A visit to Liberal Democrat Conference – a pluralists worst nightmare

Visiting Liberal Democrat conference has been a sobering experience for someone who was brought up to see the LibDems as natural friends of Labour. While the social democrat wing of the party has been present in Brighton, without doubt it is the Liberal, Orange Book, tendency that has been in the ascendant here.

The strength and resurgence of Liberalism has not just been a revelation to me but also others I visited Brighton with. Sympathetic to the LibDems as anti-Iraq and pro-civil liberties, they were shocked and disillusioned at just how right wing the remaining core of the party is.

My first wake-up call came at a joint Fabian Society and CentreForum event on pluralism. Ming Campbell spoke for the tradition many of us are familiar with – a centre-left party that saw the Tories as natural enemies and Labour as part of a shared movement. While some agreed, Jo Swinson was quick to reject that the Liberal Democrats were ‘centre-left’ and argued that pluralism already existed – in the Coalition.

Swinson’s retort garnered much applause, but it was when Michael White, chairing the event, asked if audience members could raise their hands to indicate their political enemy that things got interesting. It was pretty evenly split 50/50 between Labour and the Tories.

Later that day an event on ‘Cleggism’ platformed rising star Jeremy Browne and Richard Reeves, Clegg’s former spad. Browne spoke gladly of the desertion from the party of the ‘lazy left-wing anti-Blair vote’ and apologised for the party’s previous opposition ‘for the sake of it’ to Thatcher’s reforms. Reeves summed up the party’s direction when he said it ‘strained credulity’ for the Liberals (as he consistently calls them) to swing to the left and work with Labour after a period of austerity and ‘liberalisation’.

While Tim Farron lampooned his Coalition partners on the main stage, at the fringe internal party discussion spoke about the ‘most stable, cohesive government’ of our lifetimes. Indeed, Reeves spoke about championing what the Coalition has done rather than what the Liberal Democrats have stopped the Tories from doing. The constant message of ‘Labour’s economic mess’ was reiterated throughout the conference, an ongoing attack on Labour from the right.

The Social Liberal Forum and Liberal Left have been present, but without question the more dominant tradition displayed by MPs and activists at conference has been one of free-market, centrist, Liberalism. This tradition sees the Conservatives as far more obvious allies than the Labour Party.

The many on the left of the party have deserted in droves, leaving a strong pro-Coalition faction and a weaker remnant that wants to retain the party’s social democratic traditions. The problem is that the latter is not strongly represented in the leadership nor particularly vocally in the activist base.

The Fabian Society has commissioned some research showing Liberal Democrat voters share the same concerns as most Labour voters. Labour would do well to use the research to reach out to LibDem voters – however it is the MPs and activists we should be considering when we look at the tricky issue of pluralism and future coalitions.

In a hung parliament, the social democrats would always back Labour, keen to distance themselves from the Coalition legacy. The Orange Bookers would work with Labour only if the numbers make backing the Tories impossible. More than anything, this should spur Labour on to work for an overall majority.

I implore anyone who assumes the Liberal Democrats are part of a ‘progressive majority’ or our natural friends, to visit their conference next year for a wake-up call. Swinson herself summed it up, “We’re fed up of Labour assuming we’re theirs”.

Last night the traditional LibDem Glee Club performed an old favourite, with the charming chorus ‘Tony Blair can f**k off and die” – the title?

‘The Lib-Lab Lie’.