Shirley Williams: 'If you give up what you care about, you start dying' (Twickenham & Richmond Liberal Democrats)

Shirley Williams: 'If you give up what you care about, you start dying'

August 14, 2010 5:05 PM

• [Aug 14] Simon Hattenstone writes: 'SHIRLEY Williams has just turned 80. Yes, there was a little birthday party, and lunch with her daughter, but nothing more. "That's enough to be going on with, thank you," she says. There's no time to waste for Baroness Williams of Crosby, now that her party's finally got a share of government.

. . So what is it like to end up in bed with the Tories? "Not one bed," Williams says sharply. "Two beds." She pauses. Actually, it's not always two beds. "I find myself in bed with Ken Clarke on an awful lot of things the public would describe as liberal, and I'm perfectly happy there."

. . Williams wants to make sure we cover the positive elements of the new government as well. "I really do think the coalition hasn't had the credit it deserves on civil liberty issues," she says. "All my prison reform friends are jumping with delight. This is the first time since Roy Jenkins or Kenneth Clarke that they've heard a liberal voice from the Home Office, or Ministry of Justice as it is now. There's the decision to go back to the torture thing, to say this mustn't go on any more. And there's the chucking out of identity cards and the excessive surveillance which was getting suffocating. There's detaining asylum kids - that was appalling. Lib Dems always took a strong line on that. This is a whole area where the government is going to be a lot better."

. . What would her advice be for Clegg? "Listen very closely to what the party tells you and see how far you can go to meet it." Has he been listening closely enough so far? "I think he's probably excited by government so he hasn't had enough time to listen a great deal, but in fairness he does go out a lot to listen … I think we'll know much better after the Lib Dem conference. It will be quite lively."

Richmond upon Thames Liberal Democrats: