Liberal Democrat Voice (also known as "Lib Dem Voice") is a

political blog A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order ...

, the site claims to be read by over 50,000 individual visitors per month specialising in British

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

politics. The site was created by Robin Fenwick on Friday 8 September 2006. Since July 2007, it has been run by a collective of

Liberal Democrat Several political party, political parties from around the world have been called the Liberal Democratic Party or Liberal Democrats. These parties usually follow a liberal democracy, liberal democratic ideology. Active parties Former parties ...

members, activists and bloggers. The aim of the site is to present views from a range of people and perspectives in the Liberal Democrats. The editorial line is neutral on matters of debate within the party and party selections and elections. The site conducts regular surveys of Liberal Democrat members, which serve as a respectable bellwether of party opinion: mainstream UK press such as

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

cite these, most notably over the issue of

Vince Cable Sir John Vincent Cable (born 9 May 1943) is a British politician who was Leader of the Liberal Democrats from 2017 to 2019. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for Twickenham from 1997 to 2015 and from 2017 to 2019. He also served in the Cabinet a ...

being the preferred candidate to succeed

Nick Clegg Sir Nicholas William Peter Clegg (born 7 January 1967) is a British media executive and former Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom who has been president for global affairs at Meta Platforms since 2022, having previously been vicepr ...

as party leader. For example, in a 2011 survey, Vince Cable was also voted Lib Dem minister of the year. The site is rated as the top Liberal Democrat blog by

Total Politics ''Total Politics'' is a British political magazine described as "a lifestyle magazine for the political community". It was first published in June 2008, and is distributed freely to all MPs, MEPs, peers, political journalists, members of the Scot ...

for 2011 and has been consistently rated by Wikio as the 5th most influential political blog in the UK.

Features

Contributors to Liberal Democrat Voice include Senior Liberal Democrats such as

Charles Kennedy Charles Peter Kennedy (25 November 1959 – 1 June 2015) was a British Liberal Democrat politician who served as Leader of the Liberal Democrats from 1999 to 2006, and was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Ross, Skye and Lochaber from 1983 ...

John Pugh John David Pugh (born 28 June 1948, Liverpool) is a Liberal Democrat politician in the United Kingdom. He was the Member of Parliament for Southport from 2001 to 2017. He stood down at the 2017 snap election. In November 2017, he was elected t ...

Danny Alexander Sir Daniel Grian Alexander (born 15 May 1972) is a former politician who was Chief Secretary to the Treasury between 2010 and 2015. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch & Strathspey constituency from 2005 u ...

Tim Farron Timothy James Farron (born 27 May 1970) is a British politician who served as Leader of the Liberal Democrats from 2015 to 2017. He has also served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Westmorland and Lonsdale since 2005, before which he worked ...

Sal Brinton Sarah Virginia Brinton, Baroness Brinton (born 1 April 1955), known as Sal Brinton, is a British politician who served as president of the Liberal Democrats from 2015 to 2020. In November 2010 she was nominated to the House of Lords, taking her ...

Caroline Pidgeon Caroline Valerie Pidgeon (born 29 September 1972) is a British politician serving as the Leader of the Liberal Democrats in the London Assembly since 2018, and a Londonwide Member of the London Assembly (AM) since 2008. Early life and educat ...

Ed Davey Sir Edward Jonathan Davey (born 25 December 1965) is a British politician who has served as Leader of the Liberal Democrats since 2020. He served in the Cameron–Clegg coalition as Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change from 2012 t ...

Brian Paddick Brian Leonard Paddick, Baron Paddick (born 24 April 1958), is a British politician and retired police officer, currently sitting in the House of Lords as a life peer. He was the Liberal Democrat candidate for the London mayoral elections of 2 ...

Jenny Willott Jennifer Nancy Willott OBE (born 29 May 1974) is a British politician. She was the Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament for Cardiff Central from 2005 to 2015. Willott became a junior minister in the Department for Business, Innovation and Ski ...

and

Mark Pack Mark Anthony Pack (born 27 July 1970) is a British politician who has served as the president of the Liberal Democrats since 1 January 2020. After the party's leader, Jo Swinson, lost her seat in the 2019 December election, Pack served as act ...

as well as new and long serving members of the party. The site also features regular polls of

Lib Dem The Liberal Democrats (commonly referred to as the Lib Dems) are a liberal political party in the United Kingdom. Since the 1992 general election, with the exception of the 2015 general election, they have been the third-largest UK political ...

members showing where they agree and where they disagree with party policy. As well as being a blog which is open to any contributor the site also contains a Liberal Democrat party members-only forum which is used by members as a place for debate and discussion.

Editor

Lib Dem Voice's current editor is Lib Dem commentator Caron Lindsay. She is supported by a team of day editors (Mark Valladares, Alan Muhammed, and Mary Reid), contributing editors (Joe Otten, Alex Foster, Sara Bedford and Nick Thornsby), and a technical editor, Ryan Cullen. Former editors include Stephen Tall, Lib Dem Party President

and founder Rob Fenwick.

References

{{reflist, 30em

External links

Liberal Democrat Voice websiteLiberal Democrat Voice Twitter feedLiberal Democrat Voice Facebook page
British political blogs Liberal Democrat (UK) factions Liberalism in the United Kingdom Organisations associated with the Liberal Democrats (UK)