Tag Archives: internal party relationships

Opinion: The real split in today’s Liberal Democrats – and how to fix it

As this weekend’s events have proved, the real and fundamental split in the Liberal Democrats of 2013 is not between Liberals and Social Democrats, economic liberalism or social liberalism, centrists and radicals.  It is a real and growing divide between the Party’s leadership and its activists; and that has been thrown into sharp relief by both the result of the Eastleigh by-election and events at Conference.  As Dan Falchikov, with whom I’m in frequent agreement on strategic if not economic issues, highlights, it is an issue that could be very serious if unaddressed.

The reasons for this are broadly twofold.

The …

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , and | 42 Comments
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Recent Comments

  • Jason Connor
    Yes it's the upper middle classes store of choice. Not a Tescos, Aldi, Lidl or Asda even in sight...
  • Phil Wainewright
    @tony/Cumbria - As Lenin supposedly said, “There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen" @Graham Jeffs - The consumeri...
  • peter wrigley
    Your five points are perfectly sound , but they omit the main purpose of our party, which is surely to protect and improve Liberal Democracy both this country ...
  • David Raw
    Paul. I'm afraid you can't deny that the party of 'Middle England' is also the Waitrose party....
  • Graham Jeffs
    Phil, you are right - a twenty-five-year span. Yet having a vision with a philosophy supported by sensible policies is but part of the issue. It seems likely ...