To Those Who Wielded the Knife: Don't Seek to Rule

2010 was promising to be a very good year.

Liberal Youth Wales had just elected a renewed Executive. Matt Smith became our new Chair, Hannah Griffiths our Youth Officer, and Craig Matthews our Vice-Chair. Sian Cliff returned as our Communications Officer, Ed Wilson as Treasurer and I stepped enthusiastically into the role of Campaigns Officer.

As a small (but growing!) force in Welsh politics, we continually look to the Federal Liberal Youth for support and help. Over the past year, under the Chairships of Corey Shefman and Richard Morgan-Ash, we increased our membership by over 50%! It was an incredible achievement, and one that spoke well of all of those involved in making our first year what it was.

Our success was helped significantly by the Federal Liberal Youth Executive. I remember panicked phone-calls about Welsh translations of campaigns materials; I remember the constant worries about the websites; I remember the willingness of that Executive to help with some of the strangest queries: “Where can we get Homophobia is Gay badges, and how much do they cost?” “Do you have the postcard from 2004, you know the one with the guy on it?”

But throughout it all, they (and especially Elaine Bagshaw and James Shaddock) dealt with the questions patiently and with dedication (although I can only imagine what was said about us late at night when yet another email of daft questions came through!).

Either way, in IR Cymru, it was felt we were moving forward. We are a week or two away from having a full Welsh plan for a General Election, ready for consultation with our membership. We are a week or two away from our first “Bootcamp” (following after Elaine’s success). We are a week or three away from Spring Conference, where we will be encouraging our members to speak for or against motions, to help them with their speeches and to make them feel more and more involved.

Federal Liberal Youth was increasing in strength as well. From holding a massive presence at the Wave, to focusing on fighting the view that the Lib Dems have dropped their opposition to tuition fees, to organising Action Days and the like all across the country.

Imagine my surprise then, when all of a sudden, Elaine Bagshaw resigns. Now, nobody believes she went voluntarily. What I find rather unfortunate, is that those who forced her out remain nameless. I also find it unfortunate, that whatever occasional criticisms have been laid against Elaine, those people ignored the huge successes she has achieved over the past year. I also find it almost unforgiveable, that a hard-working Chair (even if some few people have levelled objections on a personality grounds), and an equally hard-working VC Comms (James Shaddock), should be essentially forced out at a General Election.

We need to be on a war footing now, and Liberal Youth doesn’t need a harmful, divisive interregnum, but a united, dazzling team ready to hammer home the message to young people and students, workers, the unemployed and graduates ... that we are the best Party for you. That we can reach out the helping hand and give you the lift you need.

I feel, frankly, that this coup was childish, silly and counter-productive. If we must indulge in childish games, then let’s do it after the General Election, not before. Why remove the most experience people from the Executive, just before we have to go to the polls and argue our case? Why engage in the turgid, toothless treachery that seems somehow pointless. Pointless? Yes, pointless. Because surely organising a coup should only work when there is something to gain? We were at the point of a stunning contribution to a General Election campaign, and plotters at this stage have almost nothing to gain, and almost everything to lose. Oh, not for themselves, but for all of us in Liberal Youth who simply keep their heads down and work to get our message out there.

Remember Obama’s campaign? Energised and fuelled by young people, it created an unstoppable force arguing for hope and change. And Liberal Youth could have been all of that.

A solution

But let’s not dwell on this negativity for too long. It can still be healed, it can still be fixed. To this end, I suggest that those who requested Elaine stand down, also announce that it is not their intention to stand in the by-election to replace her. I’ve heard it said that those who requested she stand down did so according to the best of motives, apparently. I say it is time for them to prove it. Go public with the fact that they asked her to resign, and then rule themselves out of the election. This will enable a new, unaffiliated, untainted Chair to be elected, who can hopefully unite whatever petty factions remain. And they are petty.

For anyone to be concerned about little things when there is a General Election coming up, is ridiculous. We are not the Labour Party, removed so far from the base of our electoral support that we have begun to fragment. We are not the Tory party, riddled with European Union-sized splits. We are the Liberal Democrats, and it is time we remembered how good we are when we are united, and how, frankly, shit we are when we are split.

That is all I will say now. Whoever wins as Chair will have my full support. But I do hope that the two key priorities for the incoming Chair will be one, to GET OUT THERE AND WIN AS MANY YOUTH VOTES AS POSSIBLE, and two, to HEAL WHATEVER CHILDISH RIFTS THERE ARE and just do the ruddy JOB.

Then maybe we can actually do good stuff. Because, to finish on a positive note: we can do anything, as Liberal Youth. We have the ideas, we have the drive, we have the passion.

The world can be ours.

Let’s not blow it on stupid stunts.