Onwards and Upwards

The recent General Elections was nothing short of disastrous for the Liberal Democrats. Many of our candidates lost their deposits and our hard working MPs their seats.

Yet there are some rays of sunshine piercing through the dark clouds, and that is the renewed interest in liberalism and our cause. Since polling day. more than 14,000 people have signed up to join the Party including Chinese Liberal Democrats.

CLD researcher and China watcher Carl Carlstedt puts it most aptly in his letter to us on the importance of carrying on the torch of liberalism:

"I have just watched Nick Clegg's resignation speech and I am very saddened to hear the news of the tide that ousted many of our MP's and stunted liberalism in the UK for a while. I am currently still in Beijing finishing up my masters and couldn't feel more strongly that the Lib Dems played the strongest role in this past government fighting for the values that kept our country and our society so remarkable in the international system.

…Our country can easily turn for the worse if we sacrifice our civil society and human rights that protect the vulnerable only in order to pursue profit and power to the few through the use of fear and grievance to bolster nationalism and international isolation."

New member Dr YeeWah Foo said:
"I joined the Party after meeting [CLD Chair] Linda Chung and found myself surrounded by so many warm-hearted and like-minded individuals. I am now inspired to do more both with the Chinese community as well as to expand our reach into the wider society".

Daniel and his wife caught sight of Phil Ling on tv on the stage at the Count in Tooting and was surprised to see a Chinese candidate. He then checked out who Phil was and was invited to one of Chinese LibDem trademark Sunday dim sum lunches.

Membership of CLDs is free for the first year to all new LibDem members. To find out more about what we do and our plans for the future, email info@chineselibdems.org.uk