Freedom Central » Lembit Opik

Neither Lembit Opik nor Nelson Mandela to be Lib Dem Mayoral Candidate

Freedom Central — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 09:39:11 +0000

The BBC report that former Montgomeryshire MP, Lembit Opik has failed in his bid to be the Liberal Democrat candidate for London Mayor. That honour will go to Brian Paddick instead, whose performance on Question Time shortly after the riots must surely have sealed the nomination for him.

Lembit came last out of four candidates with just 8% of the vote but was fairly philosophical about his defeat: Mr Opik said: “I think like every great politician you have to have some wilderness years. Nelson Mandela had them. Many other people had them.”

Lembit’s columns

Freedom Central — Sun, 03 Apr 2011 09:22:23 +0000

One would think that with the demise of the Daily Sport. London Mayoral hopeful Lembit Őpik has lost an important outlet for his views, except as Jonathan Calder points out on his Liberal England blog, Lembit stopped writing for the publication about the time he went into the jungle.

Jonathan does however bring some interesting news to those people in Wales who do not live within the County Times circulation area. It seems that Lembit is still writing a column for that newspaper where he is billed as the ‘former Montgomeryshire MP’.

It is unlikely views expressed here will be any more widely read by London Liberal Democrats than they were in the other paper, nor that he will be getting anything like the remuneration he received from the Sport. Can he be harbouring hopes of a comeback? Lembit has a better chance of becoming London Mayor.

The Peter Hain enigma

Freedom Central — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 11:24:22 +0000

The recent pronouncements by Peter Hain on the Assembly powers referendum has puzzled a lot of politicians and commentators. The Shadow Secretary of State for Wales poured out his thoughts earlier this week, suggesting that the referendum should not be held in March and arguing that Labour were backed into a corner by Plaid Cymru.

In today’s Wales on Sunday, Matt Withers offers three possible reasons why Mr. Hain may have chosen to speak out:

1) Mr Hain is playing to his own party’s MPs.

In this theory, Mr Hain is seeking to comfort Labour MPs still not happy with what’s going on. These are the members who weren’t comfortable with the party going into coalition with Plaid, and see an inexorable march towards greater powers at the expense of their own.

Coupled with the UK coalition’s plans for a reduction in the number of Welsh MPs – which is set to go ahead anyway, regardless of whether there’s a Yes vote – Labour MPs are increasingly going to look like the junior branch of legislators.

As their de facto leader, Mr Hain is effectively their shop steward, and so launched his verbal volley as a reminder they’re still relevant.

2) It’s part of a wider strategy to blame Plaid if the vote is lost.

This is the theory doing the rounds among some in Plaid who tend to assume the worst with Mr Hain anyway.

The thinking goes: the Shadow Welsh Secretary thinks that the referendum is going to be lost, for exactly the same reason he did prior to his sudden post-election conversion – that the public don’t much like or trust politicians.

So he has decided to start the blame game already, casting Plaid as the too-eager nationalists who forced Labour into holding an early referendum.

And when it’s lost, Labour can go into the Assembly election, saying: “Why vote for Plaid? They only had one big aim going into government and they blew it.” At least, that’s how many in Plaid see it.

3) It’s just a sense of frustration from Mr Hain.

This is the third, most personal and cruellest of theories – but it’s actually one being circulated by some Labour figures disappointed by the former Welsh Secretary’s intervention.

A sense of that came through from Ogmore MP Huw Irranca-Davies saying last week that “Peter speaks for Peter”. Privately even those previously loyal to Mr Hain wonder if it stems from frustration.

In 1997 Mr Hain was a leading figure on the Yes side. Now he’s a fringe character. Not too long ago he was a senior cabinet minister with serious pretensions of being deputy leader. Now he’s back in his old job after failing even to be elected to the shadow cabinet. And last month a poll of grassroots activists ranked him the least effective member of Ed Miliband’s team.

What came out in his interview, goes this theory, was just a certain dissatisfaction with where he is now. Why he chose to make his intervention remains unclear.

Actually, the third reason should worry Peter Hain the most. If he really is just speaking out to draw attention to himself, to underline his relevance and to remind his own party that he still exists then Mr. Hain has already embarked on the chosen route of Lembit Opik before the Montgomeryshire MP’s final fall from grace.

Wikileaks outs indiscreet Lembit

Freedom Central — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 09:26:48 +0000

The BBC report on further Wikileaks revelations that former Welsh Liberal Democrat MP Lembit Opik called party leader Nick Clegg “thin skinned”. They say that Mr. Opik accused the Liberal Democrat Leader of surrounding himself with “insiders” to avoid “direct confrontation”. The conversation is said to have happened between Mr Opik and the US ambassador Robert Tuttle:

The Welsh Lib Dems have declined to comment on the leaked reports made public by Wikileaks and newspapers.

The former MP for Montgomeryshire told BBC Wales that he did not remember having the specific conversation but he agreed with much of the sentiment of it.

Mr Opik said he was “flattered, honoured and proud” to have been connected to the Wikileaks documents.

During the discussion with the diplomat, the Mr Opik is also said to have accused Nick Clegg of initially dismissing one of his ideas and then stealing it.

The confidential cable reporting the conversation was sent in March 2008, the year Mr Opik failed in his bid for the presidency of the Liberal Democrats for a second time.

It says: “In Opik’s view, Clegg has surrounded himself with insiders who carry out his wishes without consulting others, thus allowing Clegg to avoid direct confrontation”.

The memo continues: “Clegg derided one of Opik’s suggestions in front of the Lib Dem cabinet, then adopted it without telling Opik.

“When Opik confronted Clegg about it, Opik says he was immediately whisked away by a Clegg crony who begged him not to make a scene in public.”

Mr Opik told BBC Wales that he believed the Lib Dem leader, who has been deputy prime minister since May, did have to reach out beyond his inner circle and be more sensitive to the wider party.

He added that Mr Clegg should use party figures like himself for advice.

Mr. Clegg has no plans to go into the jungle with a playboy model and several z list celebrities anytime soon.

Lembit writes on those defection rumours

Freedom Central — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 08:57:00 +0000

It is not widely known (if it was before) that despite losing his seat at the last General Election, Lembit Őpik has retained his column in the Daily Sport. In this week’s edition, which is available on-line, he writes about those unfounded rumours that he was going to defect to Labour:

Do you like football? If so, has anyone ever accused you of planning to change the team you support mid-season? Well, that’s what’s been going on in the World of Őpik this week. But in my case they don’t mean football teams. For teams, read “parties.” Some journalistic Willy Wonkas have been writing that I’m about to join the Labour party. This caused a flurry of excitement with the usual suspects in the Press— the kind of people who’d never get a job with the Sport because, well, they’re too scared to. Sadly, for all of them, I’m not planning a jump to the left—or a step to the right. But, hey everyone, what’s the big deal? My boss, Clever Cleggs, is “in and out” of Cameron’s house more often than Tiger Woods is in and out of his. Nobody thinks he’s about to give up on the Lib Dems and go Tory-hugging instead. My mate, former Labour MP Paul Marsden, jumped across to the Lib Dems before defecting back to Labour again like a political boomerang. And what about war-winning Winston Churchill? He joined up with the Liberals before sneaking back to the Conservatives a few years later. When he was described as a “rat”, the slang term for changing parties, Wiley Winston said “anyone can rat, but it takes a Statesman to re-rat.” Personally, I prefer Labour to the Tories. But I’m sticking with the LibDems. After all, if I joined Labour it would be a bit tougher for me to stand as the Lib Dem candidate for Mayor of London!

Later on he reflects on the name of the Camerons’ new baby:

CONGRATULATIONS to Prime Minister David Cameron and his delightful other half on their new daughter. They’ve called her Florence Rose Endellion which sounds a bit complicated to me, but with a name like Lembit, I’m one to talk. By a strange coincidence, part of it includes my late brother’s name “Endel” which is also Estonian like mine. So she’s got a bit of class in there anyway.

Such erudition is bound to impress the voters in the London Mayoral election.

Lembit next to experience defection rumours

Peter Black — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 08:06:45 +0000

As August moves onto September and the Conference season approaches, one can sense a certain desperation on the part of journalists, anxious to fill up all those blank news columns

Admittedly, the spurious and vindictive rumours about Charles Kennedy’s fictional defection started on the internet by Labour bloggers and tweeters, desperate to gain some traction against the Liberal Democrats. But that does not excuse newspapers such as the Daily Mirror, amongst others, who picked up the non-story with glee, irrespective of the facts and without checking first.

This morning’s Hickey column in the Daily Express has no such excuse. From what I can see this is the first time that a story about Lembit Őpik defecting to Labour has appeared anywhere.

When BBC Radio Wales checked, Lembit denied it straight away and reaffirmed his intention to seek the Liberal Democrat nomination for Mayor of London. It appears that any story that Labour or others want to make up about the Liberal Democrats will be taken seriously by some journalists, who for the most part appear to have abandoned the basic rules of their profession to assist in undermining the coalition government.

It almost makes me yearn for the Conference season, except that I know full well that journalists will be attending the Liberal Democrats’ event with the same agenda. Their stories will be written in advance and in most cases, they will not even look for validation of them. When exactly did we abandon proper journalism in this country?

Lembit Öpik to seek Lib Dem nomination for London mayor

Peter Black — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 11:32:18 +0000

If there is one thing that Lembit Öpik is good at it is getting publicity. He has proved this again with his announcement that he will run for the job of London mayor if he wins the party’s blessing:

“If there’s enough interest in London to do it, I’ll stand,” he told the Guardian today as he prepared to join Billy Bragg on stage at Glastonbury.

“I’ve had a conversation with the leadership and they say they won’t take a final position. I’m not narcissistic or precious about it. If the party doesn’t want me to stand then I’ll respect that.”

The 45-year-old, who has reinvented himself as a stand-up comedian since leaving Westminster, said he was not “trying to be a member of the awkward squad”, adding: “I just think I could run London well and my libertarian approach could be good for the city.”

He has recently toyed with the notion in his comedy act, telling audiences: “There is one job that seems to suit me – a funny name, little bit odd sometimes, quirky, a chequered background and ex-MP – Mayor of London.”

The capital, he said, had already shown a willingness to be amused by electing the current mayor, Boris Johnson. “Boris has proved that London likes personality, [but] I am leftwing and libertarian.”

Asked whether he would have to give up comedy were he to win, Öpik said: “Boris didn’t. And my comedy is laughter with a purpose. If you can’t do politics with a smile, why should people take you seriously? But I’m at the mercy of London. If they want me, they can have me.”

The party is staying tight lipped about the announcement, as they need to because the final decision will be made by the membership. Those members however, will have to weigh up Lembit’s high profile against his occasional lapses in political judgement and consider how seriously voters will take him when faced with a choice in the polling station.

Lembit embarks on stand-up career

Freedom Central — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 19:41:34 +0000

Wales-on-line reports that former Montgomeryshire MP, Lembit Öpik is to make his stand-up debut tonight:

Ex-MP Lembit Opik said today he wanted to see whether stand-up comedy was “like being an MP but a bit funnier” as he prepared for his first gig.

The Liberal Democrat earned a quirky image thanks to his romantic ties with a Cheeky Girl, interest in meteorites and appearances on television comedy shows.

Now he is hoping to turn the “awesome shock” of losing his Montgomeryshire seat to the Tories on May 6 and other political experiences into a new career in entertainment.

Mr Opik accepted the gig, at the tiny Backstage Comedy Club in London, after a friend who comperes the night told him: “People are going to laugh at you anyway so why not get paid for it?

“You don’t have to be a comic genius to see that my recent history writes itself as a comedy script and the challenge really is to see if comedy is something completely different to what I have done before or whether it is like being an MP but a bit funnier,” he told reporters.

Good to see that he is moving on.

Off Message

Freedom Central — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 14:56:18 +0000

George Monbiot in this morning’s Guardian takes an amble around Elfyn Llwyd’s Dwyfor Meirionedd constituency and finds that the Plaid Cymru leader can be very off-message:

The lack of party discipline became clear as we talked. After he said some robust things about supermarkets, I asked him why Plaid had allowed Tesco to sponsor its conference last year.

“I refused to attend the Tesco event. I’ve had words with my party about it: perhaps we’ll ask Saddam to sponsor it next year.”

Not a sentiment that will endear him to his party’s officials.

Mr. Monbiot has some nice things to say about his own MP as well:

With the possible exception of my own MP – the ubiquitous and surprisingly effective Lembit Opik – I have never met a backbencher who is so widely recognised in his constituency.

#wldconf the movies Part Two

Freedom Central — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 05:34:46 +0000

Here are the rest of our videos from yesterday’s Welsh Liberal Democrat Conference in Swansea, starting with Baroness Ros Scott, the Federal Party President:

Jenny Willott was outstanding:

Whilst Lembit was, well Lembit: