Lord Oakeshott has announced that he will be returning to the House of Lords as a non-affiliated member after taking a leave of absence following an attempt to oust the then Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg.
Matthew Oakeshott resigned the Lib Dem whip in May 2014 after releasing private polls to the Guardian indicating that the party would do better with his ally, the then business secretary Vince Cable, as leader. Oakeshott clearly hoped the polls might prompt a coup against Clegg, but the revolt fizzled out.
Oakeshott announced his return on Twitter on Friday morning.
I've rejoined Lords to help keep Britain in Europe. We won 1975 Referendum with vision of prosperity,progress and peace.Still @Stronger_In 👍
— matthew oakeshott (@oakeshottm) October 23, 2015
Following the leaking of private polling, Oakeshott warned that the Lib Dems were was “heading for disaster” under Clegg, who had made the party one of “no roots, no principles and no values”.
Oakeshott also said Cable had known about the controversial voting predictions – which suggested Clegg would lose his seat along with three other MPs – several weeks before the party’s disastrous showing in the European and council elections. Cable said he had absolutely no knowledge of the polling.
Before May’s general election, Oakeshott gave an unusual donation of £600,000 to 30 Labour and 15 centre-left Lib Dem election candidates in an attempt to create an Ed Miliband-led progressive government.
Oakeshott described his donations as “doing his bit to save our country from a Tory government cringing to Ukip”. The peer also disclosed that he had given a further £10,000 to the campaign to re-elect Caroline Lucas, the Green MP in Brighton.
Nick Clegg allowed his party’s candidates to accept the money, saying: “He’s not a member of my party, so he’s free to decide what to do with his considerable wealth. If it helps Liberal Democrat MPs, he’s helping. Look, it’s a free country. He’s not a member of the party, he’s a wealthy man and can do what he likes with his cash.”
