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It’s been a fascinating — and characteristicaly bizarre — last 48 hours in the contest to become the Lib Dems’ London mayoral candidate. There was the first hustings, reported here on LDV by Simon McGrath, which attracted comments from Brian Paddick, and some robust thoughts from Lembit Opik’s campaign manager Ed Joyce. Further controversy was [...]

Lib Dem Voice has polled our members-only forum to discover what Lib Dem members think of various political issues, the Coalition, and the performance of key party figures. Over 500 party members have responded, and we’re currently publishing the full results. Tuffrey set to beat Opik for London mayoral nomination LDV asked: It’s thought that [...]

Lib Dem Voice has polled our members-only forum to discover what Lib Dem members think of the early race for the party presidency, the London mayoral selection, Trident, and the Labour leadership. Over 400 party members have responded, and we’re currently publishing the full results. LDV asked: The following names have been suggested as possible [...]

The official Lib Dem line on Andy Coulson, David Cameron’s director of communications, could not have been clearer prior to the election: this Voice headline from July 2009 gives the flavour – Huhne on Coulson: “either complicit or incompetent”. Yet the party leadership has been noticeably more reticent to comment on the most recent allegations, [...]

Last week it was Lib Dem MP Jeremy Browne has won his appeal against repaying £18,000 of expenses. Now fellow Lib Dem Lembit Opik has also had his appeal against repaying hundreds of pounds in parliamentary expenses allowed by Sir Paul Kennedy, the judge brought in to arbitrate on disputed claims. The BBC reports:
Montgomeryshire MP [...]

Almost two years ago, in the early weeks of Nick Clegg’s leadership, the Lib Dem parliamentary party managed to tie itself in knots over the question of whether to support a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty. In the end three frontbenchers, David Heath, Tim Farron and Alistair Carmichael, quit after defying the party’s three-line whip [...]

You’d have thought he’d be famous enough by now, but apparently not … The Independent reports:

Liberal Democrat MP Lembit Opik will complain to the Commons authorities today after his name was missed off a key internet search tool. The online of version of Hansard, which records everything said in Parliament, has a “search by Member” [...]

Getting on for a year ago, Lib Dem MP Lembit Opik began writing a regular political column in the Daily Sport. Thanks to Lib Dem blogger James Graham – who set up the Prawn Free Lembit blog, so that those of us who don’t touch the Sport’s casually misogynistic pages can follow his writings – [...]

Lib Dem MP Lembit Opik makes the argument in (where else?) his Daily Sport political column:

I AM delighted to see the Daily Sport taking a courageous and honest stand against the unwinnable and hopelessly expensive war in Afghanistan. The only WAY OUT is to PULL OUT. Then we can start talks with the other side [...]

Powys’s County Times has noted the sudden spate of spoof websites linking some 90 Lib Dem MPs and candidates to the Nazis: Every Lib Dem MP in the UK has fallen foul of one political blogger, who goes under the tag ‘Illiberal Democrat’, and has created a series of blogs which appear to link the [...]