The Liberal Democrats: An unserious party intent on Tory destruction
Some thoughts on last weekend's Lib Dem Party conference
Last weekend I was lucky to attend the Liberal Democrat Party Conference on behalf of Politics UK. I was able to interview both Party Leader Ed Davey and Deputy Leader Daisy Cooper, speak to MPs in the media office with fellow journalists, attend press-briefings on the party’s election strategy, and watch policy motions and key speeches.
The conference was mostly dominated by the party’s now familiar PR stunts, which Ed Davey became infamous for during the general election campaign. It begs the question of how serious the Liberal Democrats are as a party, especially given that as a reporting journalist, I spent more time on the Brighton coastline filming their various stunts than in the conference venue itself. It was also apparent that the party was focused much more on condemning the outgoing Conservative government than opposing Starmer’s Labour.
With no prior knowledge of UK Politics, an onlooker at this conference would conclude that the Lib Dems were a slightly silly, unserious party, intent on Tory destruction.
The stunts
It had been assumed that the stunts had served their purpose during the general election campaign, with the party securing 72 MPs in July, their best result for a century. But to everyone’s surprise, the silly stunts continued.
Jet-skiing into Brighton Marina on Saturday, playing volleyball on the beach on Sunday, and mini-golfing on Monday, the Libs Dems used their party conference to attract as much media attention as possible. Before July’s election, the party had just 15 MPs, and thus it was understandable that they would use eye-grabbing stunts to draw attention, and now it appears that Ed Davey’s troops have adopted this as their party’s identity.
Amongst the fun-filled agenda, the party aimed to portray a serious message that they are the real opposition to the new Labour government, particularly on issues like the NHS, social care, and the environment. Throughout the whole conference, there was a real sense of optimism and hope that the party could press on, defeat the Tories and become the 2nd largest party in parliament.
Party members will argue that fun and policy go hand in hand for the Lib Dems, as Deputy Leader Daisy Cooper told me, but from an outsider’s perspective, fun was clearly prioritised. The timing of every stunt always coincided with a key speech or event back at the conference venue, giving me and other journalists a dilemma of which thing to attend.
Cooper argued that Ed Davey’s stunts make people smile, giving hope and optimism for voters. But for every voter they attract with this new fun-oriented style of politics, surely they will alienate another who sees them as an unserious party unworthy of their vote?
The party talked confidently about their stance on the NHS and social care, demanding that Labour introduce emergency funding to “make this year the last winter crisis in our NHS”. This issue, combined with the suggestion that they were the real opposition to Labour, not the Conservatives, were the main themes of the conference, but were rather overshadowed by the seaside stunts. If the party is so assured of its strength on a given issue, why divert attention away to staged photo-ops?
Opposing the opposition
Another accusation levelled at the Lib Dems last weekend is that they were more focused on opposing the Conservatives than the new Labour government. Journalists pressed Cooper in the media room about how long her party could go on opposing the opposition, which she refuted, arguing that the Lib Dems want to help clean up the mess left by the Tories, whilst simultaneously pointing out Labour mistakes.
But despite this assertion, again from an outsiders perspective, the party seemed much more focused on the Tories than the new Labour government. Every mention of their electoral success was credited to being better than the Conservatives at listening to public concerns. Ed Davey even suggested during his Q&A session that the Conservatives are currently “the biggest threat to liberal values” in the UK. He further told members that the Lib Dems “knocked down a lot of the blue wall, and we’re gonna knock down the rest of it”.
Listening to a election strategy briefing from their CEO explained this anti-Tory strategy, with Mike Dixon telling journalists that there were very few Labour constituencies where the Lib Dems came 2nd, but a plethora of seats where they came 2nd to the Tories. He also calculated that the party was only 117k votes, albeit all in the perfect places, away from being the official opposition. The Lib Dems know that if they want to challenge Labour eventually, they must first destroy the Conservatives, hence the focus on Tory legacy rather than Labour mistakes.
This strategy may only work for so long, as the public, and Lib Dem voters, will want to see Ed Davey providing genuine opposition to Starmer’s government, putting country before party.
Conclusions - what next for the Lib Dems
Amongst all the celebrations at their party conference, the Lib Dems kept fairly quiet about their commitment to electoral reform. The party increased their seat tally from 11 at the last election to 72 in 2024, despite only a 0.6% increase in their overall vote share. They have clearly finally learnt how to play FPTP to their advantage, but Ed Davey still assured me that the party’s position on changing the voting system remained.
Despite this, he wouldn’t commit to working with the Greens and Reform UK, who have also called for electoral reform, to push Starmer’s government on the issue. It seems obvious that these 3 parties, who got a combined vote share similar to Labour at the general election, could work together on this issue. The fact that Ed Davey wouldn’t take a stance on this baffled me, and made me further question the seriousness of the party.
The Lib Dem conference in Brighton was a very surreal experience, reporting on my first party conference, seeing my posts being retweeted on the Lib Dems’ official Twitter page and discovering that PoliticsUK was well known among mainstream media circles. But reflecting on the politics side of the 4 days, it appeared to me that the Lib Dems were focused more on the fun than the policy, and were more intent on Tory destruction than opposing Labour.
As someone who didn’t vote Lib Dem this year, but admires some, but certainly not all, of their policies, I want to see Ed Davey focused on opposing Starmer’s Labour, and working with other parties when necessary. If I was a Lib Dem supporter, I’d want Ed Davey to ditch the silly stunts, and focus on providing a genuine alternative to the two main parties. When he does talk policy, Davey can be an effective communicator, his great campaign for care reform being a prime example.
I said earlier in this piece that the Lib Dems may attract some voters with this fun style of politics, but alienate an equal number of people who are turned off by the silliness. I feel the stunts have now served their purpose, getting them a huge new bloc of MPs in Parliament, and that as time goes on, more and more people will feel turned off by this style of politics. Their party conference was a step in the wrong direction, and while it made the experience more fun for me as a journalist, it was the wrong message to send to potential voters.
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Read my summary article of the conference here.
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