Tuesday, April 25, 2017

A member of Federal International Relations Committee quietly does his job...

Things tend to happen whilst I'm away. Mostly, they're good things, and they happen to me/us. It is, potentially, more complex when they happen somewhere else, and the calling of a snap General Election whilst Ros and I were in Tallinn fell into that category. But never let it be said that I am remiss in the performance of my duty.

Featured on Liberal Democrat VoiceThanks to Robert, our Chair, forwarding a key e-mail to me from the Party's Policy Unit, I was able to put out a call for Foreign Affairs input into the manifesto, and, with much thanks to Paul Reynolds, I think that we've come up with some useful material (I'm looking at Federal Policy Committee to endorse it), which I submitted on our behalf in good time for the deadline. I have done likewise with the submission of the Liberal Democrat European Group.

I also involved Brussels and Europe Liberal Democrats, who have come up with some interesting ideas to attract the support of UK nationals living abroad - their membership has risen even more spectacularly than that of the Party as a whole, and the number of overseas voters will be much more significant this time. Again, I trust that Federal Policy Committee will use some or, preferably, all of it.

By chance, Ros and I have met with their Chair, Laura Shields, over drinks and dinner in Tallinn with friends and family (Ros's, mostly) to talk about their role in the campaign and what might be done to support them both now and in the future.

We are scheduled to send delegations to both the Liberal International Congress in Andorra (18-21 May) and the ALDE Party Council meeting in Ljubljana (2-3 June), and I've started the arrangements to replace those who were intending to attend but now find themselves 'otherwise engaged', not unreasonably.

Considering that we were on holiday, that's not bad. But I had miles to travel still, before I slept...

No comments: