Exciting news live from the LDV Broom Cupboard in Birmingham’s ICC. News reaches us that Conservative MEP Edward McMillan-Scott has defected to the Liberal Democrats and will be joining us here at party conference. The MEP said today: “I have been around the higher circles of the Conservative party for long enough to fear that on Europe

Europe is likely to play a big role in tonight’s debate. It is probably the one issue that divides the Liberal Democrats and the Tories as much as electoral reform. Nick Clegg, a former MEP and adviser to then-EU Commissioner Leon Brittan, is a euro-enthusiast who would like Britain to join the Euro, even if it takes time. David Cameron is a euro-skeptic (though not, to the chagrin of many C...

In his interview with the FT, Nick Clegg says that the Lib Dems have been too “reticent” about making Europe a dividing line with the Tories. There’s little doubt that Clegg, a former MEP is an ideological pro-European. But if he starts banging on about Europe he’ll cause his party problems. The Lib Dems have several seats in the South West, one of the most Euro-sceptic reg...

The Spectator reports: Hague says he’s been held back on Europe by the Lib Dems William Hague’s comments in an interview with The Times that the Liberal Democrats are restraining the Tories on Europe will increase the grumbling among Tory backbenchers about the power of the junior coalition partner. I’ll file that in the ‘good

Whilst glancing at Liberal Democrat Voice I saw the post Welsh Lib Dems choose Alan Butt Philip as lead Euro candidate, leading to the announcement on their website "We can win" - says Welsh Lib Dem Euro candidate and the following caught my eye:Based on the 2007 Regional Assembly Election,(My emphasis)So according to the Liberal Democrats, the party full of more pedants than any other, Wales is a...

Following the endorsement of its sister paper the Observer and its leading columnist Polly Toynbee, the Guardian editorial today all-but formally recommends its readers vote for the Lib Dems in this Thursday’s Euro polls: The case for supporting the Liberal Democrats is now very strong. Anyone who believes Britain should be an engaged member of the

Jeremy Rowe’s blog has the news: Jan Powell, the widely respected Chair of Cornwall Council’s Health Committee, has joined the Liberal Democrat Group at County Hall. This has been as a result of the continuing disintegration of the Tory-led administration at the Council and also the work the Lib Dems have been doing locally and

Jo Christie-Smith is inviting entries for the new edition of Who's Who in the Liberal Democrats: Who’s Who in the Lib Dems is not just for Parliamentarians and the great and the good, they are already covered in the Lib Dems website (and even better on the new Lib Dem website that will be coming soon and I’ve had a sneak preview of). No, Who’s Who in the Lib Dems is also for...

Like all Liberal Democrats, I would never support a Tory government. Most of us have spent many years asking countless people to vote Lib Dem to “keep the Tories out”, but I actually think that’s exactly what we’ve done. Without the Liberal Democrats the Tories would have a majority now. So many Lib Dems seats are

I have just read of the death of former Tory MEP for Norfolk and Lib Dem member Paul Howell in a plane crash in Southern Africa. The EDP report HERE highlights what a character he was, and I can add nothing to that really other than to say in my many dealings with him, first when he joined the Lib Dems in 2001 (I handled some of the press) and subsequently when canvassing with him in North Norfolk...