I was a bit surprised to read what you'd written here a couple of days ago about Michael Meadowcroft, given my limited personal experience of him. I've only come across him once, and that was at a meeting of our local post-AV group, Leeds for Reform. But I was pretty unimpressed by my observation of him there. He behaved arrogantly and dismissively towards pretty much everybody else in the room, and was inclined to derail the discussion onto points of trivia which did nothing to move the debate forward (and everything to help ensure that he was the centre of attention).
It's also pretty telling that that is the only time I've met him personally, given how heavily involved I was in the Leeds Yes campaign. The fact is that he did absolutely nothing whatsoever to help with that at any stage at all - and that alone would make me severely disinclined to vote for him as an ERS council member.
I didn't comment to say this earlier, as that is just my personal experience, and since I'm still pretty new in both LibDem and electoral reform circles, it may not be representative. But I did notice that in the pub after the Leeds for Reform meeting which he attended, people who've been deeply involved in local LibDem politics for a long time (e.g. a local councillor, a former chair of Leeds Liberal Youth) seemed to regard the behaviour I'd observed in the meeting as entirely typical of him. The impression I got was that he is strongly disliked by people who've worked closely with him.
Last night in the pub I got the chance to sound out one of those people in a bit more detail, with what you'd written here fresh in my mind, and that impression was further confirmed. The word seems to be that his approach to campaigning is out-dated (e.g. he refuses to target winnable areas, preferring to rely on a general dissemination of a 'liberal message'), that he is dismissive of suggestions to change approach, and that his tenure as Chair of the Campaign and Development Group has been a disaster for the party locally.
Obviously, on one level that's just hear-say from sources who I'm choosing not to name in a public post in case he reads it (though I'll be happy to tell you their names in person). But I was just struck by the diametrically opposite impression of him which I've picked up from Leeds LibDems, by comparison with what you've said here. You may already have cast your vote, so I don't know if this comment comes too late now anyway. But I certainly won't be ranking him myself.
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It's also pretty telling that that is the only time I've met him personally, given how heavily involved I was in the Leeds Yes campaign. The fact is that he did absolutely nothing whatsoever to help with that at any stage at all - and that alone would make me severely disinclined to vote for him as an ERS council member.
I didn't comment to say this earlier, as that is just my personal experience, and since I'm still pretty new in both LibDem and electoral reform circles, it may not be representative. But I did notice that in the pub after the Leeds for Reform meeting which he attended, people who've been deeply involved in local LibDem politics for a long time (e.g. a local councillor, a former chair of Leeds Liberal Youth) seemed to regard the behaviour I'd observed in the meeting as entirely typical of him. The impression I got was that he is strongly disliked by people who've worked closely with him.
Last night in the pub I got the chance to sound out one of those people in a bit more detail, with what you'd written here fresh in my mind, and that impression was further confirmed. The word seems to be that his approach to campaigning is out-dated (e.g. he refuses to target winnable areas, preferring to rely on a general dissemination of a 'liberal message'), that he is dismissive of suggestions to change approach, and that his tenure as Chair of the Campaign and Development Group has been a disaster for the party locally.
Obviously, on one level that's just hear-say from sources who I'm choosing not to name in a public post in case he reads it (though I'll be happy to tell you their names in person). But I was just struck by the diametrically opposite impression of him which I've picked up from Leeds LibDems, by comparison with what you've said here. You may already have cast your vote, so I don't know if this comment comes too late now anyway. But I certainly won't be ranking him myself.