As Kemi Badenoch frightened a lot of progressive horses with her plans to get rid of the Climate Change Act, leave the European Convention on Human Rights, put the Human Rights Act on a bonfire and be even more vile to asylum seekers and immigrants, Ed Davey invited “one nation” Conservatives to join the Liberal Democrats.
Certainly a lot of moderate Conservatives will be disgusted with Robert Jenrick’s full mask-off racism and his attack on the judiciary.
In an open letter to those who feel that the Conservative Party has speeded away from them, he said:
Dear friends,
Our country is at a crossroads.
The Conservative Party under Kemi Badenoch is becoming more extreme and out of touch, chasing Nigel Farage instead of focusing on the issues that really matter to people. Meanwhile, Reform UK is growing in strength – threatening the tolerant, decent values that hold our communities together.
I know many One Nation Conservatives are deeply concerned about the lurch to the hard right in our country and under Kemi Badenoch’s leadership. Her plans to tear up the Climate Change Act and withdraw from the ECHR show she is abandoning traditional British values of tolerance, decency and the rule of law.
So my message to the millions of One Nation Conservatives who feel let down by their party and reject the divisive politics of Badenoch and Farage is to come and join us. Help us save our country and defend the values we all hold dear.
We will stand strong where others back down. We will not pander to Reform. We will fight to protect our environment, stand up for decency and the rule of law, and stop Trump’s America from becoming Farage’s Britain.
So if you share those values, now is the time to join the Liberal Democrats.
With best wishes,
Ed Davey
The party has also put a poster van near the Conference venue in Manchester.
It is perfectly understandable that he should make this sort of plea during the Conservative Conference. I think that we do need to be a bit cautious about the strategy though. We need to be careful that the people in or who vote for other parties don’t hear from this messaging that we are a one nation small c conservative party. Because we are not. Nor will we ever be.
We don’t want to stick to the status quo, we want to reform just about everything about how our government operates.
We need to make sure that we emphasise that everyone who believes in the freedom of all to be who they are, human rights, civil liberties saving the planet and reforming the immigration and asylum system to make it decent and humane is welcome in the Liberal Democrats.
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