Neither Liberal nor Democratic

By David Talbot

At the first hustings of the general election campaign last week, Stratford on Avon’s Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate let slip a remark that was genuinely quite astonishing, but sadly all too familiar to Labour activists at battle with the Lib Dems up and down the country:

“I kind of agree with all the points of view, which is why I’m a Lib Dem. Give us a fence and we’ll sit on it.”

Well, at least he’s honest. Since their conception in the late 1980s, the Liberal Democrats have struggled with their identity. Torn between their Liberal heritage and their social democratic impulses, they’ve lack a clear direction and therefore a voter base. It is surely no coincidence that the two seminal pieces of academic literature on the Lib Dems in recent years have been called ‘Neither North nor South: The Liberal Democrat Performance in the 2005 General Election‘ and ‘Neither Left Nor Right? The Liberal Democrats and the Electorate‘. And these are academics that are sympathetic to the Lib Dem cause. Some of their analysis will be of no surprise to Labour activists who battle the yellow peril; there are no socio-demographic groups which the Liberal Democrats could call their natural heartland and different factors affect Liberal Democrat support in different parts of the country.

But it is becoming irritatingly difficult for Labour to ignore the Liberal Democrats. A party with much to say, and traditionally no one to say it to, the Lib Dems now demand attention. The prospect of a hung parliament now looms large over British politics, with all the uncertainty that it brings. But Nick Clegg is being enigmatic about precisely what he would do in the event that the election does not give a parliamentary majority to either David Cameron or Gordon Brown. Instead, he prefers one week to flutter his eyes at Cameron and the next week to show a bit of leg to Brown. A couple of weeks ago he told the Spectator how much he admires Margaret Thatcher. He duly denounced her to the Guardian a few days later – but this is the skill of the Lib Dems. They are ideologically flexible.

But whilst the parliamentary candidate’s remark may be amusing, it belies a much more serious problem about the future of British politics and indeed the Labour Party. The Liberal Democrats are not a serious national party. They have had not held office since the advent of the universal franchise, and have no prospect of it. They represent no great interest or mass movement and are sustained nationally by the conventions and perks of Westminster. The Liberal Democrats might win a few rural and southern seats from the Tories in a good year. But they would be won back. There will always be a Conservative Party. They might win a few urban and northern seats from Labour, but Labour will win them back. There will always be a Labour Party. Most parties that have won no power for almost a century and are political subsidiaries of other parties would disband.

The truth is that the Lib Dems have got themselves into an almost impossible bind. The old SDP/Liberal Alliance flourished in the 1980s when Labour was on the floor, and the Lib Dems did well in the Blair years when the Tories were near comatose. But now that both main parties are locked in a serious, almost equal contest, there’s all too little space left. For too long, there has been a benign fog where the Lib Dems’ ideological clarity should be. To the left of Labour in the north, pale conservatives in the south-west, this muddle has helped the Lib Dems win seats. But it is surely not sustainable indefinitely.

This election will be an opportunity to at last break the toe-hold the Liberal Democrats have over British politics. Such ideological bankruptcy and pandering to self-interest should be ruthlessly exposed by Labour over the coming weeks. If the Liberal Democrats continue to be proud of sitting on the fence, the public may well come to the conclusion that there is no point to this ramshackle, cobbled together coalition of a party.