Front Centre: Chandila and Chamali out on the campaign trail with the SDP/Liberal Alliance 1987

Chandila was born in the East Midlands but now lives in North London.

He comes from a close-knit family who are all deeply committed to the Liberal Democrats. Last year, his sister, Chamali, became the youngest person to ever be shortlisted by a mainstream political party for the role of Mayor of London.

Back in 1983, Chandila’s father, Sumal Fernando was the first Sri Lankan to contest a parliamentary seat in the UK [SDP, Leicester West] and subsequently [Liberal Alliance, Nottingham North 1987].

Chandila developed an early interest in politics. Brought up in a home environment where “Frost on Sunday”, followed by “Midlands Westminster” dominated weekend television, Chandila developed a keen analytical view of politics and politicians.

		Chandila chose to read politics at university, but aside from the ideological aspirations for a better world, Chandila showed a talent as an entrepreneur, delivering practical and achievable results in business. Now Chandila travels around the country visiting companies and working with them on sales, marketing and finance driven projects. He is a solutions based expert often deployed by companies to solve issues such as low morale and an inability to compete in a continually evolving and challenging market place.
Chandila thrives on delivering passionate and motivational speeches to company staff and political audiences.

Fundamental to the growth of any organisation (commercial or political)

is a sound knowledge of the product and/or service

being provided combined with a

willingness and desire to meet the needs of the consumer.

Chandila draws on his experience of working in foreign investor relations, recruitment, banking, legal and financial services, property and other industries to bring a dynamic, refreshing and serious perspective to the work of the Liberal Democrats.

Articulating people’s views, debating ideas, motivating and bringing people together come naturally. In the wake of the Tsunami disaster, Chandila was drafted in as an official spokesperson for Sri Lankan High Commission to handle media interviews and public fundraising appeals.

His strong commercial acumen combined with an ability to turn companies around sets him apart from many inside the political bubble. As a non-parliamentarian, he will have the time and energy to devote to the role of Party President.

In a short space of time, Chandila demonstrated an unparalleled ability to developed good connections within our parliamentary party and what makes his candidacy unique is his fresh approach and ability as a local activist to bridge the gap between the activists and our parliamentarians.

Chandila’s interests include cricket, reading autobiographies, marketing and communications.

Embracing the Politics of Personality

I truly believe that “people buy people” and that as Liberal Democrats we should seek to change the way we look in the eyes of voters, so that we can change the way they think about us. We need to develop a proper and serious identity. Start to look serious to be taken seriously.


Effective Marketing of Our Policies

We are in politics to serve people and to make a real change to their lives. Doorstep politics i.e. listening to people’s issues, is something our party does extremely well; as a result we have some excellent policies for Britain. Yet, we struggle to get our message heard.

Consistency and simplification of our political message

is critical to our electoral success.

Greater communication with the membership

Why do people in the party, particularly the less active members, complain they only hear from a prospective candidate during a selection contest? Well that is the first time, candidates are entitled to find out who our members are and communicate with them. I do not want to bombard members with literature but I want to move away from archaic rules that prevent us communicating with our members.

Qu :	When was the last time you heard from the Liberal Democrats at Cowley Street (Party Headquarters)?
Ans :	Possibly when someone rang you for a donation!

“It is time to change the way we communicate not only with the outside world, but also with each other.  We need to sharpen our image, our focus and our approach.”		Modernising our image is not simply about the way we look and present ourselves on television and at public meetings, but critically about modernising the way we operate as a political party.
		In the last General Election, around 6 million people voted Liberal Democrat yet we only have 67,000 signed up members - a number that is in rapid decline.

Modernise Our Supporters Network

Let’s be the first British political party to build a “registered supporters” database. Presently you can only become a Liberal Democrat member if you pay an annual subscription to the party, but to many people the concept of card-carrying political party membership is an anathema.

In the 1980’s, at the time of the merger the SDP had nearly 60,000 members and the Liberals around 100,000 members. Across the political spectrum, all political party membership is in decline.

As President, I would campaign hard for us to embrace the American concept of “registered supporters” by including all those who say they support us on our national database and – ultimately – in our decision-making processes. Modern software packages mean we no longer need to divide the population into “members” and “non-members.”

I want to allow more people to become involved our party. If they are on the UK electoral register and signing a form confirming they are a supporter of Liberal Democrats and share our values, then they should be allowed to attend our events and find out more about us.

“We need to build a stronger relationship with the 99% of

Liberal Democrat supporters who are not paid-up members.”

The greatest benefit of such a modern approach to membership would be an ability to create greater awareness about our policies, campaigning and fundraising events.


Improving the way we select our candidates

Our party rules need to be brought into the 21st Century. Things have improved marginally in the PPC process; the form has changed, but what about improving the training of our selection panels, members and candidates.

I want a complete overhaul of our rules of internal election and selection of candidates. We should be looking to draw in and promote the brightest and talented people. We claim we are a meritocratic party but a closer inspection reveals we favour the incumbent candidate.

“Our internal message should reflect our external message.”

In selection contests, we actively discourage candidates from revealing their talent for developing new campaigning techniques and embracing the digital age. For example, anyone running for the Federal Policy Committee is not allowed to use a website to promote their candidacy (Rule 4d).

Selection rules were initially designed to promote equality and fairness in campaigning but now they favour establishment candidates. Have a look at our European Member of Parliament selection process. If you are already an MEP you will have spent the last few years communicating with your electorate, informing them about the work you do, using your research assistant and resources to maintain a positive presence in their eyes. It is unsurprising therefore that when it comes to a selection contest where candidates are restricted financially from employing an assistant, restricted in the number of postal communications despatched, the results always favour the re-selection of the existing candidate. In 2008, in every region in England, the Liberal Democrats re-selected the existing MEP candidate.


Championing Your Ideas and Suggestions

  » When was the last time you submitted an idea or suggestion and had some feedback about it?

  » When was the last time you were actively encouraged to submit an idea to the party?

  » When was the last time you heard someone else mention a really good idea and then it was forgotten about?

“It is time you had a voice on the inside that will support our leader

but will not be conflicted or prevented from championing your views

and challenging the way the party operates.”

Less Bureaucracy

We all recognise that the Government has become far too bureaucratic, one of our main aims as Liberal Democrats is to reduce the red tape. Yet within our own small political organisation we have too many layers of bureaucracy.

If you want to see Nick Clegg and his shadow cabinet team appearing more frequently on our airwaves, we have to stop bogging them down in endless internal meetings and committees.

We also need to ensure that all party members- and indeed the wider public – are clear about which decisions are taken where and who is responsible for them. Let’s build on the work of the Bones Commission.

“I want to streamline our political structures so that people in the Party are accountable and responsible so the process of who, how and why things are done becomes transparent.”

Radical change comes only

with a serious commitment to an agenda for change.

We have the annual turnover of a single branch of a high street Debenhams store, but a decision-making structure as bureaucratic as the former Soviet Union.

As a party we advocate decentralized politics yet our main office operates from a rather expensive and old building in the heart of Westminster and seeks to control everything that happens.

There are services that we run in London such as the Membership Services, which could be easily outsourced to a different part of the UK so as to reduce the cost of running the Membership Department.

The talent in our party is not confined to Westminster; I want to know from you what you can do to help, what skills we can use. If elected President, I will champion your ideas and suggestions.

Major fundraising initiatives are often confined to London, we need to co-ordinate our local efforts more so that major fundraising activities happen elsewhere in the country.

As a non-parliamentarian Party President, I will have time to travel, undertake speaking engagements and help with fundraising activities to make a difference at the point of impact for you, whether that is in Scotland, England or Wales.

We need to empower individual staff and activists whilst holding them properly to account. I want us to decentralize our funding. I will consult on precise details and mechanisms, but favour 50% of small donations and subscriptions being remitted to local and regional parties.