2010 no.2 £3.00 (free to members) SHIRLEY WILLIAMS TENDING THE GARDEN LECTURE CONTENTS EVENTS 14th September Executive 7.00pm NLC Letter from the Chairman 3 18th–22nd Lib Dem Autumn Conference, Liverpool. Election Results LI(GB) AGM 2010 September The 2010 General Election and its Implications 4 14th-15th ELDR Congress, Helsinki October The Democrats Dilemma 6 15th-17th Democratiaid Rhyddfrydol Cymru/Welsh Burma’s Electoral framework 7 October Liberal Democrats' Autumn Conference 2010 Castle of Brecon Hotel, Brecon Liberal Democrats Autumn Conference... The International Bits... 8 13th-14th LI Executive Cape Town Liberal International at Liverpool November Sudan How the West lost the South 10 3rd-4th Scottish Liberal Democrats Conference, Perth. March 2011 LIBG Scotland fringe meeting – Sir Menzies Afghanistan Forum 11 Campbell on Afghanistan. Annual General Meeting 12 Spring 2011 LI Congress Panama? News from Scotland 13 Moeders voor Vrede Ronnie Fraser For bookings & other information please contact the Treasurer YABLOKO leader convicted for involvement in demonstration below. NLC= National Liberal Club,Whitehall Place, LI supports the Catalan nation, says Secretary General London SW1A 2HE Underground: Embankment Zille vows to fight Information Bill 14 Reviews; The Struggle for Tibet by Wang Lixiong and Tsering Shakya Czechoslovakia, the state that failed, by Mary Heimann The Cartoons that Shook the World, by Jytte Klausen 15 Understanding the politics of heritage, edited by Rodney Harrison Liberal International (British Group) ALDE and MEP’s call for a prompt response to Pakistan disaster 16 Treasurer:Wendy Kyrle-Pope, 1 Brook Gardens, Barnes, London SW13 0LY Equatorial Guinea’s opposition condemns executions email [email protected] Garden Party InterLiB is published by the Liberal International (British Group). Views expressed therein are those of the authors and are not necessarily the views of LI(BG), LI or any of its constituent parties. Comments and articles can be sent to Lockhart & Hastings, Creative Media Centre, 17 & 45 Robertson Street, Hastings TN34 1EA email [email protected] 2 Interlib 09 2010 Letter from the Chairman his summer has been busy with a raft We also plan to engage more actively in of LIBG events, including the Annual political campaigns, whether lobbying the TTim Garden Lecture given by Shirley British government about Trident renewal Williams, a Forum on Afghanistan and a or embassies of third countries about garden party courtesy of Barbara and human rights and other international issues Robert Woodthorpe-Browne. Elsewhere where we believe we can make a difference. events were developing at a rather faster Within the LIBG Exec there have also pace. been several changes over the summer. The political landscape in the UK has Simon Hughes succeeded Malcolm Bruce changed dramatically since the last edition as President, as Malcolm had served the of InterLIB went to press. Following just maximum three year term. Moira Brett and five days of post-election negotiations (very Ahmad Mallick stepped down as short by international standards – Australia, Membership Treasurer and Treasurer to be currently engaged in its own coalition dis- replaced by Adrian Trett and Wendy Kyrle- cussions has taken far longer to form a gov- Pope respectively, while David Griffiths ernment, while The Netherlands frequently stepped down as Vice-President after endured protracted coalition negotiations) decades of dedicated work with both LIBG the Liberal Democrats found themselves in and Liberal International in a range of dif- a coalition government with the ferent roles. I would like to think them, Conservatives. As Deputy Prime Minister, and everyone else who has not returned to Nick Clegg has an important international the Executive, most warmly for everything as well as domestic role, with a particular they have done for LIBG over the years. focus on one emerging power: China. We really are grateful to all of them for Meanwhile, Jeremy Browne MP has their sterling efforts. become a Minister of State in the Foreign Like all voluntary organisations, LIBG work, or topics you would like to see debat- and Commonwealth Office and while there really does rely on the commitment of indi- ed – or better still might prove to be a use- is no Lib Dem in the Department for viduals. There are still some spaces on the ful campaigning issue - do let us know. International Development, outgoing LIBG Executive, so if you think you might like to A full schedule events plus a Conference President Malcolm Bruce MP is Chair of get more involved, please don’t hesitate to update will be sent out in the next few the important International Development contact me. weeks; highlights are likely to include meet- Committee in the House of Commons. We are currently planning our events ing discussion Trident replacement and the These domestic political changes will diary for the year. The aim will be to have role of the Commonwealth in the 21st undoubtedly have important ramifications monthly events through working other like- Century. internationally. Over the coming months minded groups, including the Lib Dem I hope to see many of you at Conference LIBG will seek both to keep members Friends of India and the Ethnic Minority or one of our forthcoming events. briefed about important aspects of British Liberal Democrats. If you have any sugges- foreign policy and to help affect that policy. tions for other groups with which we might With best wishes, Julie Smith ELECTION RESULTS LI(GB) AGM 2010 President: Members of the Executive: Treasurers: Secretaries: Simon Hughes MP Dr Phil Bennion Hon.Treasurer: General Secretaries: Barbara Emerson Wendy Kyrle-Pope Dirk Hazell/Wendy Kyrle- Vice Presidents: Julie Smith Hon. Membership Secretary Pope John Melling, Mark Smulian Adrian Trett Admin Secretary: Robert Woodthorpe- Anneleise Waugh Dirk Hazell Browne Allan Siau Ming Witherick Adrian Trett Editor of Interlib: Chair: Dirk Hazell Stewart Rayment Dr Julie Smith J.E. C.Asquith Vaudev Patel Interlib 09 2010 3 The 2010 General Election and its Implications Shirley Williams: ir Marshal Lord Garden, whom we all knew as Tim, was an outstanding defence strategist, thinker and public servant. In Aall three roles he flew high. Such was his ability as a pilot that he was able to range from bombers to helicopters, and from practicing to instructing, in his illustrious RAF career. He was also a thinker, a man who contributed ideas well beyond the requirements of his responsibilities as a senior military officer. He took a postgrad- uate degree in international relations at Magdalene College, Cambridge, in the early 1980s. It was his wider understanding of the world in which military power operates that made him such an effective director of defence studies for the RAF,a visiting professor at Kings College London, and an outstanding commander of the Royal College of Defence Studies. I lectured there on several occa- sions to an impressively international audience of senior officers and civilians, potential members of a mutually respectful and close net- work that stretched to many countries.Tim, outgoing, informal, never constrained by rank or pomposity, moved easily among them making friends. Tim understood better than most of us that defence strategy had to take account of a dramatically changing world, in which traditional Cold War assumptions about relative influence and power no longer held good. His analyses and conclusions were grounded in thorough study of the facts, and in respect for truth, however uncomfortable. His moral courage was as unfailing as was his courtesy. Tim recognised the limitations of national power in this new world.That was one of the reasons for his early interest in European security. He supported closer cooperation in procurement and on peacekeeping operations with other EU countries, although those still remain far from fully realised. His work was recognised by the award to him by President Chirac of the Legion d'honneur. It was Tim’s commitment to European integration that made the Liberal Democrats the obvious party for him; both he and his wife Sue begin to reflect this transformation in relative power – and it is were committed and active members, she standing as a Parliamentary always worth remembering that with power goes responsibility.The candidate for Finchley in the 2005 General Election, he becoming failure to alter our institutional structures has left the Great Powers the Party’s defence spokesman in the House of Lords after his eleva- of 1945 with a much resented leadership role, but also with dispro- tion to the peerage in 2004, just in time to make a searing critique portionate responsibility for maintaining order and the rule of law. I of the UK’s involvement in what he called “the rush to war” in Iraq. can sum this up quickly.The permanent members of the United Would Tim have been an enthusiastic supporter of the coalition? Nations Security Council are exactly the same as they were in 1946. Incapable of self-deception, or indeed of deception of any kind, he A combined effort in September 2004 by the strongest candidates would undoubtedly have recognised the scale of the economic chal- for permanent places on the Security Council, India, Brazil, Japan lenge both to the United Kingdom and to the European Union. He and Germany, got nowhere. would have understood that the scale of the challenge is such that In the great financial institutions created at Bretton Woods in partisan obsessions and even passionate preoccupations have to be 1944, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, voting put on one side to ensure our economic survival. Being Tim, he power is based on financial contributions. Taking the IMF as an would have realised too that the current growth projections and illustration, this means that the UK has a larger vote than China, and investment prospects for the UK, for the Euro zone and for the Italy a larger vote than India.