Open. Tolerant. United: Tim Farron's speech to #ldconf

I know that my blogging here has become quite infrequent - but I do still intend to make the occasional post. Like this one. As is my wont, I live-tweeted from the leader's speech at Lib Dem Conference, and have collected these tweets in a Storify for your enjoyment.

For those who want more, and more regularly, you can find additional writings on my public Facebook page, including my "quick takes" following the speech.

Tim Farron's Conference Speech Autumn 2015 in Tweets

A Storify of my tweets from Tim Farron's first conference speech as leader of the Liberal Democrats.

My Speech to Lib Dem Conference on Human Rights

Yesterday I gave my second speech at Lib Dem Conference, on Human Rights.

I fear it was better on paper than in delivery - and as the video is not yet online, I've opted to share the text of what I (largely) said.

Conference,

Later today there will be a consultative session on our Governance Review. One of the things being asked in that is whether the preamble to our constitution fully reflects our values and beliefs.

I’m sure that many of you can quote the extract from the preamble that is printed on membership cards. I have mine here: 

“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 shall be enslaved by poverty, ignorance or conformity.” 

Conference, protecting Human Rights is key to achieving this. 

But the preamble doesn’t end there, and this party’s commitment to building a Liberal – with both a small and a capital L - society doesn't stop at our borders. We are an outward looking international party. 

Further on, the preamble continues: 

“We look forward to a world in which all people share the same basic rights, in which they live together in peace and in which their different cultures will be able to develop freely.”

This motion is about our Human Rights but it is about much, much more:

How we act as a society has an impact beyond our shores.

How can we advocate internationally for democracy, the rule of law, the fair treatment of minorities, LGBT+ rights and full equality for all: male, female, intersex, black, white, gay, straight, bisexual, and the rights of those of faith and those of none, if we don't protect these rights for our own citizens.

Conference,

The world is a complex place. We face threats to Human Rights from new and disparate forces.

ISIS: further destabilising the Middle East with their barbaric and merciless regime. 

Assad, using Chemical Weapons against his civilians.

Putin, annexing European territory and implementing anti-LGBT+ legislation.

But we also face threats at home.

Here in the UK there are those who seek to demonise and marginalise the poor. From those that rail against extremists and seem to favour summary deportations. From those who talk of “swarms” of migrant; who deny refugees dignity and respect and would sooner build a drawbridge they could raise than countenance Britain accepting at least 10,000 refugees a year, as this conference voted for on Sunday.

And these, generally speaking, are the people who would scrap the Human Rights Act and pull Britain out of the European Convention on Human Rights. Who regard the even handed application of rights as “political correctness gone mad.” 

John Donne said “Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind” – and the same is true of Human Rights. 

That is why we defend the fair treatment of those that sin against society: for terrorists, criminals, and those accused of acting against the common good. That is why we defend Civil Liberties for all. That is why we have grave reservations at reports of extra-judicial killing and that is why we have respect for the rule of law – nationally and internationally. 

Conference, I urge you to support this motion. When it comes to Human Rights: Britain must lead – and if others are going to follow us, Britain must be leading in the right direction.

#WeCan build a Liberal Britain - Clegg's Spring Conference Speech

My now traditional Storify of the Leader's Conference Speech:

My Live Tweets from Clegg's Speech yesterday

Here's a collection of my tweets from the hall during Nick Clegg's speech to Liberal Democrat Conference yesterday.

Andrew

Third Time Lucky...

Twice previously on this blog, I've related tales of having put a card in to speak at Liberal Democrat Conference only for me not to be selected. You can read about those instances here and here.

Well, today I broke my duck. I was called to speak in a debate on a motion containing measures to reform the banking market and availability of finance to small and medium sized enterprises. I spoke in favour of the motion, and an amendment that, in part, sought to promote the role of peer to peer lending in corporate lending.

Here it is...

Andrew

Belated #ldconf reflections

Eagle-eyed readers will have noted that my posts from Lib Dem Conference petered out after day two. There were two reasons for that - general busy-ness, and alcohol/late nights. Following conference, I spent a couple of days at home with my folks and seeing my nephew.

And now I'm home. Enthused, upbeat and ready for a fight.

So, what did I make of it? All in all, I had a great conference, mixing time in the hall with training, some very good fringes and various social events and receptions. I learnt new things and re-visited old issues. And I got a lot of photos of the back of Nick Clegg's head. Here a few random observations from my week.

Nick was fantastically relaxed: I saw him on five occasions, not counting all the times he ended up two rows in front of me in the hall, and every time he seemed to be relaxed and comfortable. Whether it was acting as Paddy's glamorous assistant at the Lib Dem Voice Awards, engaging in banter at the ALDC reception, summating in the Economy debate, conducting a Q&A in a packed auditorium, or in his keynote speech; he was a man at ease in his own skin, and at ease with spending time with his party.

Twitter can be a blessing: I got a tweet towards the end of conference heralding my position (then 4th) in this chart of "influencers leading the conversation at Lib Dem Conference". Very flattering, even if it didn't mean very much in the grander scheme of things.

...and a curse: Whatever the merits of my tweeting, however, any pompousity it may have prompted was pricked by a friend spotting that the BBC had chosen to report a tweet (on this page, at 10.33am)relating how I had skipped a couple of hours of conference to get a bit more kip!

The SECC may not be the best conference venue: Whilst the Clyde Auditorium (or Armadillo) is a lovely hall, with nice comfy seats, the decision to use it (together with a suite of rooms within the old SECC and the Crowne Plazza) rather than the main conference centre led to delegates having to negotiate a bewildering labyrinth of corridors. In addition, the SECC is slightly from local attractions when compared with centres by conferences elsewhere.

There was an obvious (and welcome) Scottish dimension: Being in Scotland must have enabled more Scottish delegates than normal (witness the stage invasion for "Flower of Scotland" at Glee club) and this was reflected on the floor of conference. Next year's referendum cast a long shadow on many of the debates.

...and the Rally was truly Federal: It was good to see Kirsty Williams and Katy Gordon giving the Welsh and Scottish perspectives rather than just the Westminster/England/UK view.

Even the key "leadership v the party" debates weren't acrimonious: This must have really annoyed the press who, undoubtedly, written lots of advance copy on how the party had torn itself apart in the key debates. In the end this hasn't happened - even if not everyone is necessarily happy with the results. Additionally, as far as I can tell only two members (Matthew Oakeshott and Mathew Hulbert*) have publicly called on Clegg to go.

Clegg's speech was a good 'un: At least it was from my perspective, setting out the basis of our election pitch for 2015. As ever with leaders' speeches, there are those who would like to see more substance - and I do hope that follows in the months ahead. For now, though, I think it hugely better than at spring conference and stronger than the previous approach to the "Stronger Economy, Fairer Society" slogan.

Fixed Odds Betting Terminals need some serious examination: Our conference lanyards were sponsored by the Campaign for Fairer Gambling - and I had a good conversation with the organisers at their exhibition stand. The concentration of betting shops in, predominantly, impoverished areas (along with pawn brokers and pay-day lenders) is largely down to FOBTs. It is worth noting that conference backed a policy to put betting shops in their own licensing class.

Andrew

* Mathew Hulbert has now retracted this call: here.

#ldconf Day 2

I've already blogged today regarding the F17 debate and the speech I would have made. This, therefore is a quick round up of the other things I did - as told through an edited version of my tweets and retweets of the day. A full storify of my tweets from the Electoral Reform Society fringe on Lib Dem policy in the event of a European Referendum can be found here.

Before I go any further, though, I was taken to task for not mentioning in yesterday's summary that I had seen and chatted to Steven Lambert, the leader of the Lib Dem group in Aylesbury. I am happy to rectify this gross oversight.

Here, without any more ado, are my tweets of the day:

#ldconf Day 1

So, after staying in the conference bar rather later than intended, I'm hastily typing this before getting ready to head out to the SECC for day 2 of this years Liberal Democrat Conference. Or rather, Conferences.

Yesterday I spent a couple of hours in the Scottish Liberal Democrat conference - which was being run concurrently with the start of Federal Conference in order to take advantage of so many people already coming to the Glasgow. It was nice to see the State Party at work - and the highlight was a speech from George Lyon MEP.

Most of the rest of my day was spent in various training sessions with the lunchtime CentreForum fringe on Britain in Europe providing food for thought. The resounding message from that was best summarised by Martin Horwood. With respect to any referendum, "We should be the party of 'in'".

Conference rally - themed around our "A Million Jobs" campaign - was compered by the inimitable Alistair Carmichael with contributions from Paddy Ashdown (always good value, even when you've heard much of it before), Katy Gordon (one of our Scottish PPCs), Kirsty Williams (who almost made me feel sorry for Lembit) and, of course, Nick himself. For me the most striking thing was how Rally had embraced both State Parties - a good reminder of our own federal structure and federal vision for the UK.

After rally, I went to the joint CentreForum and Social Liberal Forum fringe on green investment policy - here are my tweets:

Andrew