What's the point of the Liberal Democrats?
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The Twentieth Century was not kind to the Liberal Party, as it then was. A Liberal Prime Minister has not been elected for over 100 years, and the last Liberal governments were propped up by Labour MPs or Irish Nationalists. The car had been rolling down the slope before it fell off the cliff onto the rocks below in the 1920s. What remains is built from the scrap of that wreckage.
There have been repeated promises of revival (the 1962 Orpington by-election springs to mind), but most Liberal victories seem to have been due to tactical support by anti-Conservative voters. And in the 2015 General Election Liberal Democrat were punished for joining the Conservatives in coalition. The party was reduced to eight MPs, losing its third-party status in the House of Commons.
If the Liberal Democrats are not a serious contender for forming a government, then what is the point to them? The answer is twofold.
First, the Liberal Democrats are the natural party of coalition with either of the two main parties. They have received insufficient praise for joining the Conservatives in coalition at a dangerous time in our country’s history. Liberal Democrat power in the Coalition could have been enhanced if the party had won a string of by-elections, as this would have increased the party’s prestige and power. Why voters supported Ed Miliband, who had no power over government policy, over Nick Clegg, who did, is explained by the lack of sophistication of the average British voter. Every by-election between 2010 and 2015 was fought by both coalition partners. During that time, Nick Clegg was the real Leader of the Opposition, as he could stifle Conservative policy. It’s just that he couldn’t tell anyone that, and few people worked it out for themselves.
Really, it’s dishonest of the Liberal Democrats to publish a single manifesto, as they have as much chance of putting it into practice as the Green Party. It is a fictitious document. Instead, the Liberal Democrats should acknowledge their status in British politics and produce two manifestos showing what their polices in coalition with either the Conservatives or Labour would be. This would be much more realistic, and would potentially attract supporters from the one major party in a seat held by the other.
Second, the Liberal Democrats have been, for the last twenty years or so, a single-issue party. They were known for opposing the invasion of Iraq, then opposing the raising of university tuition fees, and now opposing leaving the EU. After we finally leave the EU, presumably they will campaign to either rejoin, or just rejoin the Single Market, the Customs Union, or both. When that ceases to be a political issue, who knows what their next all-consuming obsession.
Are the Liberal Democrats wasting everyone’s time in British politics? Perhaps not. They campaign nationally as the relatively ideologically-free ‘Not the Tories’ party. They can be a useful coalition partner in promoting caution and moderation. Certainly, the best-run and most stable government for the last dozen years or so had them in it.
However, they should dispense with the fiction that there will ever be a Liberal Democrat government. They are a party of king-makers, but will never be king. They should not be criticised for refusing to elevate Corbyn to fantasy office Downing Street caretaker. A king-maker can choose who to make king. And choosing Corbyn would have been disastrously foolish.
