I approach this guest article for Liberal Democrat Voice with some trepidation, not least because when I introduced the launch of Liberal Conspiracy a few months ago, it was greeted with some scepticism amongst Lib Dem bloggers. Jonathan Calder called it “a conspiracy against Liberals”, Joe Otten calls us the Lefty Conspiracy and, at worst case, Alix Mortimer said it could be “a plot to draw Liberal Democrats towards Labour”.

There’s no doubt British politics is an incredibly tribal affair and this is reflected in the fact that all our prominent political blogs are tightly aligned to specific parties. The over-arching philosophical question we face, by defining ourselves as being of ‘liberal-left’ persuasion, is the tension between statists and liberals on the left, which Duncan Stephen explored here. I’m not afraid of exploring these issues, and neither is it meant to be a “wedge”, as Charlotte Gore called it.

Instead, I approach Liberal Conspiracy from two positions: first, that most people are more interested in policies, values and ideals more than the party advocating them. The trick, of course, is to develop and debate good ideas. Secondly, to focus more on how political parties can be pressured, through online organising, to support those values and ideals (of liberal-left persuasion, of course).

Crucially, those ideas and policies are not necessarily party aligned. Our first campaign, against Home Office proposals to raise pre-detention charge to 42 days, is supported strongly by the Lib Dems, of course. We’re now gearing up to raise profile of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill, which potentially poses a threat to abortion choice and offers the pro-choice lobby to propose more progressive policies. Also upcoming - pushing for electoral reform. In all these cases, the issue matters more than the party supporting them.

There are two points to make here. The Liberal Conspiracy position is somewhat inevitable given that both Labour and the Tories have been exchanging clothes over the last 10 years, and focused more on marketing and spinning their ideas than staying true to traditional values. If political parties have become promiscuous with their ideas, there is no reason why voters shouldn’t also become promiscuous with their choice. Arguably, the parties were only following voter trends anyway.

My second point is that there is, and should be, space for progressive activists and voters of all stripes to come together to push specific policy agendas that help make Britain a better place. To be honest, I don’t care which party gets into power as long as they have Good Ideas^TM. This isn’t to deny that people are attracted to parties on the basis of ideals and values, but to say that being more promiscuous may stop parties taking votes for granted and fight hard for their (leftist, liberal or conservative) corner.

My feeling is that campaigning and discussing issues rather than simply party politics is more likely to attract a bigger audience and grow the blogosphere. Though I may be wrong. It’s still early days.

* Sunny Hundal is editor of the online magazine Asians in Media and founder of the thinktank New Generation Network.