Thank You December 15, 2007
Posted by in : Campaign , comments closedThanks to everyone who visited LibDems4Chris over the past few weeks. The party has been lucky to have two excellent contenders, but we’re still hoping Chris will emerge the winner on Tuesday.
Special thanks to the team who worked on this blog, Nick Barlow (who designed it), Sean McMahon (who beautified it), Paul Walters and Rob Fenwick (who both wrote much of it).
If you want to be 100% sure that your vote will be counted, post it today! December 13, 2007
Posted by in : Campaign , comments closedWhat with the Christmas post and all, you should stick a first class stamp on your ballot paper and send it back today (tomorrow absolute latest). If you haven’t got a stamp, send it back today and cross your fingers!
Chris’s campaign team are absolutely convinced that that the contest is close. It really could come down to just a couple of thousand votes – so we need to do everything we can to boost last minute turnout.
As you may have seen on www.chris2win.org, their polling suggests a strong late surge in support for Chris – we need to maximise that momentum.
Please use your local knowledge to search out potential Chris supporters who haven’t yet voted and persuade them to get their ballot papers in.
To help you win over your friends, you may like to point them to any of the resources below.
Chris Huhne on why you should vote for him, in 2 minutes:
Polling confirms Huhne surge:
http://www.chris2win.org.uk/news/000168/new_figures_confirm_huhne_surge.html
Chris and Nick on the Today programme:
http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/radio4/today/today_20071204-0758.mp3
Chris answers questions from party members (video):
http://snipurl.com/1uycj
Chris’s manifesto:
http://www.chris2win.org.uk/pages/manifesto.html
Two more MPs back Huhne December 12, 2007
Posted by in : News , comments closedMPs Matthew Taylor (Truro and St. Austell) and John Leech (Manchester Withington) are now on board for Chris – confirming that his momentum is continuing to grow.
Matthew Taylor said:
“I have taken my time to decide this time, because both candidates have excellent qualities. The pressures of the campaign hustings, interviews and debates reveal a lot about leadership quality, and over and over Chris Huhne has shown experience counts when it matters most – under pressure.
“I am sure Nick Clegg will one day make an excellent leader too, but Chris has shown that he has right now what it takes to win in the toughest arena of them all, head to head with the other Party leaders. Taking on Gordon Brown, and side-lining the Conservatives, is a tough call, and I think Chris Huhne has shown himself the best equipped to do it. “
Matthew Taylor said:
“I have taken my time to decide this time, because both candidates have excellent qualities. The pressures of the campaign hustings, interviews and debates reveal a lot about leadership quality, and over and over Chris Huhne has shown experience counts when it matters most – under pressure.
“I am sure Nick Clegg will one day make an excellent leader too, but Chris has shown that he has right now what it takes to win in the toughest arena of them all, head to head with the other Party leaders. Taking on Gordon Brown, and side-lining the Conservatives, is a tough call, and I think Chris Huhne has shown himself the best equipped to do it. “
Chris’s call on climate chaos December 11, 2007
Posted by in : News , comments closedI was holed up in bed with man flu over the weekend and so missed Chris addressing the climate change rally in central London, but extracts from his speech are now available on his campaign web site.
Liberal Democrat leadership contender Chris Huhne called for the international community to by-pass the Bush White House if that is what it takes to achieve an ambitious new treaty on climate change.
At last Bush is isolated. His is the only government not to send a high-level delegation to Bali. Across America ordinary Americans are saying enough is enough, and taking environmental action into their own hands.
“In 10 months, 27 days and a little over 8 hours Americans will elect a new President. And I am confident that whoever replaces the toxic Texan will begin to face up to the reality of climate change.”
Toxic Texan? The alliterations just keep coming…
Chris Huhne’s national appeal December 10, 2007
Posted by in : Uncategorized , comments closedAs we head in to the closing four or five days of voting, I thought it was about time the leadership election had a Google Map!
I’ve taken a sample of 15% of the members of the Chris Huhne This Time Facebook group and plotted their geographic location in Google Maps – you can click through the results here.
The map shows that from Aberdeen to Aberystwyth, Chris Huhne is picking up support from Liberal Democrat members. Chris has national appeal.
The use of blue pins isn’t a subliminal message, it’s the default colour of the pins in Google Maps!
The map gives a flavour of Chris’s nationwide support, though a few caveats should be noted.
* As the data is based on Facebook information, we can usually only show areas where there are Facebook networks or major universities, which explains why there is a big gap around the Scottish / English border, and in the Highlands and islands of Scotland. It also explains why there aren’t more pins around Chris’s constituency! If there are no pins in your area or county, this is the most likely reason.
* No exact addresses have been used, so someone who is in the Sheffield network has had their pin dropped somewhere on Sheffield, but the same is also true of Wales – a larger geographical area.
* If you’re pinned on the map and don’t agree with where your pin has been placed, please e-mail me and I’ll be happy to move it or remove it, but please note I will only accept e-mails directly from the individual(s) concerned.
Independent on Sunday: police call in Audit Commission to investigate Abrahams planning application after talking to Chris Huhne December 9, 2007
Posted by in : Media , comments closedThere are about five days left to go in this leadership election, and the party is split in two – between those who are calling for a longer election, and those who’d like the whole thing to be over now!
A look at Google News suggests the Sunday papers fall in to the latter category. They haven’t commented much on the leadership election, but Chris has popped up in a few places.
Today’s Independent on Sunday says:
Durham Police last week opened talks with the Audit Commission, the spending watchdog, over the circumstances under which the scheme was granted planning permission, after a lengthy meeting with Liberal Democrat leadership contender Chris Huhne.
Chris has made an appearance in the letters page of Scotland’s Sunday Herald:
Constitutional commissions for Scotland are suddenly in fashion. In the past 10 days, three leading politicians – Wendy Alexander, Chris Huhne and Annabel Goldie – have called for some kind of commission to be set up. They are not alone.
In Wales on Sunday, Chris has become the benchmark of a politician with media presence!
No-one has demanded Mr Hain’s resignation. Not even Chris Huhne, the publicity-hungry candidate for the Lib Dem leadership. Only some of the more excitable members of the blogging world have demanded he quit.
Five days to go…
Acting leader Vince Cable says leadership race is “very close” December 9, 2007
Posted by in : Uncategorized , comments closedOne of many things on which we can all agree is that Vince Cable has shone as acting leader of the party. This morning he gave a ten minute interview to Andrew Marr covering defence, the economy (including house prices) and the leadership contest which he described as “very close”. You can watch the interview here.