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VERSION:2.0
PRODID:Flock Together
METHOD:PUBLISH
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UID:ldm_Meeting.MeetingID.8338@www.flocktogether.org.uk
DTSTAMP:20121214T225229
DTSTART:20130122T190000
TRANSP:OPAQUE
DURATION:PT2H
SUMMARY:The progressive coalition that never was ? lessons from the Ashdown
 -Blair 'project'
DESCRIPTION:Between 1994 and 1999\,&nbsp\;Paddy Ashdown and Tony Blair led 
 a process of collaboration between the Liberal&nbsp\;Democrats and the Lab
 our Party\, with the aim not merely of defeating the&nbsp\;Conservatives b
 ut of establishing clear common ground&nbsp\;between the progressive&nbsp\
 ;parties in British politics.&nbsp\;&nbsp\;Some of the outcomes of&nbsp\;t
 his process &ndash\; &#39\;the project&#39\;\, in Ashdown&#39\;s phrase &n
 dash\; were public\, such as the&nbsp\;programme of agreed constitutional 
 reforms drawn up by Robin Cook and Robert&nbsp\;Maclennan. Far more were s
 ecret: covert electoral&nbsp\;collaboration in marginal&nbsp\;seats during
  the 1997 election\, attempts to agree a programme for government\,&nbsp\;
 talks about coalition &ndash\; and hints of a more permanent alliance.&nbs
 p\;In the end\, the size of&nbsp\;Labour&#39\;s majority in 1997 destroyed
  the case for coalition\, and the main&nbsp\;outcome was a Joint Cabinet C
 ommittee between the two parties. What it achieved&nbsp\;is not clear\, an
 d it was abandoned by Ashdown&#39\;s successor&nbsp\;Charles Kennedy.&nbsp
 \;Now\, in a period of&nbsp\;cooperation between political parties very di
 fferent from that envisaged by&nbsp\;Ashdown and Blair\, what can we learn
  from &#39\;the project&#39\;? What did it achieve?&nbsp\;What could it ha
 ve achieved under different circumstances?&nbsp\;And what can it tell&nbsp
 \;us about the desirability and achievability of collaboration between&nbs
 p\;progressive forces?&nbsp\;Speakers:Paddy Ashdown\, Rt Hon Lord Ashdown 
 of&nbsp\;Norton-sub-Hamdon GCMG KBELeader of the Liberal&nbsp\;Democrats 1
 988&ndash\;99Roger Liddle\, Lord LiddleSpecial Adviser to Bill&nbsp\;Rodge
 rs 1976&ndash\;81\; Member of the SDP and then Liberal Democrats 1981&ndas
 h\;94\, member&nbsp\;of the LibDem Federal Policy Committee\; Special Advi
 ser to Tony Blair 1997&ndash\;2004Rt Hon Pat&nbsp\;McFadden&nbsp\;MPAdvise
 r&nbsp\;to Donald Dewar 1988&ndash\;93\, to John Smith 1993&ndash\;94 and 
 to Tony Blair 1994&ndash\;2005Chair:&nbsp\;Steve Richards\,&nbsp\;Chief Po
 litical Commentator\, The Independent&nbsp\;Jointly organised by the Liber
 al Democrat History Group and the Labour History Group&nbsp\;
LOCATION:Attlee Suite\, Portcullis House\, House of Commons\, SW1A 2LW
URL:https://www.flocktogether.org.uk/event/8338
CATEGORIES:MEETING,PUBLIC MEETING
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