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Natalie Bird was vilified for wearing a T-shirt with a slogan bearing the dictionary definition of ‘woman’. She was banned from standing as a candidate and suspended from the party. She took the party to court and won.
John Tilley is the former leader of Kingston Council. He was subjected to an internal party discipline hearing for objecting to a proposal that conference attendees should be required to wear badges stating their preferred pronouns. He wrote that there were more important matters that required our attention. He was sentenced to a ten year ban on holding party office or standing as a candidate. He appealed and the ruling was dismissed.
The adjudicator who overruled the panel’s verdict and decided in John’s favour was then removed herself.
Equality? No thanks we’re LibDems
The party’s “definition of transphobia”, which was partly plagiarised from the international definition of anti-Semitism, had to be amended because it was internally incoherent and conflicted with the requirements of the Equality Act, (which the party had supported as a bill during its passage through parliament).
Simon Jones, also known as Sabir, is a Muslim, a former Liberal Democrat councillor and a successful organiser and campaigner, who had reservations about the party’s policy on allowing trans identifying boys to use girls’ school bathrooms.
He agreed to keep his concerns to himself, but nevertheless his party membership was suspended and he was banned from standing as a candidate. He was ordered to subject himself to re-education by a company called Midas Training, to correct his unacceptable views and realign himself with party thinking.
A conflict of interest?
Midas Training is private company that is run by Candy Piercy and members of her family. It provides services to Sarah Green MP and was the subject of a Times investigation in 2024 where it was alleged it was paid £120,000 from Ms Green’s parliamentary expenses.
The woman’s rights group, Liberal Voice for Women was denied a stall at the party’s conference until it paid for legal advice confirming that this exclusion was unlawful. The party was forced to back down and the group is now able to exhibit at conference.
Christians awake
David Campanale is distinguished journalist and Christian who was to have been the party’s parliamentary candidate in Sutton and Cheam in the 2024 general election. He was “mocked and abused” for his religious beliefs and was removed and replaced by Luke Taylor, who was subsequently elected.
In a signed declaration the party has admitted to several counts of unlawful religious discrimination and agreed to pay damages to Mr Campanale. According to the Daily Telegraph, the bill is expected to exceed £250,000.
The above cases are the tip of the iceberg. There are many more.
It’s time to get a grip
Average party members should be shocked by what is being done in their name. This behaviour is no longer an aberration, it has become ingrained and is the new normal.
It is past time for accountability. It is not acceptable to shovel thousands of pounds of hard earned member donations to lawyers as the party seeks and fails to defend the indefensible.
It is time for those responsible to step aside and allow the party to be run by liberals again. It is in the name, after all.
