One of the things that Lib Dem members really liked about the last General Election was the strategy briefing that came out a couple of months before. In it, the party’s high command explained what they were trying to achieve and how they were going to do it. They also gave suggestions on what members could do to help them achieve our common aims.
We had years to prepare for that election. We had two weeks between Theresa May’s announcement and Parliament being dissolved and we had the local elections going on at the same time. Surely there wouldn’t be time to produce a similar document this time round, would there?
Well, that’s where you are wrong. By some miracle, they pulled it together and it will be landing on your doorstep at some point this week.
Not only that, but you know how I am always banging on about the party not understanding federalism? Well, there are Scottish and Welsh versions of this document.
It was a massive job to do this and credit must go to new Director of People Rachel Palma Randle. She had barely started her job when the election was called and she has already pulled off some fantastic stuff. She is very committed to making sure members feel informed, involved and included.
So, look out for this and enjoy reading it.
* Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings. You can find her on Bluesky at caronmlindsay.bsky.social
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34 Comments
What I would be very interested to learn is our strategy to improve our opinion poll ratings. It might be worth looking at the 1983 GE. With two weeks to go, the Liberal SDP Alliance were on 14 points with the Tories on a massive 52 %. by the end we had advanced to 25% mostly at the expense of the Tories. It would be worth looking at the campaign to see what made the difference-I seem to recall a re-launch after a Sunday lunch at David Steel’s house.
Corbyn has hired what looks like a communist to run his election campaign. Lib Dem Press needs to strongly criticism him on it.
Honestly, time to stop playing nicely with Labour. Corbyn and the hard-left are repellent to liberals. Time to use it. Half of the Guardian seems to be saying Corbyn is the right choice and this might be costing the Lib Dems votes.
Keep painting Theresa May as an anti-immigration nationalist, which she is.
Eddie Sammon makes some good points about our campaigning. The Man now in charge of Labours Election Strategy is Andrew Murray, Chief of Staff at Unite & founder of Stop The War. He was a member of The Communist Party for 40 Years & only joined Labour a few Months ago. He is on record as describing Stalins Rule as “a bit harsh”.
Labour List have a piece about his appointment & going by the comments it doesnt seem to be popular.
Eddie Sammon – did you ever watch “Wait til your father gets home”? A precursor to the Simpsons whose humour works at adult and child level. His neighbour, who bore a remarkable resemblance to Richard Nixon was comically shown as a McCarthy-like character who saw ‘reds under the beds everywhere’.
Just wondered where you got you inspiration. You go on about communism here and communism there in the Corbyn team and policies he advocates. Wouldn’t it be more constructive rather than to mimic the personal attacks adopted by the Tories and focus more on policies.
From what I have seen in terms of education, health, environment and even economic policy there is much more common ground between Labour and the LibDems than with the Tories. There is no shame in this. I welcome it as the thought of another five years of dismantling public services and especially under funding the NHS and education under Tory rule fills me with dread.
Dave Orbison, I completely understand why some prefer Corbyn as PM than May as PM. Your comparison of me and a cartoon character paranoid about “reds under the bed” made me laugh too.
I’m just worried at the moment because the BBC is being even handed over the election campaign, as it should be, the Guardian is sympathising with Corbyn and who is banging the drum for the Lib Dems? No real mainstream media outlet, so our own media game needs to be extra strong.
PS, thanks Paul Barker. Good information on Labour List too. I don’t read the Labour sites anymore, so it’s useful to have someone here who does!
Regards
Eddie Sammon- I’m pleased that you found it funny and not offensive. It was certainly meant to be humerous. I know we can all get pretty worked up from time to time, but isn’t passion a vital part of politics. It’s a gift to see the funny side in ourselves- as my partner all too often reminds me !
Also, I found it really funny you decrying the BBC and Guardian for their pro Corbyn bias as I see it it the other way. It just goes to show in politics there are often no absolute truths. Let the debates roll on – I’m sure we can agree that is the beauty of democracy.
I sometimes disagree with Eddie Sammon but certainly not when he says “Honestly, time to stop playing nicely with Labour. Corbyn and the hard-left are repellent to liberals. ”
Please Tim, take off the gloves and expose Labour’s empty promises. They have frittered away our resources when in government. They are ineffective when in opposition. For two generations, arguably since the middle of the Attlee government, they have let down ‘our people’.
They should not be allowed to get away with the claim that they have the monopoly of care and compassion.
They ‘bottled out’ of electoral reform under Tony Blair when they realised that they didn’t need it. They are not a progressive Party. In fact, they are a major obstacle to progressive politics.
Michael, interesting reference to Attlee… whose granddaughter is, of course, our candidate in Yeovil.
I agree with Michael. We seem to have held back from Labour despite their being just as repellent and even less competent than the Tories.
It is Tory strategy that worries me. The Tories seem to be soft pedalling on Corbyn. It is as though they have worked out that Corbyn’s Labour getting 32% would suit them fine.
Ian 15th May ’17 – 11:01pm
I agree with Michael. We seem to have held back from Labour despite their being just as repellent and even less competent than the Tories.
Not sure that those nice ‘soft’ Tories are going to fall into our laps just b/c we start slagging Labour off more harshly than we do the Tories. And then some commenters on this site seem to think we’ve been to harsh on Labour. It’s a real nightmare scenario added to the a) lack of media coverage & b) lack of cash
I think Eddie is partially right with the disadvantage we face by having no dedicated newspaper or media outlet to ‘bang our drum’. The Independent is normally pretty fair in their coverage of our policies, and the Guardian has a number of positive features, but that coverage is all very grown-up, and not at all drum-beating.
Before the noise of the election, people who were interested were hearing our policies, and seemed to be liking them, but with the campaigns in full swing, most publisher and broadcasters prefer to set the scene as Labour vs Tory, and we’re lucky to get a mention. If another party gets a seat at the discussion table, it invariably goes to UKIP (who did get more votes than us last time), or the SNP (who got less votes, but got more seats).
We need to find a way to grab attention, but that’s so much easier said than done. My main hope is that as the actual election draws nearer that some of the petty May vs Corbyn coverage will settle down, and that our message is heard by the voters in the seats where we stand a chance. In particular, people need to hear about where we stand on non-Brexit issues.
This particular thread has some considerable sense taking it forward to the next stage of our efforts as a party, and some nonsensical elements !
Eddie , as Paul Barker states, is , as often, stating the obvious as well as the facts!
As an individual person and politician, Corbyn is increasingly coming over well on tv.
He is as confident as people say he is incompetent , as a leader .
He is a nice fellow who, in common with me, and Tim , our man, is a vegetarian !
I must reveal to Dave Orbison whose journey has more recently taken him from this party to Labour, the opposite of mine many years ago, Andrew Murray is as described by our aforementioned colleagues above. He is a disgrace to democracy, liberty and decency as far as the main stage of politics is concerned.
If anyone thinks it is “reds under the beds ” to alert people to what is the long and very recent, political affiliation of the man, Murray, they have no place in a party or site , as Liberals of any sort.
Please stay here, to discuss and debate, but if anyone was or is a Liberal or liberal who cannot see that the party Murray was a leading member of until recently, is a horrifying party that makes UKIP seem like the Tory wets of old, then I despair at where the lovers of liberty and democracy find ourselves !
Anti- communist is one thing . Anti- apology and solidarity with North Koreas regime , which Murray has often expressed is another !
Leave Eddie alone folks, and look in the mirror , politically !
P.S.
Dave, tongue in cheek , by the way, I do feel kinship with anyone who can remember one of my favourite kids programmes, I loved “Wait till your father gets home “!
Michael Cole “For two generations, arguably since the middle of the Attlee government, they [Labour] have let down ‘our people’.” Really?
In no particular order and with many worthy omissions some of the legislation approved under Labour Governments in the post Attlee era.
Near abolition of capital punishment, decriminalising of sex between men in private, Divorce Reform Act 1969, creation of Open University, 1.3m homes built between 1965-1970, Protection from Eviction Act 1964, Rent Act 1965 – giving security of tenure, Town and Country Planning Act 1968 – protecting green belt and areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, extension of death benefit, Children and Young Persons Act 1969, Health Services and Public Health Act 1968 to promote welfare of elderly.
Disability rights through Invalid Care Allowance, Mobility Allowance, Non-contributory Invalidity Pension, Child Benefit, Sex Discrimination Act 1975, Employment Protection Act 1975, Statutory Maternity Leave, 1975 Social Security Pensions Act 1975, Rent Act 1974, Child Benefit Act 1975 payments to single parents, Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, Employment Protection Act 1975 with ACAS, Rent (agricultural) Act 1976 giving security of tenure to those in tied accommodation, Education Act 1976 – Comprehensive education, Housing (Homeless Persons Act) 1977,Bail Act 1976 reasons for refusal of bail, Employment Act 1975 giving rights to part-time workers, Race Relations Act 1968 and 1976 – Commission for Race Equality; Homes Insulation Act 1978, Safety Rep and Committee Regulations, Consumer Safety Act 1978; Criminal Justice Act 1967.
Apologies I’ll have to use another post….
I suspect the party over-estimated the appeal of being the anti-Brexit protest party, and the significance of that debate in this election. Without that card, we are left with little that is particularly distinctive, and are being made to look irrelevant. At this stage, I think that it is too late to tinker with re-inventing a national message, and concentrate on the two dozen or so seats we may possibly hold or gain, with campaigns in each that are targeted at the issue most effective in that area. With luck, we may hold/retain half of them, providing a bridgehead for Liberalism into the next parliament. Whilst that does imply leaving many seats to ‘fend for themselves’, I was still disappointed to see that the party has stood down in Skipton & Ripon; given that we held Ripon in the 1970s I do at least feel we should have kept the flag flying in this seat.
Has anyone else seen William Hague’s article in the Telegraph? Strangely sinister. The key point is that Tories pride themselves on extinguishing small parties, and the Lib Dems are singled out here. He claims the Lib Dems should be riding high in the polls by now if they had any traction. Strategy is clearly key right now (to state the obvious). I could not read it all as part of it is behind a paywall.
@Andrew Horsfield “He claims the Lib Dems should be riding high in the polls by now if they had any traction.”
After effectively 7 years of Tory government and against a divided and unpopular Labour Party, two years away from the Coalition and under new leadership, with a strong focus on a single issue supported by 48% of the electorate (particularly Lib Dem target voters), surely the party should be doing better.
It is quite simple. Our General Election strategy is based on what people think worked in the Richmond Park by-election.
How many Richmond Park’s are there? 6 – 7?
In 1989 I wrote a strategy paper for the Federal Executive of the New Party arguing that we should target the West country and what was then referred to as the Celtic Fringe – that had not been our policy before then. There had been no targeting strategy. How many potential wins were there? 80? Enough to prove our worth, certainly.
We have made therefore a monumental error in continuing the former Leadership’s fixation of appealing to soft Conservatives and the metropolitan liberarchy. Because these gurus had not built up our vote in the first place they didn’t know just who voted for us and why – all of them inheriting previously hard won seats.
They have not lost their grip on our Party.
Andrew Horsfield – “……I could not read it all as part of it is behind a paywall”.
Methinks you had a narrow escape there, my friend.
The Coalition and Tuition Fees still sticks in many peoples throats. It will take time to go, 2017 is far too early, we are in a limbo situation and have to accept it.
Traditionally, Polls start to get closer to the actual Result after 25 days out (last Sunday). So far we have precisely no Polls taken mostly after that point. Polls that come out from now on should be more accurate than those of the last few Weeks.
What we have seen since The Election was called is the usual move towards the 2 main contenders, in an unusually concentrated form because its a genuinely “Snap” Election.
The 2 Party Squeeze may well unwind but short of an earthquake we can probably expect around 15 MPs & a vote share only half of Labours.
Its a big dissapointment but Politics isnt going to stop on June 9th, Labours decline will continue & our warnings about Brexit will be proved right. This Election came too soon for us but our recovery will continue.
John Bicknell
I posted this elsewhere but it is worth repeating the FT had an article yesterday suggesting the view pushed by several people on here (I think first by Bill le Breton) that hard remain was a loosing strategy and focusing on as pro-European a stance as possible would be the best option.
https://www.ft.com/content/76037a34-36ef-11e7-99bd-13beb0903fa3
Summarised:
there is 45% hard Brexit,
22% Hard Remain, and
23% “Re-Leavers” who think now we have voted that we should follow though with some kind of Brexit.
The Tories are looking at 45% of the 23% on top of 70% of the 45%.
Looking just like “Hard Remain” is fighting over 22% with many who can’t be won over. There needs to be more focus on the 23%.
@Andrew Horsfield – the gist of Hague’s article is that the voters don’t find the Lib Dems “terribly useful” at this election. He claims that the economy is OK and people aren’t thinking they need to “send a message to the government”. He also states that the voters think that Brexit negotiations would be hampered by a coalition rather than a single, unified party in government. And he asserts that it’s the Conservatives who are trusted by “people who are not the highly mobile and the university-educated”.
Paul Barker, yesterday John Rentoul published poll results between 15th and 20th April 2015 – the exact stage that we are at now in this election: Our average poll rating was 8.2% in those polls. What did we get at the General Election? 7.9%
Incidentally 16th April was the day I realised the Tories were going to win an overall majority. It was the evening that I first kept getting long term LD voters repeating that ‘we must make sure the SNP can’t influence government’. They were using ‘we’ to include me which as a Lib Dem canvasser was evidence of just how powerful that line was a Tory recruiter.
I suspect this document will be welcomed by many, not least some new party members who were at a recent local campaign meeting. They were disappointed to note that all they had heard from the party so far were numerous requests for money. That really does sound familiar!
This from Daniel Hannan might give an indication of an anti-LD strategy that will be deployed by the Conservatives and their media surrogates: http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/even-remainers-dont-like-it-when-unpatriotic-lib-dems-back-brussels-against-brexit-1621897
@Paul Murray. Very interesting. This is a vulnerability in the Lib Dem position.
It seems to me we could take the position of: while we sincerely believe that leaving the EU is a grave mistake, given where we are we need to ensure we have the best possible deal. This might be something like membership of EFTA/EEA at least in the short term. The apparent unwillingness of Conservatives to promote this shows they are driven by hatred for the EU rather than by a commitment to the welfare of the people of the UK.
Andrew Horsfield,
I don’t really see any way that that differs from our actual position of wanting to stay in the Single Market (unlike both the other two), other than wanting to have a referendum on the terms?
However I think the main problem is that the media are not listening to what we are saying anyway, and are giving Theresa May an extraordinarily easy time after savaging Tim Farron mercilessly…
Bill le Breton: Can you give an example of an election other than 2015 when our vote was accurately forecast by the polls three weeks out?
I take your point. I think it is mostly about tone. I am having a hard time articulating exactly what I mean here. But the upshot is somehow the message is not reaching the parts that it needs to reach. Put it another way: what exactly are the Tories offering that should give the electorate confidence? I fail to see it.
@Bill le Breton “We have made therefore a monumental error in continuing the former Leadership’s fixation of appealing to soft Conservatives …”
Given the vitriol heaped on Labour whenever the notion of a “progressive alliance” is raised on these pages and the belief by some that in order to stop the Tories now is the time to go even harder against Labour, I don’t see any sign that strategy will change soon or that any such change would be welcomed.
I was looking forward to receiving this. I hoped it would tell us the five or six main messages of the campaign and why these ones were felt to be good ones to gain us the maximum support. And it would set out the reasons for our targeting strategy and an overview of it.
So I was pleased to see some party mail, inside was an A5 “Members Exclusive Election Briefing”. It includes an article by Shaun Roberts which talks of tier 1 and tier 2 seats without stating which seats are in them! It states go online to find your closest tier 1 seat. The policy page does not set out what we are promising it only contains generalities – no 300,000 new homes, no 1p for the NHS and social care, no nearly £7 billion of new spending on schools to reverse the Tory cuts and nothing about reserving three quarters of the Tories welfare cuts. It implies there are three main areas – Brexit, the NHS and education. In short it was very disappointing and I can’t understand why anyone would look forward to it being sent out.
I’m a member. I don’t recall being impressed by our strategy last time.