On re-reading the comment, I think you’re onto a fair point in that there was a divide in who did and didn’t sign. The word “party whip” springs to mind!!

According to the Lib Dem party site, some members of the Federal Policy Committee are elected by MPs see:

http://www.libdems.org.uk/party_organisations_detail.aspx?title=Federal_Policy_Committee&pPK=c69dd25e-6ade-4e74-b011-248db8f37401

It’s not the Tory party you know. All elections in the LibDems are one-member-one-vote.

The Federal Policy Committee (who have just backed retaining a commitment to scrap tuition fees, coincidentally), are elected by the members using an STV election. The next LibDem candidate for parliament in Cambridge will be elected in the same way.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8421092.stm

The letter states that the committee expects to include a commitment to scrap tuition fees in its next manifesto.

The divide between the Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg, and the party’s internal decision making process (Cllr Smith’s Committee) is becoming the key event of the conference.

Eleven members of the Federal Policy Committee, presumably Nick Clegg supporters, did not sign the letter.

With the exception of Evan Harris MP, all those elected to the Federal Policy Committee by MPs did not sign the letter.

She started by joking about how she ended up being a Lib Dem. She said she mentioned to a canvasser she was a Lib Dem voter; and the next thing she knew they came round and signed her up as a member. She says she agreed due to “embarrassment” and the fact it was “only a fiver”, a few weeks later she was a Lib Dem candidate and shortly afterwards a councillor.

This highlights a big problem with the Lib Dems; there’s clearly no real vetting of their candidates by the party. Electors really need to do that research for themselves and not read anything into the fact that someone is standing on a Lib Dem ticket.