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“As we all settle into isolation for, I hope, only a few more weeks, I have been sorting out papers from the past and I thought it worth posting one or two on my website for a few people to read.
“The article ‘Labour’s Love’s Lost’ was published in a journal called Queen on 2 October 1962.
“It appeared just after I had been chosen as the prospective Labour candidate …
Lord Owen writing in The Sunday Times, 24 February 2019.
Read the full article here: Sunday Times article
Extracts:
“…Disowning the largest democratic vote in our history, and commitments made as recently as the 2017 general election to deliver in parliament the referendum result, is, to put it mildly, an odd basis for starting a new centre grouping intended to destroy the other two parties, as the Independent Group of …
Lord Owen’s speech on 13 December 2018 in the Debate on the current constitutional challenges within the UK and the case for the establishment of a UK-wide Constitutional Convention to address issues of democratic accountability and devolution, particularly in England.
View the speech here: Constitutional Challenges
Read the text here: HL13.12.18
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Addressing a seminar on ‘Politics post-Brexit’ at Cardiff University’s School of Law and Politics, Lord Owen today (Thursday 3 November) set out proposals for a UK-wide Federal Council in a comprehensive pamphlet drawing comparisons with the German Bundesrat.
Download the pamphlet here: a-federal-uk-council-3
“This pamphlet argues for a focused cross-party investigation of the German federal Bundesrat, without any commitment as to the outcome. It is something which needs to be …
Read the full speech here: HLIraqInquiry12.7.16
Extracts: It would have been much easier if the former Prime Minister had made an open confession that he had made many mistakes. Unfortunately, on the day of the report, having no doubt had access to it for some time, he produced a written statement of defiance. That defiance – the only word to describe it – cannot be left unchallenged.
He said: “If …
Lord Owen discusses Labour’s 2015 leadership elections and media speculation that it could lead to an SDP-style split in an interview on BBC Newsnight. View the interview, from around 16’50” in the programme, here.
Please note, access is time-limited by the BBC, expires approx 17 August.
…The Campaign for the Reinstatement Bill has, in essence, been adopted in this new Parliament by Caroline Lucas in her Private Member’s NHS Bill which has received a First Reading. The importance of this Bill is that prior to the Election it was supported by Labour, Liberal Democrat, SNP, Plaid Cymru and Green MPs and now this newly tabled Bill continues to be supported by that same grouping though slightly …
Prime Ministers should stay in office for no more than ten years or eight years if the Fixed Term Parliament Act is changed from five to four years, according to former Foreign Secretary Lord David Owen. He believes limitation would curb the hubristic behaviour of Prime Ministers who become intoxicated with power. Speaking at a conference on Leadership: Stress & Hubris on 17 November, hosted by the Daedalus Trust and …
