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WHILE Change UK crash and burn, the other centrist party, the Lib Dems, are making a recovery. But there are tensions and contradictions.
The coalition with the Conservatives gave some Lib Dems the ministerial posts they craved, but voters hated it — so the Lib Dems crashed from 57 to eight MPs. They were close to destruction as a party.
However, the Lib Dems have managed to recover a bit, largely by distancing themselves from the Tories, and using their opposition to Brexit to look like a principled, anti-Tory party. They have also grown in Parliament by recruiting ex-Tory MPs on the run from Boris Johnson’s no-deal Brexit and ex-Labour MPs fleeing Corbynism.
Some of these new recruits bring an extra seat in Parliament and some media attention. But they also bring the Lib Dems too close to more obviously reactionary views. The arrival of Thatcherite Tory MP Sam Gyimah and anti-migrant Philip Lee with his iffy views on HIV have caused the Lib Dem grassroots consternation.
Oddly enough, though, at the fringe meeting I attended at the conference, Tory-turned Lib Dem MP Sarah Wollaston sounded more left wing than ex-Labour MP Chuka Umunna.
Wollaston argued that Brexit campaigners increased their vote by “mobilising grievances” about economic stagnation. People are angry because after the 2008 financial crisis “no-one suffered except the poorest. No one went to jail.”
By contrast Chuka addressed the same issue by praising the City, albeit calling for some changes. Chuka said we must “reform our financial services sector — it’s such an important industry. And I’m not just saying that because I am running for the MP’s seat in City & Westminster. We must also have an end to rent-seeking behaviour, as it were.”
Chuka also argued that parties couldn’t just offer polices, they had to meet people’s “values” and “cultural identities.” To succeed parties must “put reform capitalism in an emotional envelope.” It’s a point with some truth. Unfortunately for the Lib Dems, Chuka Umunna’s own emotions always tend to love and praise big money, which will ultimately hurt the Lib Dems’ attempt to rebuild their popularity.
