I am sorry for the long gap since my last update.
I’ve been hard at work, not just in my usual campaigning, but in something different: the contest to win nomination as a parliamentary candidate. A formal announcement is imminent, but I wanted you to hear it first. I will be working to win the Cities of London and Westminster at the next general election.
Many subscribers to this bulletin will be surprised at this. Why give up a comfortable niche in thinktank-land for the uncertainties and hard work of grassroots politics? Readers may be even more surprised to know which party I am campaigning for.
Here’s why.
For years I have tried to influence the course of events through writing and speaking. I’ve had some success — back in 2008 my book The New Cold War helped wake up opinion in the West to the danger posed by Putin’s Kremlin. Deception, a few years later, did the same for what we now call “hybrid warfare”. I’ve done a lot on China, too. I wrote countless articles for the Times and Economist, and my weekly column for CEPA, as well as think-tank studies.
But we’re losing. So instead standing on the sidelines urging politicians to do things, I’ve decided to get stuck in.
My aim is simple: to save democracy from dirty money, disinformation and digital manipulation. We in the UK take our institutions, freedom and rule of law for granted. That’s a mistake. They’re under threat. We need to defend them
The central London constituency I have chosen exemplifies much of what is best and worst about Britain. It’s home to the beating heart of our democracy. It’s also home to the cesspit that poisons it — the pinstriped traitors who launder money and reputations, corrode public trust and peddle influence in our politics.
I can’t do this alone. Independents get nowhere in our system.
I have friends in all the political parties. But there is one that shaped my youth and still commands my loyalty. I’ve not been active since the early 1980s, when I worked for giants like Paddy Ashdown and Dick Taverne. I’ve disagreed with many things the party has said and done since then, and I have grave reservations about some of their policies now. But the Liberal Democrats (Lib Dems for short) are the best hope of change.
I explained this at length in a recent Times column. The gist:
1) Britain needs a strong centrist party as a source of new ideas and political competition.
2) No new entrant will succeed — for all their faults, the Liberal Democrats won’t be dislodged.
3) The party is best placed to campaign on defending democracy, with its local roots and internationalist outlook.
The seat (CLAW for short) is winnable. We need just one in ten Conservatives and one in ten Labour voters to switch. That would put me in Parliament — perhaps as a backbencher, perhaps on an important committee, just possibly as a minister in a coalition government. That’s worth a shot.
But the campaign in the coming years also offers chances to shift the “Overton window” in British politics: the political agenda.
I will be writing more about this in the weeks ahead. I will also keep up my commentary on the threat from Russia and China. I’ll still write articles and contribute to CEPA, too, as I did during the campaign.
My most recent piece is my take on the Australian-UK-US security deal. My point was simple: If Europe is not taken seriously in global security, the fault lies at home.
Columns for CEPA in previous weeks have looked at:
the role of international parliamentarians in supporting Lithuania’s brave stance against China (also featured in this piece);
the West’s growing response to Russian active measures;
strange behaviour at the Chinese embassy in Stockholm;
praise for Ukraine on the 30th anniversary of its independence;
a lament for our defeat in Afghanistan;
the politics of transcription rules; and
a comparison of the threats from Russia and China
My big CEPA report on Nordic-Baltic security came out too. You can read the executive summary here.
I kept up my Times column:
I warned against hyping Russia’s squeeze on Belarus;
I lambasted Europe’s defence feebleness;
I had a scoop about government attempts to muzzle the vital Intelligence and Security Committee (one of the reasons I want to be an MP is to protect parliamentary oversight of spookdom); and
I reflected on the joys of pavement politics.
In between, I addressed and wrote hundreds of handwritten letters to the members of the constituency party, made many hundreds of phone calls, produced election material and wrestled with my party’s intricate rules and norms (which means I can’t give you any details, though I can say that I won easily).
I also had a bit of a holiday. I hope you did.
Now the real fight starts. I’d be thrilled if you could help me win — we need money (if you are a registered voter in the UK) and help in making phone calls, knocking on doors, gathering data and thinking up campaigns.
You can find more details here.
I will have a lot more to say in the days and weeks ahead.
Best regards, Edward
PS if you have friends or contacts heading to any universities in central London — LSE, UCL, Imperial, City, King’s and the others — please let me know as soon as possible.