A New Generation Gets Ready to fly

Written by Lester Holloway and published in Operation Black Vote website on Thu 2nd Jul 2009

THE FIRST Black British MP was a Liberal, yet despite a promising start they have had an all-white Commons team for the next 180 years. Now Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg has declared his desire to change that with a far-reaching diversity programme aimed at changing the face of his party.

OBV director Simon Woolley, was also at the launch of the New Generation project, said there was clearly a 'momentum for change' but added that proof of the pudding would be seeing Black and ethnic minority candidates elected to the Commons.

Clegg was joined by his deputy Vince Cable, Simon Hughes, and around 20 ambitious Black high-flyers who want to represent the party at a national and regional level. All 63 of the current Lib Dem MPs are white, a situation that Clegg admitted was unacceptable.

Cable, who chairs a diversity group, said: 'We haven't done as much as we could. We haven't been proficient in the past in making sure that BME people were involved. We're now approaching it in a systematic way. It is about getting as many of you as possible in leadership roles.'

The New Generation scheme will provide training and support to talented BME party members. Clegg has pledged to introduce all-BME shortlists if current initiatives don't bear fruit, however party insiders are confident that they are making real progress.

Former New Nation editor Lester Holloway, who is standing for the Lib Dems at the next council elections in Sutton, said: 'New Generation really is a partnership between the leadership and the grassroots. It's not a top-down makeover, as we've seen elsewhere, but is a serious attempt to change the whole party- in a way the whole party can buy into.

'The Liberals had Britain's first MP of colour when Dadabhai Naoroji in the 19th Century. Over the next 180 years the party has not built on this legacy. This was excusable in the days when the parliamentary party could fit in a taxi. Today, with over 60 MPs, there is no excuse. That's why we need change now.'

The Lib Dems have a handful of candidates in second-place seats, such as Farid Ahmed in Walthamstow, Karen Hamilton in Birmingham Perry Barr, and Parmjit Singh Gill in Leicester South, but each hopeful as a battle to enter parliament.

Simon Woolley, head of campaign group Operation Black Vote, said: 'We are seeing a gathering momentum for change with senior Lib Dems really wanting to support the New Generation initiative.

'The true test will be the political will to put candidates in winnable seats, and the financial backing they give. But what I've seen bodes well for the medium and long term.'

• Contact the Lib Dem's New Generation: Email Cllr Meral Ece on meralhece@yahoo.co.uk