This is not a manifesto...

It's that time of year when a young man's fancy turns towards getting the nominations required to run for a Federal Committee. And in each Party electoral cycle since 2010, I've been a contestant.

I had a little bit of a past, in that I'd been elected to English Candidates Committee in 2005 and 2007, but in 2010, both Ros and I ran for a place on the Party's ELDR Council delegation. Ros got a vast number of votes - being Party President probably helped! - and I got elected with her, benefiting from a significant proportion of her surplus.

Much to my own surprise, I was re-elected in 2012 and 2014, and even more surprisingly, won a place on what was then the International Relations Committee in 2014, which I retained in 2016. I lost my seat on what was now the ALDE Council delegation by dint of not being Welsh, and was narrowly shaded out of both positions in 2019. I ended up back on both though due to resignations but, in 2022, I decided that it was time to move on a bit. I'd done all that I thought I could on Federal International Relations Committee, but wanted to stay on with ALDE, so managed to get re-elected to that.

I also ran for a place on the new Federal Council, but came up just short again. And yet again, a resignation created a space for me, and so I was back in harness. I then lost my place on the ALDE Council delegation after a change in the way delegation sizes are calculated saw my spot disappear.

This time, I'm not planning to run. Federal Council has been somewhat disillusioning for reasons I'll write about another time, and I'm not willing to run for a position just because I can. If I don't think that I can add value, it's hard to justify attempting to persuade others to support me.

So, for the time being, I'm retreating to the role of a very minor spear carrier on an obscure Regional party committee and focussing on other things. It's been a good run, better than I had expected, but perhaps someone else should have a go...

A cautious dip into the Regional politics of the Liberal Democrats

You might think that I'd have learnt better, having served as Regional Secretary and then Regional Conference Chair in London, and then as Regional Secretary in the East of England, but I find myself hoping for a somewhat gentler return to the fray as a member of the East of England's Regional Candidates Committee.

Now, that said, there is the small matter of an election to win first, with six candidates for four places. My odds are perhaps improved by the slightly puzzling failure of two of my opponents to submit a manifesto, and the high probability that another will be directly elected to be the Regional Candidates Chair, but I take nothing for granted, even though I'm the only candidate who is running for just the one position.

So, why am I doing it?

I've always been fairly outspoken about the way we select our Parliamentary candidates but also about the importance of preparation by candidates. As I've written in the past, we can create all the pathways we like, but you can't just rock up at the last minute and expect to beat opponents who have been "working the patch" for months and even years. I've seen more of that than I'd like.

As Liberal Democrats, we rely heavily on a good ground war, and any successful Parliamentary candidate needs a strong relationship with the members of the Local Party who, by definition, will do a lot of the heavy lifting of leaflet delivery, canvassing and building the team that will organise, fundraise and all of the other essential stuff that is needed to win. And, no matter how charismatic you think you might be, familiarity matters.

As a member of a Regional Candidates Committee, my hope would be to work on a plan which would allow Local Parties to move as quickly as they'd like, and offer potential candidates the time and scope to effectively pitch for a job. What matters is knowledge and information, and if being a Parliamentary candidate is to be treated as being a bit like a career, you need to give people the tools they need to plan that "career".

That means getting as many potential candidates through the development process as early as possible, so that they can then focus on a seat or seats that they believe they could win selection for, keeping them informed of opportunities as far out as possible and then letting them do what they think needs to be done to be successful.

Meanwhile, a audit of Returning Officers, some refresher training if there are significant rule changes and a call for new RO "blood" will enable the Regional Party to be ready to respond to the needs of the Regional and National Campaign Teams.

I acknowledge that this sounds a bit like a pitch for the job of Regional Candidates Chair. So, why didn't I run for the post? Well, I have plenty of time for the incumbent (who is running for re-election anyway) and not enough time of my own to allow me to lead in the way I would see fit. I am, apparently, a busy person with everything I'm doing in the Town and Parish Council sector, and besides, it feels a bit presumptuous to turn up and run for a serious position. Besides, I'm not convinced that the powers that be who currently run English Candidates Committee would be wildly keen on having me back - I was something of a "wild child" in those days (relative to the membership of the Committee, that is). Ironically, more than a decade away has seen me mellow... a bit...

Liberal Democrat Internal Elections: "a million thanks, dear friends!"

A few of you will know that I've thrown my hat into the ring again this year. Again, I wish to serve as a member of the Party's delegation to the ALDE Party Council - it's something that I think I've done well and credibly. I've also put my name forward to be a member of Federal Council, for reasons I'll explain another time.

This year, the nomination process has become rather more technologically advanced. You notify the Returning Officer that you wish to stand, and you are then added to a list of candidates who can nominated by any party member wishing to do so. Once they have, the candidate gets an e-mail advising who their latest nominator is and, eventually, that you have enough nominations to be accepted as an official candidate. It works pretty well, although there will be some valuable lessons learnt for next time, I suspect. Much credit should go to those responsible, nonetheless.

Now, having not really publicised the fact that I am running (with the exception of one Facebook group), I was somewhat surprised as a steady stream of e-mails arrived, especially as many of those who had gone to the trouble of nominating me aren't actually members of that group. It was, and is, rather touching that people with whom I've worked, in a range of capacities over more than thirty years, have sufficient confidence in me as a candidate. They've actually done so unprompted (at least, unprompted by me).

I am a realist. Nominating me doesn't necessarily mean that I'll get their first preference, or even a very high one, but it does offer some confidence that I may have a shot at getting elected, which is reassuring.

So, if you are one of those who have nominated me, many, many thanks. Your kindness has given me a bit of a fillip, never a bad thing.

And now, to produce a couple of manifestos...