Hughes News December 2007 - An exciting 2007 - and the prospect of great things in 2008

Written by Simon Hughes MP, Liberal Democrat Federal Party President on Tue 18th Dec 2007

What an exciting end to what by any assessment has been a very exciting domestic political year. First we had the long build-up to the very long Tony Blair goodbye. Then we had the strong Gordon Brown start, followed by indecision about the election and serious damage to his political reputation - with the nonsense of the belated Lisbon signing just making it all look worse. And in between we had the entirely unexpected resignation of Ming and the election campaign which has resulted in Nick Clegg becoming our new Leader. As we come to the beginning of the new year, there is absolutely all to play for in British politics.

As party members will know, I stated publicly that I was very happy to see either Chris or Nick elected and that either would be a good, strong and effective leader. But I also publicly declared that my support and my vote would go to Nick. So of course I am pleased that he has won. And I absolutely hold to my view that he will be a strong, energetic, charismatic and principled leader. The party can look forward to the next phase of its development with enthusiasm and confidence. There were those I know who criticised me for not remaining neutral in the campaign. I can understand this criticism, but I reject it. There is nothing in the rules that prevents elected party officers from declaring their support and I was confident that I would effectively and willingly work with either candidate if they won. But I had a strong view and I thought it right to make it public.

In any event we now move on as a united team to meet the challenges of the months ahead. We in Southwark are in good spirits because we have just defended one of our council seats against a strong Labour challenge and seen a swing to us in a borough where we have now been in minority or coalition government for over five years. We also saw the Conservative and Green votes significantly reduced. And I ought to add that our new councillor is none other than the excellent head of my constituency office Anood Al-Samerai!

Every election is an opportunity - and next year we therefore have many opportunities. In London Brian Paddick is gearing up his mayoral campaign, and after the new year break we will swing into action in every borough to increase our representation on the London Assembly and our share of the vote. The whole of Wales has local elections next year and I hope from our position of opposition in the Welsh Assembly we can move forward not only in the big cities like Cardiff and Swansea but also elsewhere across the country. Every one of the 36 English Metropolitan Boroughs has elections, so the new leader and our regional teams need to send out strong messages about the benefit of Liberal Democrats in government in urban England. 19 English unitary authorities - from Blackburn with Darwen to Wokingham - will also be voting on 1st May, and there are key Liberal Democrat battlegrounds in many of them. And 88 English district councils will also have elections. So there is no time to waste.

If people want to mark two national dates for the new year, then I hope all who can will come and participate at the LSE conference on 12th January (register by 31st December and save £10), and join us in the European City of Culture for our spring conference in Liverpool on the 7th-9th March. But I have one new and one recurring wish for you all for the new year. My new wish is that in each region in England, and in Scotland & Wales, we work out how to be much more effective in our regional and national media coverage of our activities, messages and successes. My recurrent wish is that with our new leader in place each member now goes out and signs up at least one member more during January and then keeps building the party in numbers and in strength. Happy Christmas to you all - and every best wish for a very successful new year.

Simon Hughes Federal President