Olly Grender is now writing for the New Statesman

I have been thrilled to bits in recent months to see Olly Grender, who was the Party's Communications Director when we made our big leap forward in 1997, doing the rounds of various media talking an awful lot of sense.

I particularly liked her appearance on This Week just before the tuition fees vote. Andrew Neil went in with all guns blazing, challenging her that it would be ridiculous for Vince Cable to abstain on tuition fees, expecting her to defend that line, and she completely disarmed him by agreeing with him (and me, to be honest, as I'd thought exactly the same and written about it extensively).

She's a much more effective commentator than the people who jabber and point and shout. She makes her point well and takes you along with her.

Anyway, it's good to see that the New Statesman have given her a regular blog on their site. In case you didn't know already, bookmark it immediately because she's already written some good stuff, like this one on Chris Huhne. During his leadership campaigns, he was portrayed as a bit of a leftie, but it was always clear to me that he wasn't. He is, however, incisive, hugely intelligent and a key player in the Coalition.   I also loved this piece on Alan Johnson's resignation - "politics needs people with messy lives". I love the Nancy Seear story in that too.

I've obviously added her to my blogroll so you will be able to catch up on all her posts.

I hope she doesn't mind, but I did a little bit of internet stalking research before I wrote this post and I found this profile of her. It's 11 years old, but it says a lot about the excellent reputation she has amongst her peers. The Tories were in a pretty dark place at that time, and to have one of them describe her as "likeable...scrupulous, a tough manager and has integrity" is quite remarkable.