The LibDem Leader of Wiltshire County Council, Ian Thorn, was recently asked by the council to write to the Transport Secretary about funding for the A303. Easy job…
He sent it to Shabana Mahmood by mistake. Something about piss ups and breweries…
The new deputy council leader of the London borough of Southwark is dating a man who was jailed for stealing £130,000 from his employer. Including almost £30,000 from a refugee charity…
Southwark Council is now run as of this week by a coalition from hell of the Greens and Liberal Democrats. Its deputy is now the LibDem group leader Victor Chamberlain, whose longtime partner, Simon Burke, was convicted in July 2021. And jailed for two and a half years…
Reports from the time said Burke “worked as an events director in Milton Keyes and used his position to doctor invoice payments to display his own bank details.” He was found to have taken £103,660.80 from the company for his own financial gain and also “de-frauded £28,000 from the company which was intended to be donated to a charity to help refugees in another country.” He was arrested on 11 December 2019 and was charged on 11 March 2020…
Investigating officer PC Jonathan Holt said at the time:
“What makes this crime even more shocking is that he was willing to take money that was earmarked for a charitable donation, which would have helped vulnerable refugees in need of aid in a foreign country.
I am satisfied that Burke has been sentenced and that he has faced up to his crime by pleading guilty.”
In 2024 Burke went on to open an “inclusive LGBTQ+ pub with a cabaret stage” the borough of Southwark called The Rising, which features on Chamberlain’s register of interests. It received permission from Southwark Council in the same year to open “London’s first LGBTQ+ cinema.” He “decided to take over the lease to create this swanky venue – despite never having owned a pub before”…
Chamberlain is also chairman of the council-run Pride in Southwark programme. Next month an official council-supported Pride “after-party” will take place at his boyfriend’s bar. Welcome to your new council…
Speaking to ITV LibDem MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough Tom Gordon was excoriating about Ed Davey after the party lost votes in the North:
“It’s really frustrating when we hear the party leadership and Ed Davey talking about the LibDems has been the antidote to Reform. Well, in places like Wakefield where Reform had beaten us. I think we need a better message. And quite frankly, when we’re seeing stunts about drinking, you know, Labour and the Tories need to wake up and smell the coffee. Quite frankly, so do Liberal Democrats too because all’s not rosy with us up here in North.”
Talk has gone around for months that the LibDem MPs are growing increasingly unhappy with Davey. Everyone wants their own slice of leadership drama today…
Ed Davey’s advert for a new personal Chief of Staff has garnered a limited number of applications. Not much appetite in running the Labour meek coalition partner vehicle…
“The Chief of Staff is the Leader’s principal strategic adviser and senior aide, responsible for ensuring the effective operation of the Leader’s Office and supporting the Leader in delivering the Party’s political, parliamentary, electoral and organisational objectives.
This is a pivotal leadership role requiring political judgement, discretion, strategic oversight, and the ability to operate at pace in a complex, high-profile environment.”
Ed is looking for someone to run the entire LibDem operation with:
As of the end of Easter only 26 people had applied for the job on LinkedIn. Do you want to work for the most boring man in British poli- oh, have I lost you?
Ed Davey used one of his only two PMQs questions to accuse GB News of being “Reform propaganda“, and called for even more Ofcom censorship to stop GBN somehow “turn[ing] our great country into their vision of Trump’s America“. Just four days ago he gave a long form interview to the channel’s Chief Political Correspondent Katherine Forster, in which he repeatedly attacked Trump, insisted the US president was “out of control“, and claimed the “Liberal Democrats have answers“. This clip aired multiple times and was shared across the channel’s social media platforms to millions of people.
Apparently this is not good enough for Ed. Ofcom or even the Prime Minister needs to get involved. Forster was also the only national broadcaster to bother going to the LibDems’ spring conference. Given how terrible it was, maybe Davey wanted Ofcom to ensure absolutely no one knew it even happened…
He complains about never getting enough media coverage and then does this as soon as the mics are finally on. Even Sky News gave up. And just as he was talking about standing up to Elon Musk. It was going so well…
Former leader of the SNP in Westminster Ian Blackford told Times Radio why he believes Nicola Sturgeon’s claim that she spent no time in the kitchen and therefore didn’t see any of her husband’s purchases:
“She doesn’t have a passion for cooking.”