Rare drama at the LibDem Bournemouth snoozefest this afternoon as NIMBYs and YIMBYs go to battle over Ed Davey’s plan to scrap housing targets and woo South East voters from their natural Tory allegiances. Close eyes on Dorries’ Mid Bedfordshire…
Tim Farron was rolled out to give an impassioned attack on the yoof wing of his party for proposing to restore the 380,000 a year target, decrying the proposal as “pure Thatcherism“. He blasted the libertarian zealots in charge of the Young Liberals: “This is the most right-wing thing that I’ve seen at party conference since we sent Liz Truss off to go and work undercover“. Guido commends the man who has spent his “life fighting Thatcherism” for taking the torch to evil anarcho-capitalist housing goals. The only regret is that his mic was cut off before he could finish…
A pro-housing speaker noted that the LibDems took on national targets two years ago and asked: “Tim, were we Thatcherites then?” Some young members are seen wearing T-shirts with the shocking slogan “Build More Bloody Houses.” Other speakers bravely stood against the rebels on the grounds that building that many houses is “much more complicated” than it seems. Expert contributions to the housing debate we’ve all been waiting for…
UPDATE: The housing targets amendment and the motion have both been passed. Ed Davey defeated by Thatcherite youth at his own party conference…
Housing minister, Rachel Maclean, today steps into the fray to intervene in Spelthorne Borough Council’s decision to abandon their pledge to construct 9,000 new homes. In a fiery letter to leader of the Council, Cllr Sexton, Maclean wrote that she is to follow the below directions:
- Do not prevent the Council from deciding to continue progressing the plan through examination; and
- (This) will remain in force until withdrawn by the Secretary of State.
The letter ended in a stern warning to the Council leader that should she ignore these directions, she would take “further intervention action to ensure that an up-to-date local plan is in place“. Another crusader joins the fight against NIMBYism…
A government source tells Guido:
“This is another example of duplicitous LibDems blocking new homes. Just like Labour, they play politics and will not take decisions in the long term interests of families and young people. They are not fit to govern.”
Read the full letter below:
The LibDems have deployed yet another of their trademark photo-ops following their by-election win in Somerton and Frome. This time, Ed Davey and Sarah Dyke provided bread and circuses as they lit a prop cannon, emblazoned with the phrase “get these clowns out of No.10”. Ed exclaimed “it’s time to end this Conservative circus”. Only one person was made to look like a clown…
The suspension of Bambos Charalambous today has taken the number of suspended whipless MPs up to 16, that’s 2 more than the 14 Liberal Democrats have left standing. Guido wonders if the independents might join together as a merry band of misfits…
If the assorted miscreant gropers, weirdos and sleazy MPs were to join forces and create their own party, the political gangsters could score a share of a massive million pound bonus, collecting more Short Money than the Lib Dems’ £929,590.68 annual allowance. They would be entitled to spend the money on pretty research assistants or whatever else took their fancy. Most of them have crashed to the end of their political careers, so what have they got to lose? They’d be laughing all the way to the bank…
In the interest of “tax transparency“, LibDem Leader Ed Davey has quietly published a one-page summary of his tax returns for the past two years. Not that you’d know it: there’s been zero coverage and no mention on Davey’s – or the LibDems’ – social media profiles. The “tax transparency” page is currently impossible to find anywhere on the website, including “latest news”, unless you have the direct link…
The “summary” shows he paid £18,043 in income tax in 2020-21, and £18,011 in 2021-22, with employment earnings of just under £77,000 for both years:
This however doesn’t include any of the income paid to his personal services company, which according to his register of interests page, amounted to £78,000 a year for Davey’s work as an adviser to law firm and energy company between July 2017 and February 2022. That company, Energy Destinations Limited, filed for voluntary liquidation in June 2022 with £65,000 cash in the bank and total assets of £110,019. It also paid £20,000 in dividends in 2021, and £47,000 the year prior. 
The dividends also appear to have been paid in a tax efficient way to his wife, E J Davey, who’s the sole director and secretary, and not to be confused with Sir E J Davey. Not that you’d know any of this from Davey’s “summary” today. Nonetheless, the LibDems told Guido “Transparency is really important and that is why Ed wanted to make his tax return public on our website”…
An axed LibDem candidate’s crowd funder to sue his own party for “harassment” over being deselected has raised just £450 of its £50,000 target – despite restarting the fundraiser in January after failing to meet its target the first time.
David Campanale, a former BBC journalist who was sacked as the candidate for Sutton and Cheam in November – allegedly “because of his Christian values” and former membership of the Christian People’s Alliance – is now trying to take on his former colleagues in the court. Colleagues who, according to the donation page, are “a mob of intolerant, illiberal culture war activists“. That should have been fairly obvious before joining the LibDems…
