Liberal Democrat Frontbench Team

Encyclopedia : L : LI : LIB : Liberal Democrat Frontbench Team

The Liberal Democrats are the third-largest political party in the United Kingdom. The Liberal Democrat leader appoints a team of Members of Parliament (MPs) and Peers to speak for the party on different issues. Their areas of responsibility broadly correspond to those of Government ministers. The party calls its frontbench the Liberal Democrat shadow ministerial team. The shadow ministerial team are divided into departmental teams, such as education, health and foreign affairs. The leader of each departmental team is a member of the Liberal Democrat 'Shadow Cabinet'.

Contents

1 Status
2 Liberal Democrat Frontbench Team

2.1 Liberal Democrat \"Shadow Cabinet\"
2.2 Other members of the House of Commons Liberal Democrat Frontbench Team
2.3 Liberal Democrat House of Lords Frontbench Team

3 See also
4 External links

Status

Formerly, the Liberal Democrats frontbench team did not use the term 'Shadow Cabinet', with a number of front bench spokespeople covering areas (e.g., Defence and Foreign Affairs) rather than directly shadowing specific Cabinet portfolios. Under Charles Kennedy's leadership, and with the increase in numbers of Liberal Democrat MPs, the senior members of the front bench team referred to themselves as a Shadow Cabinet, although (in UK politics) this had previously been a title used to describe senior members of the front bench team of the largest opposition party in the House of Commons.

Following Charles Kennedy's decision to change the nomenclature, the UK Parliament's website now uses the term 'Liberal Democrat Shadow Cabinet' and does not use the old term 'Frontbench Team'. [link][link]

However, this is not without contention and is disputed by the Conservative Party. This was noticeable enough that Gordon Brown made a joke about it in the House of Commons:

"The House of Commons is in the unique position of having two shadow Chancellors: one sits in Folkestone and the other in Truro. It is rather like the mediaeval papacy: two hon. Members claim to hold the position of shadow Chancellor. I shall organise a play-off during the year."[Hansard Source]

This is a theme to which Gordon Brown has returned recently, comparing and contrasting his frosty relationship with the official Shadow Chancellor George Osborne with his apparently warm relationship with Vince Cable (whom he refers to as 'the Shadow Chancellor from Twickenham').

The official Shadow Cabinet (currently formed by the Conservative Party) receives support for its official function which are denied to the Liberal Democrats, although they, along with every parliamentary party, do receive Short money. Salaries are paid to the Opposition Leader and the Chief Whips. Moreover, the official Shadow Cabinet has the exclusive use of facilities within Parliament (including the use of a Shadow Cabinet block of offices, Shadow Cabinet meeting rooms and a suite of offices for the Opposition Leader). There is a great deal of resistance within Parliament to conferring 'Shadow' titles to the third party^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}.

Following his election as the new leader on 2 March 2006, Campbell announced plans for a reshuffle and spoke of his two defeated opponents, Chris Huhne and Simon Hughes, having senior positions in the party. In the reshuffle, however, neither was given a senior Shadow Cabinet post.