Quite often, when I talk to Liberal Democrats about politics “across the sea”, the ideal is that of The West Wing. A Democratic President, able to fight his way past the red tape of a gargantuan bureaucracy and, often by sheer force of will – and the assistance of hard-working staffers – push through a legislative agenda that is both liberal and optimistic.

Any fan of the show will know Toby Ziegler, the acerbic but quietly optimistic communications director. There is a scene in Night Five (season 3, episode 3) when Toby defends a speech drafted to be confrontational with the Arab world. Frequently, in the midst of a tirade, he shouts: “They’ll like us when we win!” (you can watch the scene here).

Now, this article isn’t about the scene. I know it invoked some strong reactions, and some who thought it was out of character for Toby. It is the quote itself that got me thinking. There has been a lot of talk on Bluesky recently about why the Liberal Democrats don’t get the media coverage we perhaps feel we deserve. I’ve seen similar sentiment in the comments sections of articles on here, too. Why is that? There are lots of reasons why people feel the Liberal Democrats don’t receive enough media attention. Some believe it is just a bias in the mainstream media. Others feel it is because we’re an “optimistic” party more prone to focus on positive policies rather than slinging mud, as others seem to do.

Personally, I think it is much simpler. Professor Lee Edwards wrote an article in 2024 about mediatisation in the general election, and one quote sums it up: “While the Liberal Democrats and Greens were much more focused on constructive reform to challenge current distortions in the media landscape (for example, expanding media ownership and providing support for local news ecologies), their status as smaller parties unlikely to secure a governmental majority meant they received far less exposure and their media policies were completely overlooked.” The article focuses on media policies, but I think that sums up our media problem entirely.

We don’t win enough. And they’ll like us when we win.

Let’s be honest. For the most part, the average person doesn’t care who wins or loses a council election. They will, ultimately, go to their councillor whatever their political persuasion if they have a problem that needs fixing. When I was still a member of the Conservative Party, it didn’t stop me contacting my Liberal Democrat councillor for support and assistance.

What people do care about is who forms their government. The media certainly cares, and it evokes a more visceral reaction when one party or another wins. Post-2015, when the party was hammered and reduced from 57 seats to 8, the media barely whispered of the Liberal Democrats except to comment on their election battering. Compare that to now when the party has 72 MPs – its highest number ever – and on the social media platforms I use, coverage does seem to be markedly increased.

They’ll like us when we win.

The question of course is how we tackle that problem. There is an argument it is a wheel on which we will struggle to escape. People outside of Liberal Democrat strongholds don’t vote for the party because they hear too little about it. The message cannot resonate and change minds if it cannot be heard. Because of that, we don’t see enough victorious candidates which, in turn, means the media coverage is either negative or not there at all. On and on it goes.

I haven’t written this article with some fantastic solution in mind. I honestly don’t know what the answer is. Having more ‘successes’ would assist, but even when we manage to push Liberal Democrat-sponsored bills through Parliament, our involvement tends to be diluted because we only get them through with the support of other, larger parties. There is only so far we can rely on Ed Davey’s various stunts and media escapades to gather support, and in my view relying entirely on that risks us creating a cult of personality where people are here only to support the party leader, rather than the party itself. That was certainly the case with Boris Johnson, even after all his gaffes and blunders.

All I know is, they’ll like us when we win.

* Daniel is a party member from Cheadle