nwhyte: Bloggers on the Lib Dem leadership

Nicholas (

nwhyte) wrote,
@ 2006-01-28 20:50:00

Entry tags:

lib dems, uk politics

Bloggers on the Lib Dem leadership
wwhyte commented re a previous entry that the Lib Dem bloggers appear to be drifting to Huhne. Much consultation of Icerocket reveals that in fact the honours are fairly even so far, though it's certainly the case that the bloggers backing Huhne are comparatively more heavyweight. Campbell's internet presence is being run by my old friend Martin Tod, which will certainly give him an edge in cyberspace - in so far as that helps...

Backing Campbell:
Peter of the Apollo Project
Stephen Tall
Joyce
Dave Smithson
Tim Hicks
Martin Tod
Chris

caribou95 here
Andy Darley
Dave Radcliffe
Iain Sharpe
Jimbo
Cicero
Owen Griffiths

Backing Hughes:
Rob Fenwick
Stephen Glenn
James Thompson
Helen Evison
Martin Turner

redfiona99 here
Matt Jenkins

hikari_neko here

blue_condition here
Barrie Wood

burkesworks (below)
Andrew Milton
Susanne Lamido
Peter Black
botheration

Backing Huhne:
Steve Guy

ig1234 here
Will Howells
Jonathan Calder
Richard Huzzey
Lynne Featherstone MP
Libertycat and Femme de Resistance
James Graham
Sandra Gidley MP
Jock Coats
Alex Foster
Nick Barlow
David Goodall
Edis Bevan
Alan Beddow
Chris Black
Me
Mark Valladares
Michael Hinett
Chris Keating
Simon Isledon

Not sure yet
Simon Mollan (leaning Campbell)

imperial_artist (leaning Campbell)

sinsir (leaning Hughes)
Simon Jerram (leaning Hughes)
Ryan Cullen
John Hemming MP
Ian Ridley (deciding between Huhne and Campbell)

dom (leaning Hughes)

Edited to add: I'm updating this entry as things move. When I originally published it on Friday 20 January, the blog count was 9 (and two leaning) for Campbell; 10 (and two leaning) for Hughes; and 10 (and two leaning) for Huhne.

It is now (28 January) 14 (and two leaning) for Campbell; 15 (and three leaning) for Hughes; and 22 for Huhne.

Best quote on Campbell, from

marnanel: "Fin and I were talking about yoghs (Ȝȝ) in bed last night."

(Post a new comment)

	blue_condition 2006-01-20 03:49 pm UTC (link)
	> blue_condition here and more cogently/less flippantly here (Reply to this) (Thread)

	nwhyte 2006-01-20 03:52 pm UTC (link)
	OK, have changed the link. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	burkesworks 2006-01-20 07:02 pm UTC (link)
	You can add my name to those firmly backing Hughes. I have serious doubts about the direction of the party that a figure like Huhne would steer it toward. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	nwhyte 2006-01-20 07:32 pm UTC (link)
	OK, have done so. (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	(Anonymous) 2006-01-24 02:07 pm UTC (link)
	Peter Black AM is another Blogger who is backing Hughes (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	nwhyte 2006-01-24 02:09 pm UTC (link)
	Not visible on his website. (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	(Anonymous) 2006-01-24 02:19 pm UTC (link)
	But listed on Simon's list of supporters (Reply to this) (Parent)

	nwhyte 2006-01-24 03:36 pm UTC (link)
	Tez, What is your problem with Huhne, if you don't mind my asking? Both Jonathan Calder and Joe Otten, neither of them exactly raving right-wingers even by the limited standards of the Lib Dems, have checked out his contribution to the famous Orange Book and both find that he is far from being a dangerous right-winger. (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

burkesworks
2006-01-24 11:25 pm UTC (link)

Too close to the likes of Cable, Laws and co, despite the refutation in the blogs quoted above (I'm familiar with Jonathan's, but haven't seen Joe's before and am impressed - thanks for the heads up). The problem I can see with a Huhne-led party lies not so much with Chris Huhne himself, but with the likelihood that it will indeed be Orange Bookers who pack the front benches. Cf. also Nick Clegg for similar reasons.

At least one bit of good has come of the Oaten affair, and that is the elevation of Alistair Carmichael to the Home Office spokesmanship; I've been very happy with his work against ID cards/the NIR in both the House and in Committee, and it's refreshing to see he shares my opinion of David Laws and his ilk.

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	srk1 2006-01-25 12:18 pm UTC (link)
	I don't think any leader will be able to avoid packing the frontbench with Orange Bookers, simply because they don't have enough reserves of talent in the parliamentary party to sideline them. I thought Kennedy was actually doing quite a decent job of harnessing their talents while keeping their more barking ideas at arm's length. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	nwhyte 2006-01-25 02:02 pm UTC (link)
	Laws is a signed up supporter of Campbell, not of Huhne! (As are most of the other Orange Book contributors. For what that's worth.) (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	burkesworks 2006-01-25 04:54 pm UTC (link)
	Interesting! Do you think Huhne would move him? (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	nwhyte 2006-01-25 04:57 pm UTC (link)
	I'm pretty sure any new leader will do a wholesale reshuffle, so it is hardly a fair question! (Of course, Campbell must be least likely to move one of his avowed supporters.) (Reply to this) (Parent)

	astrofiammante 2006-01-24 03:49 pm UTC (link)
	I worry that, although he seems very sound and articulate, he ain't winning the party any elections. (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	nwhyte 2006-01-24 03:54 pm UTC (link)
	Well, who is? Not convinced that Campbell or Hughes has visibly more to offer there... (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

astrofiammante
2006-01-24 04:02 pm UTC (link)

I take your point - but Kennedy was a huge electoral asset, he's been identified as psephologists as a major, major reason why people voted LD in 2005. The parliamentary party having taken the decision not to support him I feel that he needs to be replaced with someone who has at least a chance of maintaining Kennedy's popularity.

Having seen the four of them speak at Meeting the Challenge it was my personal view that Campbell and Hughes had it and that Oaten and Huhne did not - although I should stress that I was impressed with Huhne, I thought he had a lot of good qualities and was interested that he was the only one really prepared to talk about concrete policy.

This is a major factor in my decision to vote for Hughes. I stress, just a personal opinion. How terribly boring if we all thought the same, after all...

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

nwhyte
2006-01-24 04:07 pm UTC (link)

How terribly boring if we all thought the same, after all...

Indeed!!!!

Against Kennedy's personal appeal to voters, one has to set the negative (at least as reported to me by campaign insiders) that his hands-off style amounted to a lack of leadership and direction which depressed the vote. That, of course, is a counterfactual argument so there's no way it can be proved by opinion polls or any other means...

(Reply to this) (Parent)

	astrofiammante 2006-01-24 03:34 pm UTC (link)
	Backing Hughes - mine's a DJ blog called Botheration... (Reply to this) (Thread)

	nwhyte 2006-01-24 03:38 pm UTC (link)
	How should I cite it? (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

astrofiammante
2006-01-24 03:48 pm UTC (link)

Thanks for asking - that's appreciated. If you could list it as 'botheration' I would appreciate it. That's what's on the LD blog aggregator and I like to try to maintain a degree of separation between blogs thanks to work concerns.

URL: http://www.deadjournal.com/users/botheration/

Also,

_rand0m_ has declared for Ming. He's happy to be known by his real name of Andy Darley (I checked with him). His non-LJ blog is called 'and then he said' and can be found here: http://random-incident.journalspace.com/

Hope all this is what you need... Best wishes - Astrofiammante

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	_rand0m_ 2006-01-24 03:54 pm UTC (link)
	Just to confirm that I'm happy to be listed as my Beloved Other Half says above :o) (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	_rand0m_ 2006-01-24 03:56 pm UTC (link)
	Although now I look I see you have my LJ (a mirror of the "real" one) already there, so I guess it's just a case of a quick alteration. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	nwhyte 2006-01-24 03:55 pm UTC (link)
	Thanks. Had changed Andy already. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	I'm undecided biscit 2006-01-24 05:51 pm UTC (link)
	... but leaning hughes. My blog is http://blog.biscit.me.uk (Reply to this)

	Undecided (Anonymous) 2006-01-26 11:08 am UTC (link)
	I am still in the undecided camp My blog is at http://ballotsballsandbikes.blogspot.com/ Tony Ferguson (Reply to this)

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