A View from a Liberal Democrat

Guest Post by Nick O'Shea

If you ever thought the Lib Dems were a one-policy party, then the media coverage of this week’s conference won’t have changed your mind. However, they did discuss a myriad of other important issues ranging from giving support for young carers (needs improving) to the climate change emergency (should be taken seriously) and a whole lot more.

But the headline of course was that the Lib Dem’s new leader Jo Swinson committed her party to rolling back Brexit with the promise to revoke article 50 – no if’s or but’s – if they get a majority at the next General Election. Of course, that won’t happen, but is makes it crystal clear that the Lib Dems intend to lead the anti-Brexit campaign, in complete contrast to Labour under Corbyn who showed his usual leadership style by saying that he’d do whatever the people decided about Brexit in a new referendum. A council chief executive once told me that the job of the leader (of the council in that case, me at the time) is to decide what the right policy is and then work flat out to convince everyone to support it. Not to limply say, “well, I’ll do anything you want me to….” Comrade Jeremy must have missed that lesson.

Although that might still be preferable to the Tories and their inept buffoon of a leader who is still trying to drive the bus over the cliff. He was completed up-staged by the PM of Luxemburg (who did the taking back of control bit while BJ slunk off out the back door) as it was revealed that Johnson has no idea what a hard border across Ireland would do or would even look like.

Also mentioned not a few times this week was just how the Leave campaign’s promise to take back control and have our parliament sovereign again squares with proroguing that same parliament when Johnson’s leaving-backing government looses its majority so there can be no parliamentary checks over a government patently out of control.

Naturally, the Lib Dems took pride in showing off their new MPs, Jane Dodd elected as a Lib Dem in Brecon and Radnor, together with former Tories like Sam Gyimah and Philip Lee and ex-Labour like Chuka Umunna and Luciana Berger. The party has gone a long way from the sandals and beards of the 70s and has finally escaped the pink-Tories image of the junior coalition partner from nearly a decade ago. Bright new leader. Publicly popular policy on Brexit. Appealing to the non-extremist and anti-populist ‘silent majority’: people who have been left behind by both the Tories and Labour as they each charge head-long towards their own version of intolerant populism. Interesting times.

Nick O’Shea was a Lib Dem councillor in Mole Valley