I was in a field in Kent as the local election results came in. As an unapologetic adherent of the metropolitan elite, it’s not my natural environment. But over the weekend it became increasingly clear that I’m not the only Londoner who’s out of touch with the rest of the country. The capital is now […]
In leisure centres and town halls across the country, the cheers of the victors can be heard alongside the half-hearted claps of the vanquished. Democracy at its most local – and for the people involved, most personal – is being played out in over 130 English councils, including every borough in London. Few beyond the […]
A spring conference rarely grabs the national headlines. It is typically a chance for party faithful to shore themselves up before a local election, and party officials to take a weekend away. It’s why much of Ed Davey’s spring conference speech last week floated under the national radar, bar the odd headline about the Liberal […]
‘Who governs Britain?’ asked Ted Heath in the February 1974 general election, only to receive an answer he neither liked nor expected. But today, when a Prime Minister with a majority of more than 150 seats is said to be fighting for his political life; when a Cabinet Secretary departs after barely fourteen months; when […]
The Liberal Democrats have announced that they want to abolish the Treasury and replace it with a new ‘Department for Growth’, supported by a separate department for public spending. On the face of it, this sounds radical, even refreshing. Britain’s economy has stagnated for over a decade, productivity has broadly flatlined (especially in the public […]
It’s been revealed that people suffering from skin cancer are waiting up to a year to start treatment. The fact that so many people with serious illnesses are waiting for so long is a scandal that should anger us all. The Liberal Democrats are rightly outraged by this and have called for action from the […]
If it’s risky to give a child a virtuous name, consider the quandary of political parties. Labour has enjoyed at best an on-off relationship with workers, while the Conservative and Unionist Party is currently best known for destroying ties with our neighbours. As for the Liberal Democrats, it’s possible neither of their names are accurate. […]
The Liberal Democrats have often been called a Nimby party – not least on the pages of CapX – yet they have just backed the most ambitious housing target in history, thanks to my friends in the youth wing and the pro-coalition Liberal Reform. The original plan was to move to a more localised model […]
Say what you like about the Lib Dems, they have a real Party Conference. Debate takes place in the main hall, rather than being banished to the fringe. Disagreements are openly expressed. The activists are the least deferential of any Party, appeals from the leadership for unity are futile. Perhaps a few days of candour […]
Somewhat unbelievably, after eight long months, today we will finally discover the identity of the next leader of the Liberal Democrats. Hold the front page. Barely a year and a half go the party were riding high off the back of their incredible success in the European Parliament elections, sweeping the board in London and […]
With Labour typically gripped by infighting post-General Election catastrophe, the Lib Dems’ own electoral wipe out has rather been forgotten. The party entered the December 12 poll with 20 MPs, depending on how you count defections and so forth. They now have 11. Leader Jo Swinson lost her seat. The party did garner over 3.67 […]
Nobody has quite gone full David Steele and told them to “prepare for government”. However, it is fair to say the thronged masses of Lib Demmery gathered in Bournemouth this week are not in a particularly humble mood. New recruit Chuka Umanna talks effusively of winning 100 parliamentary seats, leader Jo Swinson maintains she is […]
Party conferences are, by definition, odd affairs. No normal person chooses to spend hundreds of pounds to pass days in a seaside conference centre hearing from MPs and discussing the minutiae of party policy. Oddity levels are particularly high in the case of the Liberal Democrats. But the sandaled party faithful who gathered in Bournemouth […]
It is time to start paying attention to the Liberal Democrats again. After nearly a decade of electoral drubbings, they show strong signs of recovery. In the local elections in May the party ended up with a net gain of over 700 councillors. That goes some way to rebuilding the “pavement politics” network which they […]
With the media’s focus fixed firmly on the battle to replace Theresa May at the top of the Conservatives, it would be easy to miss the other leadership election that got underway this week. Vince Cable’s resignation as leader of the Liberal Democrats has triggered a contest that will last until the end of July, […]
There are two ways of playing in these elections to the European Parliament that make sense. You can, like Nigel Farage, be all-in for Brexit and trust that Leavers thoroughly hacked-off with the entire dismal process will use you as a vehicle for sending a message to Theresa May or you can, like the Liberal […]
As members of the Liberal Democrats head to Brighton this weekend for their annual Autumn Conference, a question worth bearing in mind as they debate and decide upon party policy is this; “how does this differentiate ourselves from Labour?” Far from fighting back at the last general election, the Lib Dem share of the vote […]
Westminster by-elections are strange beasts. They attract a level of political and media interest that usually far outweighs the electoral significance of a single seat. Their impact is primarily on the wider narrative, and sometimes on internal party dynamics. Because of this, campaigning is often intense, as much of Westminster descends on a constituency, temporarily […]
All political lives end in pathos. Such, at any rate, is one conclusion to be drawn from Tim Farron’s demise. The Liberal Democrat leader has decided that his faith trumps his politics and retired, not without a certain plangent note of sadness, from front-line politics. As he put it in his valedictory statement, “I have […]
Cheltenham looks like it should be a safe Tory seat. But appearances can be deceptive. This Cotswolds constituency may be Tory now, but it was held by the Liberal Democrats between 1992 and 2015. And with a 56-per-cent Remain vote in the seat, Cheltenham is exactly the sort of seat the Liberal Democrats set their sights on […]
Last week, the former Lib Dem leader Lord Paddy Ashdown announced a new online political movement he was helping launch, called MoreUnited. Founded by a variety of former Lib Dem staffers and political celebs, MoreUnited wants to adopt the mentality of a tech startup, and is based around crowdfunding and online decision making. It aims […]
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