Jo Swinson, Julian Huppert & David Laws top Lib Dem members’ reshuffle promotion wish-list
by Stephen Tall on August 23, 2012
Lib Dem Voice polled our members-only forum recently to discover what Lib Dem members think of various political issues, the Coalition, and the performance of key party figures. Some 500 party members have responded, and we’re publishing the full results.
LDV asked: Which backbench Lib Dem MPs who are not current ministers would you like to see promoted? (Please write-in.) (NB: I’ve set the cut-off for inclusion in this list at 5 individual mentions.)
-
Jo Swinson 77
Julian Huppert 73
David Laws 66
Tim Farron 25
Duncan Hames 21
Simon Hughes 19
Andrew George 16
Tessa Munt 16
Charles Kennedy 12
Chris Huhne 12
Jenny Willetts 12
Tom Brake 10
Adrian Sanders 9
Greg Mulholland 9
Stephen Williams 9
John Pugh 8
Malcolm Bruce 8
Stephen Gilbert 8
Ian Swales 6
Martin Horwood 6
Norman Lamb 6
John Leech 5
John Thurso 5
Menzies Campbell 5
There’s little doubt which three Lib Dem backbench MPs are the clear favourites of our sample of party members to merit promotion to government posts: Jo Swinson, Julian Huppert and David Laws each received write-in mentions from approximately one-quarter of the c.280 members who responded to this question.
Some respondents were conflicted about naming any backbenchers for government posts: “keep them untainted with the future in mind!” was one refrain that echoed. A couple of those who feature above — notably, Julian and Tim Farron — were also named as individuals whose current roles (fighting the Draft Communications Bill and being Party President respectively) were too important to see them lost to a mid-ranking government post.
Besides Julian, Duncan Hames (aka Mr Jo Swinson) and Tessa Munt were the highest-rated of the 2010 entrants. Chris Huhne’s return was seen by those who named him as contingent on being acquitted of the ‘perverting the course of justice’ charges he faces.
* Stephen Tall is Co-Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice, a Research Associate for the liberal think-tank CentreForum, and also writes at his own site, The Collected Stephen Tall.
13 comments
New from me > Jo Swinson, Julian Huppert & David Laws top Lib Dem members’ reshuffle promotion wish-list http://t.co/IBNdCciB
by Stephen Tall on August 23, 2012 at 7:43 am. #
New from me > Jo Swinson, Julian Huppert & David Laws top Lib Dem members’ reshuffle promotion wish-list http://t.co/IBNdCciB
by Daisy Benson on August 23, 2012 at 7:46 am. #
New from me > Jo Swinson, Julian Huppert & David Laws top Lib Dem members’ reshuffle promotion wish-list http://t.co/IBNdCciB
by Mike Pitt on August 23, 2012 at 8:00 am. #
More LD members want Julian Huppert promoted to cabinet than want David Laws back http://t.co/5emal1Te
by Sarah Whitebread on August 23, 2012 at 8:08 am. #
More LD members want Julian Huppert promoted in reshuffle than want David Laws back http://t.co/5emal1Te
by Sarah Whitebread on August 23, 2012 at 8:11 am. #
More LD members want Julian Huppert promoted in reshuffle than want David Laws back http://t.co/5emal1Te
by Chris White on August 23, 2012 at 8:12 am. #
RT @stephentall: Jo Swinson, Julian Huppert & David Laws top Lib Dem members’ reshuffle promotion wish-list http://t.co/b9Qg4c2X
by Josh Harris on August 23, 2012 at 8:13 am. #
More LD members want Julian Huppert promoted in reshuffle than want David Laws back http://t.co/5emal1Te
by Caroline Pidgeon on August 23, 2012 at 8:32 am. #
More LD members want Julian Huppert promoted in reshuffle than want David Laws back http://t.co/5emal1Te
by Chris Sams on August 23, 2012 at 8:32 am. #
More LD members want Julian Huppert promoted in reshuffle than want David Laws back http://t.co/5emal1Te
by Tim Lennon on August 23, 2012 at 8:36 am. #
More LD members want Julian Huppert promoted in reshuffle than want David Laws back http://t.co/5emal1Te
by Richard Kemp CBE on August 23, 2012 at 9:31 am. #
New from me > Jo Swinson, Julian Huppert & David Laws top Lib Dem members’ reshuffle promotion wish-list http://t.co/Qtn6LAAP
by Stephen Tall on August 23, 2012 at 10:43 am. #
New from me > Jo Swinson, Julian Huppert & David Laws top Lib Dem members’ reshuffle promotion wish-list http://t.co/uHx2ZG5J
by Stephen Tall on August 23, 2012 at 1:43 pm. #