Does he have a blog, do you know, Jonathan?

A quick look around their website (Link)suggests that they are not all good..

THE Liberal Party looks forward to a world in which all peoples live together in peace under an effective and democratically constituted World Authority. To this end it sees this country as committed to supporting and strengthening the United Nations, and working steadfastly for the eventual abolition of national armies and armaments.

Verity, I don't know if he has a weblog, but if you go to the site I have embedded, it has the email address for him. I may mention the idea to him. He'd be great at it. And he tells genuinely naughty jokes!

Steve Radford is indeed very good news as well as good fun. (Tho' for us libertarian Tories not quite good enough news to stop us struggling on.) His Liberal Party is in the process of reforming itself and getting more liberal (European sense), so some of the more mushy internationalism may disappear.

I can't say I cared much for this one of their aims, either:

At home its goal is a country in which the powers of the state will be used to establish social justice, to wage war against poverty, to spread wealth and power, ...

What a pity. If their faction are committed to all that tranzi nonsense anyway, why did they bother avoiding the merger with the socialists in the first place?

The Liberal Party were the herbivorous, woolly, veggie lefties led by Michael Meadowcroft (then MP for Leeds West) who disliked the Big Business-admiring, overbearingly corporatist tone of David Owen and the SDP. Hence when David Steel decided to jump into bed with the doctor, some of the Libs who voted against the merger into the 'Salads' chose to keep the old name and soldier on.

They have pockets of strength in local government, often based on personal followings, but none in Parliament. Their ideology is a muddled mixture of Free Trade economics and One World, kiss-and-be-friends politics. Their social attitudes are mostly libbo-leaning, but they can't or won't connect the dots between wanting people to be left alone in the bedroom and market place and wanting them to submerge all their inherited and instinctive differences into one great big gloopy beige 'humanity' policed by the UN. They are ageing and may not last as an independent force. I foresee them folding into the Greens.

Effra is correct about a lot of the Liberal Party shortcomings. However, I would make the point that such a party is ripe for a takeover.

I was so struck by the councillor's forthright pro-capitalist views that I cannot believe he would not be amenable to taking that party emphatically down a proper, classical liberal path.

He was a powerful and popular speaker, and had that rare honesty to tell his opponents where to go.

Righteous indignation is a powerful tool but easily wielded when talking to the converted. Cheap food has long resonances in British and Irish political culture and he usefully deployed that theme.

JP,

You missed meeting Herron, one of the Metric Martyrs, who was with Helen Szamuely. A very down to earth man who raises my confidence in the anti-Constitution movement.

Steve Radford is very impressive, I've seen him speak at an anti-EU meeting. I also considered joining the Liberal Party, but decided to hold off after reading of some of their woolier views. They are sound on the EU though, i.e. believe in Internation Co-operation rather than International Coercion, and thus oppose a monolithic EU, and the Single Currency.

From their website:-

"Liberals believe that a fundamental redistribution of wealth .....is vital if humanity is to prosper. "

Im not altogether sure that this is a particularly Libertarian position to hold.

Let me clear that up for you, Christopher--

that is NOT a libertarian position to hold. (unless I missed something in the manual.)

Yep, the Liberal Party is certainly not sound on anything but Europe... They are equal to the L-Ds in their plethora of daft ideas to add to their reasonable ones.

The Liberal Party is changing and yes I do believe we need to sharpen our policies and image in more robust Liberal Tradition.

We have a radical tradition and oppose the shoot first approach -

We do believe in encouraging the spread of wealth and opportunity.

We do oppose tariffs and the dangers of protectionism

We are actively pushing the Liberal opposition to ID cards, the repressive hand of a standards board and its contempt of free speach, defending the secret and secure ballot and fighting for the safety of trial by jury

These values or not woolly they are Liberal !!!

We have an excellent prescence in local government with over 35 cllrs on leading authorities and in the general election I beat both Tory and Lib Dem candidates

In the North West Euro seat we grew our vote from 23,000 to 96,000.

Yes there are policies which I think should be changed and sharpened, come and join us if you are Liberals and want a Liberal challenge to the EU fanatiocs of the Lib Dems

Cllr Steve Radford
President of The Liberal Party

The Liberal Party is changing and yes I do believe we need to sharpen our policies and image in more robust Liberal Tradition.

We have a radical tradition and oppose the shoot first approach -

We do believe in encouraging the spread of wealth and opportunity.

We do oppose tariffs and the dangers of protectionism

We are actively pushing the Liberal opposition to ID cards, the repressive hand of a standards board and its contempt of free speach, defending the secret and secure ballot and fighting for the safety of trial by jury

These values or not woolly they are Liberal !!!

We have an excellent prescence in local government with over 35 cllrs on leading authorities and in the general election I beat both Tory and Lib Dem candidates

In the North West Euro seat we grew our vote from 23,000 to 96,000.

Yes there are policies which I think should be changed and sharpened, come and join us if you are Liberals and want a Liberal challenge to the EU fanatiocs of the Lib Dems

Cllr Steve Radford
President of The Liberal Party

The Liberal Party is changing and yes I do believe we need to sharpen our policies and image in more robust Liberal Tradition.

We have a radical tradition and oppose the shoot first approach -

We do believe in encouraging the spread of wealth and opportunity.

We do oppose tariffs and the dangers of protectionism

We are actively pushing the Liberal opposition to ID cards, the repressive hand of a standards board and its contempt of free speach, defending the secret and secure ballot and fighting for the safety of trial by jury

These values or not woolly they are Liberal !!!

We have an excellent prescence in local government with over 35 cllrs on leading authorities and in the general election I beat both Tory and Lib Dem candidates

In the North West Euro seat we grew our vote from 23,000 to 96,000.

Yes there are policies which I think should be changed and sharpened, come and join us if you are Liberals and want a Liberal challenge to the EU fanatiocs of the Lib Dems

Cllr Steve Radford
President of The Liberal Party

Crikey Steve, that was in triplicate.

Egads, the Libs are reading Samizdata!

"We do believe in encouraging the spread of wealth and opportunity."

By force or free trade? I think we should be told ....

I accept the Liberal Party needs to take a sharper political position. Our recent assembly droped renationalisation of electricity and gas as i lead a clear view this was socialist mumbo jumbo

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