My Lib Dem Diary

The secret Lib Dem Diary of Ruaraidh Ferguson, age 53 and a half

(Published with apologies to Sue Townsend, author of The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13¾)

My Lib Dem Diary

Thursday 2 April
No reply from any other candidates regarding our proposal not to visually pollute the town with political propaganda. Hopefully they won’t go ahead with the usual contest to see who has the biggest poster, all very undignified, especially after the remarks made at the candidate briefing.
Starting to get lots of emails from Party HQ, daily briefings, photo ops, etc. Not really of much help to me but interesting to see the hoops that those with high ambitions have to go through.

This is Ruaraidh. He has been busy writing his diary

Friday 3 April
Filling in the nomination forms, not the most user-friendly documents but got to be done. Stornoway Gazette got in touch regarding a 200-word piece on a variety of topics over the next four weeks. Of the first topics that they suggested three were on devolved matters so after a bit of discussion some were changed. However the first on fuel poverty is still mainly a devolved issue.
Still a bit of discussion on my request that candidates stick to devolved issues. I’ve been accused of trying to constrain debate, I don’t think that’s the case. I just thought it was disingenuous for a candidate to try to get elected on the back of an issue that they clearly will have no direct input on if elected. Surely if Labour wish to highlight a devolved issue then what are we paying David Stewart or Rhoda Grant for? Have any of the devolved issues raised been passed on to the MSPs?
Interview with Annie at Isles FM, spent the rest of the night thinking of the things I should have said. Many thanks to Annie for her time and patience

Saturday 4 April
That’s the nomination forms completed, 10 signatures and various pages all signed in the correct place. Many thanks to the staff in the electoral office on Point Street.
SNP office up and running saw the minions getting things set up, large posters etc. because that’s obviously what helped them in the referendum. Mr Allan appeared to praise the troops. No sign of the man himself though.

Monday 6 April
Had a lovely day down in Uist, good reception and all went well. Got back to an email from the Gazette looking for the 200 words on fuel poverty. It’s probably my specialised subject and sent in too many words, got an email back asking me to cut it down. It’s not a question that can be answered in 200 words but will try to avoid the usual platitudes.
Noticed another Labour post on Civil Engineering. Again devolved but at least this time its acknowledged that if elected the MP can’t do anything about it. Surely a case for list MSPs to get involved. The problem with these devolved issues being used for political point scoring is that they are in the main serious and worthy of prolonged debate but are just being used as a soundbite then dropped.

Tuesday 7 April
Into the election office at the Comhairle, all the guys there are very helpful, guiding us through the process. All the papers were filled out correctly and the nomination was accepted, along with the £500 deposit. The way the deposit works with the Lib Dems is that they like the candidates or local party, in this case the candidate, to stump up the deposit themselves, though they will pay if requested. Then in the unlikely event of things going wrong, they will refund it.
Gazette got in touch about next week’s topic but I noticed that whilst the email is sent directly to four of the candidates there is one candidate who gets his sent to a minion. Makes you wonder who is actually writing Angus’s articles. They do seem to change viewpoints pretty regularly, maybe this is why.

Wednesday 8 April
The leader’s debate on BBC was lively. David Coburn of UKIP was really just a caricature of himself, Patrick Harvie is a pretty smart cookie but was really put on the spot when the chairman asked him if capitalism was a red line for his party. Ruth Davidson, Willie Rennie, Nicola Sturgeon and Jim Murphy all spoke confidently and passionately but I found it interesting that apart from Mr Coburn they all had the measure of Nicola Sturgeon whereas Cameron and Milliband had absolutely no idea how to respond. The other strange point from all of this is that of the panel only Jim Murphy was standing for election and if rumours are correct, if elected he won’t be in Westminster that long. Not sure how that all works. I suspect that the Scottish Leaders will have had minimal input into a national manifesto.
Had a look on William Hill to check the odds for this constituency. SNP an absolutely absurd price of 1-50, Labour could be value at 12-1, I’m next at 150-1 whilst Mark the Tory is 200-1
Still no comment from other parties on posters be a shame to spoil the town at the start of the tourist season with all that nonsense, also no word yet of any hustings.

Note from blog moderator:  This is a most welcome informal and downright interesting way for candidates to keep electors up to speed with what they are doing – and thinking. Thank you Ruaraidh. I invite all the other candidates to submit diaries too.