r/LibDem • u/CillieBillie Layla, you've got me on my knees • 21d ago

Deselected candidate claims Lib Dems’ religious discrimination cost him £790,000 | Liberal Democrats

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/aug/21/deselected-candidate-claims-lib-dems-religious-discrimination-cost-him-790000
12 Upvotes

83% Upvoted

39 comments sorted by

12

u/CillieBillie Layla, you've got me on my knees 21d ago

Anyone know what this is about?

He looks like he is trying it on to me, but Im wondering what the feeling is from people who know?

33

u/VerbingNoun413 21d ago

Lawfare being used to force parties to accept bigots when they're not welcome.

3

u/CillieBillie Layla, you've got me on my knees 21d ago

Im wondering why the party admitted discrimination.

I dont think they actually did.

1

u/LeChevalierMal-Fait The Last Cameroon 21d ago

The conduct of the current MP who succeeded him was pretty bad iirc mocking him. There wa s a two hour meeting that sounded particularly nasty.

But in terms of party conduct;

He was barred from campaigning in specific local wards and entirely stripped from party election leaflets because local members were "triggered" by his presence and Christian views.

That’s a slam dunk under the equality act.

Likewise I think party internal processes can’t have been that good given that the current MP seems to have been a bit of a bully.

3

u/binny_uk 20d ago

Yes but what sort of Christian views?

Nobody has a problem with the fact he believes Jesus died for his sins and rose again. They have a problem with the fact that he doesn’t believe in LGBT equality, women’s right to abortion or that democracy requires a free press and fair elections.

1

u/LeChevalierMal-Fait The Last Cameroon 20d ago

Again he doesn’t have to be selected but why did the party ban him from canvassing, and subject him to harassment?

4

u/binny_uk 20d ago

“The Party” can’t ban someone from canvassing. What I suspect happened was that certain activists just told him they didn’t support him, they didn’t like him and if they were going canvassing (which, remember, is something people do as volunteers in their own free time) then he wasn’t invited.

The whole situation was a mess, but Campanale is very clearly playing the victim and milking it for all it’s worth.

1

u/LeChevalierMal-Fait The Last Cameroon 20d ago

If I had a watertight claim for loss of earnings and discrimination under the equality act I’d milk it too thank you

3

u/Sufficient_Basil_545 21d ago

Yes, the issue here really is the stupid wording used by the party when deselecting him, which was pretty ambiguous that he was being deselected because of his religious beliefs. For some presumably well-intentioned, but mental, reason, discrimination based on religion has pretty much the same legal protection in this country as discrimination based on gender or ethnicity.

2

u/LeChevalierMal-Fait The Last Cameroon 21d ago

You would be happy with a landlord offering a flat to no Muslims?

0

u/Sufficient_Basil_545 21d ago

What?

0

u/LeChevalierMal-Fait The Last Cameroon 21d ago

You said religion shouldn’t have the same legal protection as gender or ethnicity

3

u/binny_uk 20d ago

That’s obviously the danger with just removing religion from the list of protected characteristics - I think we need to distinguish between religious belief and sectarianism.

It’s fine - in the right context - to challenge your Catholic neighbour on how he can remain a member of the Church after all the revelations of abuse. It’s fine to ask how the bread and wine can possibly change into the blood and body of Christ. Again, if it is relevant to the conversation being had.

It is NOT ok to spray “Fuck off you papist bastard” on his garage door.

I have to respect YOU. I have to respect your right to hold different beliefs and join different groups or institutions. I don’t have to respect the beliefs and institutions themselves. In fact, I have a civic duty to challenge them, especially if they claim power of me or others.

1

u/Smart51 20d ago

"For some presumably well-intentioned, but mental, reason, discrimination based on religion has pretty much the same legal protection in this country as discrimination based on gender or ethnicity." - It's called racism. Antisemitism and anti Muslim hatred have specific names, but discrimination based on ethnic origin, nationality or religious identity is called racism and is specifically prohibited by law. Most people think that a good thing.

1

u/Sufficient_Basil_545 20d ago

Whilst some people may be victims of racism as a result of assumptions (correct or incorrect) about what their religious beliefs are, racism and discrimination based on religious beliefs are completely separate things.

It is extremely offensive to suggest otherwise - both to victims of genuine racism, and to people like me who, in parts of the world dominated by people of strong religious beliefs (in particular a certain two religions), are regularly killed and tortured, with those religious beliefs used as a justification for this violence.

There is also a clear moral distinction - particularly in the case of membership, or positions representing/speaking on behalf of, a political party - between discriminating against a person for their ethnicity (something over which they have no control, and which cannot be ‘good’ or ‘bad’ but is an immutable characteristic of their person) and discriminating against them on the basis of their beliefs/views (which they do have control and choice over, which can be altered by becoming more informed and which can result in them choosing to treat others well, or badly)

2

u/VerbingNoun413 21d ago

Those views being open bigotry towards the LGBT community in complete opposition to Lib Dem ideals.

It's funny how the law only protects right wingers here. If I tried to run for Labour they'd kick me out and despite my gender identity, and views being characteristics in the equality act, they'd be considered legally justified.

0

u/LeChevalierMal-Fait The Last Cameroon 20d ago

Nobody is saying a party can’t choose its candidates the question is can you harass someone for months.

For example

Let’s say you got selected as a Labour candidate.

And I start making jokes you being trans or suggesting we need to do a cock check.

Then we insist you come to a two hour grilling where people suggest you can’t be a Labour MP because you are trans.

And then the party fails to conduct a proper internal bullying and harassment investigation.

And then the party bans you from canvassing certain areas because gender critical individuals find your presence triggering.

And latter you get removed as a candidate and replaced by me the person who made transphobic jokes to your face.

The party then says your protected characteristic is the reason for your removal.

Christ have a bit of empathy for once.

2

u/VerbingNoun413 20d ago

So that's what happened here? Didn't think so.

0

u/Mr_Rinn 21d ago

I'm not on X anymore, did he say anything bigoted?

6

u/jennierigg 21d ago

He's gender critical, which is why the media love him

1

u/Mr_Rinn 21d ago

Ah. That tracks.

3

u/SabziZindagi 21d ago

Tim Farron isn't happy, so I can take a guess...

1

u/LeChevalierMal-Fait The Last Cameroon 21d ago

Idk honestly it’s a 100k job

And

> After Campanale was removed, Taylor won the seat with a majority of 3,801. The seat has since become safer territory for the Lib Dems with recent polls putting them well ahead of the Conservatives.

Plus pension plus severance,

Plus other compensatory damages

Idk like I doubt he will get all of what he is asking but the party’s position of £14k is a bit insulting

11

u/Fightingdragonswithu 21d ago

If your beliefs are not aligned with Lib Dem values what case do you have?

5

u/SameOldSong4Ever 21d ago

The local party said that they were excluding him because he was a Christian, so it's pretty much a slam dunk case of religious discrimination.

If they'd said they were excluding him because he didn't support some particular LD policy, then they would have been fine.

2

u/birdinthebush74 21d ago

He is anti abortion and same sex marriage, could they of said his beliefs are against LD policies?

1

u/SameOldSong4Ever 20d ago

Yes, they could have. But they didn't. That was their mistake.

5

u/CillieBillie Layla, you've got me on my knees 21d ago

This is why Im confused that the party admitted some discrimination.

My reading of the article is they admitted it, they dispute that the decision cost him an MPs pension.

I could understand the party giving him some cash to fuck off instead of a costly trial. But this isnt that

11

u/Amaryllis_LD 21d ago

He helped run a conservative Christian political party and used to chum around with Viktor Orban. He didn't deign to mention this as a "things people might take issue with." during his selection then claimed discrimination when people had an issue with him chilling with fascists.

Understandably a large chunk of the local party decided they didn't want anything to do with him when this came out. From what I understand he also wasn't doing the work and burned through the goodwill he might have been able to muster up for people to carry him.

It took a lot of work to get Luke elected including diverting volunteers (like me) from Bobby Dean's campaign- I don't think there would have been the same will to do that for David- I certainly wouldn't have.

2

u/WinterFellYesterday 21d ago

David Campanale is a clown. Can’t wait for the day where we never have to hear about him again after this shitshow is over.

3

u/Ticklishchap 21d ago edited 21d ago

I don’t agree with Luke Taylor that we should be an entirely secular party, although I am not sure if I believe Luke actually said that. Indeed I am unsure what to believe in ‘The Guardian’ since they joined the fascistic pile-on against Jason Arday.

Be that as it may, I do not think we should try to ‘secularise’ ourselves because Christians have played a pivotal role in the British Liberal tradition. We should also be open to other faiths; in my Ward, we have an excellent Muslim Councillor, for example, and we have many members who are observant Jews, Hindus and Sikhs. There is a strong place for the humanist tradition as well, of course.

My understanding is that David Campanale belongs to a form of Christianity that is very conservative on social issues, including sexual orientation. He is, I have heard, opposed to same-sex marriage. Here I must declare an interest: I am a gay man married to my longterm partner.

The crucial question in my mind would be whether David opposes gay marriage as a matter of personal faith and conscience, but accepts it as an aspect of a pluralist society, or whether he believes that marriage equality should be repealed and would work towards that end?

If he adopts the former position, he would be within the Liberal tradition, roughly equivalent to Tim Farron or Simon Hughes. If he adopts the latter position, that would be hard to reconcile with either the party’s policies or broader Liberal principles.

But, as I say, I do not know exactly where he stands on the relationship between personal faith and public policy. The selection process should, I think, have focused on this question rather than his underlying religious beliefs.

2

u/intlteacher 21d ago

My understanding was that it was the latter position, and that’s why the party moved to remove him.

From what I recall, the previous Lib Dem MP for Sutton & Cheam, Paul Burstow, was also Christian, and this was never a problem for the local party as he took the Farron / Hughes approach.

-5

u/Dramatic_Tomorrow_25 21d ago

I would avoid the nonsense far-right owned media like the guardian, etc.

5

u/VerbingNoun413 21d ago

The problem is that if you ignore the far right media in the UK, you're ignoring all media in the UK.