuhne, they're Tweedlelibdem and Tweedlelibdum. Do get it right. Your account suggests that, on a good day with clear visibility, one may differentiate between the two. Alas, not so.
Isn't TweedleHuhne somewhere near Manchester...
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