In addition to being the third-largest parliamentary force in Westminster once again, the Liberal Democrats are also unashamedly Britain’s cheesiest political party.
The Lib Dem kink for kitsch was proudly on display over the weekend at the party’s conference in Brighton, which runs until Tuesday: the disco tunes, especially Abba; the relentless use of silly stunts such as bungee jumps to publicise policy launches; the dad-dancing, Tiggerish energy of party leader Ed Davey, who arrived in Brighton riding a jet ski.
Lib Dems just want to have fun, and why not? The party tore into traditional Tory heartlands across southern England in July’s election to win 72 seats, its best result to date. There was a celebratory mood in Brighton among party faithful who had been grappling with the prospect of irrelevance as recently as 2019 when the Lib Dems won just 11 seats.
The mood was also reflected in the conference music playlist. After a surfeit of upbeat Abba, Neil Diamond’s Sweet Caroline, Journey’s Don’t Stop Believing and other 1970s anthems, Davey finished his address at a raucous members’ rally on Saturday evening with more of an indie number: Florence and the Machine’s [the] Dog Days Are Over.
But are they? In the face of a new Labour government armed with an unassailable 158-seat majority, and no need to compromise, what now for the Liberal Democrats as the party seeks to make an impact at Westminster?
On Sunday, evidence emerged of frustration among party faithful who see its MPs as too meek when it comes to advancing the cause closest to Lib Dem members’ hearts: a rollback of Brexit, a return to the Single Market and, eventually, the European Union.
Anand Menon, a politics professor who chaired the event, asked Layla Moran, who for now is the Lib Dem foreign affairs spokeswoman, to spell out the party’s policy on the EU
The tensions were clearly on display at a conference side event on Sunday hosted by UK in a Changing Europe, an academic think tank with links to King’s College in London. Several of the members present pressed the Lib Dem MPs present to speak out more on Europe.
Anand Menon, a politics professor who chaired the event, asked Layla Moran, who for now is the Lib Dem foreign affairs spokeswoman, to spell out the party’s policy on the EU. The July manifesto referred to the party’s pro-Europe aspirations, but the leadership was broadly silent on the issue during the campaign as Davey focused on wooing former Tory voters, some of whom backed Brexit.
“You avoided the issue like the plague,” said Menon.
“I’m as pro-European as anyone in the room,” replied Moran, who is expected to be reshuffled out of the foreign affairs brief in coming weeks.
“But when you’ve got a mountain to climb, you start at the bottom, not at the top.”
Moran said the Liberal Democrat strategy on Europe comprises three stages. First, pursue smaller EU issues such as pushing Labour to agree a scheme for European students to travel and work in Britain, and also improve Brexit trade terms.
After that, she said, the party would push to rejoin the Single Market. She said the final step, in the long term, would be pushing for Britain to rejoin the EU. Some members seemed dissatisfied with her stance, while others applauded her and said they agreed with the softly-softly approach.
Party leader Ed Davey was a particularly articulate advocate during the election for greater investment in the National Health Service and spoke of his and his wife’s efforts to secure care for their disabled son
The Lib Dems turned around the party’s fortunes in the July election by pushing issues that polls show are higher on voters’ list of priorities, such as the health service and also pollution of British waterways.
Davey was a particularly articulate advocate during the election for greater investment in the National Health Service and spoke of his and his wife’s efforts to secure care for their disabled son. Deputy leader Daisy Cooper also said on Sunday that health and social care would be the party’s main focus over the five years of the next parliament.
Davey ensured health was top of the agenda for the conference in Brighton. But the other B-word, Brexit, would not go away.
Moran claimed Britain’s relationship with the EU hadn’t come up on doorsteps during the election campaign, despite polls showing a majority of voters now wish Brexit had not happened. “If the Liberal Democrats are silent on the topic, then it’s not going to come up on the doorsteps, is it?” replied a party member.
“People are emotionally exhausted [by talk of Brexit],” said Moran, who added that the party’s political strategy had to reflect this, hence the focus on issues such as the NHS. She brushed off criticism that the party was missing an opportunity to be more vocal about the EU to exploit internal tensions in Labour, where talk of Brexit is even more suppressed.
Davey was also clear about his hope that the ‘disaster’ Donald Trump loses the US presidential election
Later at a question-and-answer session, Davey reiterated that the party would focus on pushing for greater investment in the NHS.
In response to questions, he also said he supported allowing Ukraine to use British Storm Shadow missiles to strike targets inside Russia. He was also clear about his hope that the “disaster” Donald Trump loses the US presidential election.
“We know whose side we’re on,” he said.
Meanwhile, some of his party’s pro-EU ordinary members would prefer him to be just as outspoken when it comes to talk of Brexit.
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