Yesterday I was one in a million! The People’s Vote campaign estimated that there were one million people on the streets yesterday asking for a final say on the Brexit deal.
I hope that Ed Davey forgives me the internal flight down, but I felt that it was worth it, just this once, to show support for something that is so critical.
I left home, where it was bucketing with rain, at 5am. The taxi driver who actually knocked on my door, even though he was fie minutes early, is not popular as my family had to deal with a barking dog who then thought it was play time.
Unlike last year, when our plane sat on the tarmac for two hours, everything went really well and I was in central London just after 9. I had some fortifying pancakes and then headed to join the LIb Dem contingent.
I was not expecting this as I arrived to pick up my placard at Wellington Arch. It was quite a strange sight to see an example of British pomp next to Lib Dems in Bollocks to Brexit t-shirts.
Sal Brinton was there to greet the Lib Dems who were turning up to march and Claire Halliwell was handing out a huge supply of placards. I enthusiastically grabbed one of the “No plan, no clue, no Brexit ones” which I thought were stunning. At the front of the march, Lib Dem MEPs were gathering to lead the Lib Dem contingent while their Westminster colleagues were a wee bit busy.
It was so good to see so many Lib Dems from all over the country. I spent time with people from Sheffield, London, Glasgow, Torbay and Huntingdon. The latter group included their PPC and regular LDV contributor Mark Argent who told me that he had been on Masterchef back in 1995. So we all want to go round to his house for dinner now.
The march had a huge pall of anxiety about it. Previous occasions had been much more joyful and hopeful, but on this one, we really didn’t know what was going to happen in Parliament.
There was one moment on the march where I almost ended up in tears. Someone sang Ode to Joy from a PA system as we were walking down Pall Mall. The way I felt reminded me of the last days of the Scottish independence referendum when it felt like my country was about to go through a damaging break up.
Siobhan Benita’s face when the Letwin Amendment passed was a joy.
Despite that outcome yesteday, we are still at a moment of huge danger. The reasons this deal is terrible are getting lost in the “Get Brexit Done” and various toy-throwing episodes from the Prime Minister. Workers’ rights, environmental protections and the basic integrity of the UK are under threat. The idea that this could pass without us getting our say on it is one of the worst democratic outrages I have ever seen.
PPCs Richard Flowers and Lisa Maria Bornemann told me why they were marching:
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