Transforming our party and winning votes; a medium- and long-term strategy


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The past few weeks since Boris’s resignation offer us some of the most valuable lessons in the history of British politics. What we learn from these turbulent times will be instrumental in shaping our party, and will have a profound impact on our performance in the next general election and every other election afterwards.

Over the past 15 years, I worked with national and international organisations, and a current head of state. I witnessed history being made, in the Middle East and US. Alas, I also saw expertise, professional and ethical standards undermined across much of Europe and in the US. It all boils down to one thing, perception.

When Nasser of Egypt lost the 1967 war and saw Israel taking the Sinai Peninsula, it would have been perfectly reasonable for Egyptians to turn against the man who promised to wipe Israel out in mere hours. Instead, his resignation prompted tens of thousands to take to the streets to demand his return. Why? Because of how Egyptians perceived him. This was the man whose policies brought about a humiliating defeat and, like the Tories, sent the Egyptian Pound plummeting. He was nonetheless a brilliant, immoral propagandist.

It is therefore important to understand that those who ridicule and undermine experts, including Dominic Cummings and Donald Trump, are in fact experts themselves. They spend a great deal of time and effort in understanding the public, playing us against one another and employing our ambitions, bias and, most importantly, fears, for their interests.

However, the opposition, ourselves included, have been nothing short of complicit. The Conservatives have been busy; reaching out, building a support base with populism at its heart. Boris is to many the popular chap who acts, talks, and appreciates a drink like the rest of us. In the meantime, we appear to be falling behind.

When I first joined the party, more than 4 years ago, I was very keen on doing more; volunteering my time, skills and expertise to seeing the Tories defeated. All I was offered is an invitation to handout leaflets. After many emails and phone calls, I got nowhere. Another member I spoke to likened the party to an impregnable fortress. The people inside are happy where they are, and are largely unwilling to bring anyone else in.

We are likewise spectacularly inadequate on another front. Whilst Labour and the Tories have think tanks and strategists substantially involved in their policy-making, and, most importantly, understanding the public (including a number of individuals I have met personally), we have a broken link. A Lib Dem Voice article celebrates the launch of Liberal Insight in 2012, the link to its website shows a message that the domain name is for sale. Essentially, this shop has closed its doors and the premises is now for sale.

In short, this is what I believe should be our strategy to substantially increase our share of the vote:

It is not about us, it’s about the electorate and what matters to them. We should therefore establish a solid mechanism to understand the public, and how to win them over.
• Engage in discussions that win votes. Avoid cultural wars such as the definition of a ‘woman’. The majority of Britons, according to a majority of studies, are simply not interested. They’d rather hear about the NHS, terrorism, immigration, defence, etc. It is key that our grassroots activists and councillors fully embrace this strategy.

• Populism is at the heart of our democracy. We must not be under the impression that we’re too morally superior to engage in populist politics. That in fact suggests that we’re too morally superior for politics altogether. For instance, we need to engage in the debate on immigration, cautiously and with compassion. We nonetheless need to understand that people have the right to be sceptical of Channel-crossing immigrants. Labelling anyone who voices negative opinions of Channel crossings a ‘racist’ marginalises us.

• We need to look inwards. Consistent criticism of the government is what any party in opposition does. Nevertheless, we need to dedicate the overwhelming majority of our sources and efforts to implementing initiatives that help our society. Let’s focus on 20% making a fuss, 80% working for the people.
• Optimism and feel-good politics; we are instinctively inclined to listen and vote for optimists. A party with leaders and members who come with ‘doom and gloom’ warnings are off-putting and lame. Effective political communication and messaging are key.
• We start today; despite all of the above, I am an optimist. I believe that we can win 30% of the vote in the general election after the coming one (this should be our target). But we drastically need to act now. We can’t afford to remain a largely mediocre party. We are the true patriots who hold this country’s interests at heart. Time to deliver.

* Khaled Hassan is an Egyptian political risk and intelligence analyst whose research looks at antisemitism, terrorism, conspiracy theories and national security.

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48 Comments

  • Yes. Every word. Para 6 (“When I first joined the party…”) mirrors the experience of many of us. Politics is a zero sum game and people who have worked their way into positions of influence in the party are not going to share it with you, I’m afraid.
    Think tanks ? If you’ve got an interest in policy you’re going to have a hard time. They will tell you to apply for a policy working group. Good luck with that.
    Backing off on the culture wars ? Gosh, you’re a braver man than me, Khaled. Identity politics matters a lot to a number of party insiders but you’re right, there are very few votes in it. We don’t have to change our principles, but we have to understand when the public are getting turned off. For example, I promise not to chunter on endlessly about Right to Roam !

  • Steve Trevethan 25th Oct '22 - 5:41pm

    Thank you for a most interesting and important article!
    Your criticisms of the power structure of « our » L D party seems to be both insightful and accurate.
    Would that we ceased trying to be « nice » Conservatives and a party of over organised stasis.

  • Anthony Acton 25th Oct '22 - 8:00pm

    This is spot on. Something must be wrong in the LibDem strategy when Labour stands at 55% and LDs struggle to hang on to 10% in the polls.

  • Peter Davies 25th Oct '22 - 8:45pm

    Don’t stop chuntering on about the right to roam. Just do it on a walkers’ forum and drop in that it’s our policy occasionally. At the moment, we pick targets geographically and then try to find a message for them. In many cases the target voters are not the people who would benefit from our policies.

    We have a whole host of great policies that appeal to significant non-geographical communities. Add those groups together and they make a big difference to our vote. It is now reasonably easy to reach those groups but it means talking to people outside our target wards and promoting the party rather than the candidates. Of course there are still big issues that affect everybody and we have to tell everyone about them through broad channels like press, PPBs and the web. There are also still geographical communities which we still need to talk to about local issues as well as hammering home the big national issues.

  • Michael Cole 25th Oct '22 - 9:11pm

    Thanks Khaled.

    We absolutely need to do this.

    Do you intend to organise a movement along these lines ? If so, I think you would have the support and help of many throughout the Party.

  • Chris Moore 25th Oct '22 - 9:56pm

    This is a really good article.

    “It is not about us. It’s about the electorate and what matters to them.”

    Precisely! We’ve got to get away from our pet obsessions, which are a massive turn-off to nearly all electors: PR being the absolute classic example.

    Identity politics is another example of a concern that is very important to a tiny minority of voters, but of no interest to all the rest.

    We need these issues in our manifesto, but we need to lead and campaign on issues that will win us votes.

  • Gordon Lishman 26th Oct '22 - 8:15am

    Khaled is entirely right. The concepts of medium to long term strategy and strategic goals for our approach are right and very badly needed.
    I joined our predecessor party nearly 60 years ago and leaders had a clear idea of core strategy.

  • Excellent article. Should be taken seriously by all in the party, particularly the hierarchy!

  • Khalid – I am so sorry you were not encouraged to explore other options for involvement in the party. You sound like a talent we need. On the other hand, we all deliver leaflets as that is the one way of getting our message into every home.
    I have developed a number of strategies in my local party for involving new members, including a new members evening when we explicitly ask everyone who attends whether they they want to become activists and candidates. I will DM you.

  • Neil James Sandison 26th Oct '22 - 10:12am

    Khaled has offered us a wakeup call prior to the pending general election; we have fallen into the trap of echo chamber opposition parroting the. same thing as every other party with very little to distinguish from the rest. We used to have strong policy on issues like education, PR, and reforming outdated structures that no longer serve our citizens well.
    We need to ” march again towards the sound gunfire “. on a reformist and progressive agenda. aping Labour or Tories does not serve our electors or the future of this party .

  • Perhaps I am misinterpreting this article and so I apologise if I have and I expect someone will put me right, but I am not sure I would want to support the party if became a party with populist policies to attract voters along the lines of the Farage,s and Johnson’s of this world?

  • Lorenzo Cherin 26th Oct '22 - 10:58am

    I have been saying a lot of this for years! An absolutely terrific piece.

    Unfortunately there are too many in this party who decry the very things this article supports.

    How many articles exttol for example, the centre ground? None if I don’t write them! Loads prefer to remind us we are not centrists. No but most of us prefer the centre ground!

    As for culture wars, this party, like Labour takes a staraightforward “we are on the progressive side,” of that debate! On this often, we ought to be more neutral!

    One thing I do not agree with Khaled on, from my experience or friends, though his experience makes it true for him, for many newcomers, this party welcomes them. It is different in every area.

    But he is right about policy. I have been trying to draw attention to this, but give up trying! Yet I do not want to give up. I just feel nobody listens. Even our mps and peers are so hard to get in touch with. I am involved in a group within the party, elected officer, we get no reply or response when contacting colleagues in parliament.

    Labour , tories more so, are awful on much. But they get the popular touch.

  • An interesting contribution Khalid. Sorry to hear of your negative experience. I think the reality is that some local parties are very open and welcoming, while sadly some see any capable newcomer as a threat.

    One problem with the ‘localism’ of the Liberal Democrats is that councillors and parliamentary candidates are often chosen based on how long they’ve lived in an area. That’s understandable in some circumstances, but it means professional people who have to move to another area for career reasons sometimes find it hard to get established in their new local party. It also means that unless you live in one of the 5% of winnable parliamentary constituencies, you have almost no chance of being selected for a winnable seat. As a result, Lib Dem MPs are frequently selected by accidents of birth and geography, rather than because they are the best person for the job or someone who could make an impact at national level. Many good people, seeing that there is no realistic chance of making a difference in the party, drift away and get involved in charities or pressure groups instead.

  • I fully support Khaled’s arguments here and thank him for his succinct and powerful klarion call.
    Our Party’s base, those Tiers 3 & 4 constituencies and Local Parties are crumbling away. We rightly celebrate by-election successes, achieved by deploying almost our entire political machine into each one. We seem to ignore the fact that our base is crumbling, members are unhappy at what is being offered locally, and there are fewer and fewer individuals willing to stand for office.
    Even worse, the blame is being placed on members themselves: ‘Not interested, won’t come to anything, won’t even deliver leaflets ‘.
    It’s “Time for a New Generation of Lib Dems’..New thinking, using research, learning from mistakes.
    Khaled is not advocating any form of populism…he calls for a research based approach at every level of our activities and that support is gained when you offer what’s right: electioneering is only one part of ‘campaigning’ and, above all, you succeed by appealing to hearts and minds.
    Thank you Khaled: powerful and timely article.

  • Adrian Sanders 26th Oct '22 - 11:21am

    Thank you Khaled, the issues we often obsess over might attract in members, but are not the issues that motivate people to vote Liberal Democrat. Liberal Democrat votes mean seats, and Liberal Democrat seats mean votes that could make a difference on the issues we often obsess over.

  • Laurence Cox 26th Oct '22 - 11:54am

    “When I first joined the party, more than 4 years ago, I was very keen on doing more; volunteering my time, skills and expertise to seeing the Tories defeated. All I was offered is an invitation to handout leaflets.”

    This is a damning indictment of our Party hierarchy that, when faced with someone having specialist skills and knowledge, all they can think of is using him as a leaflet distributor. Having such a small Party in the Commons, it is inevitable that each of our spokespersons has to cover a wide area and would benefit from expert advice on topics, above and beyond their paid staff. Yet where is the structure to tap into that outside knowledge? We know what to do if someone wants to be an activist, a Councillor or an MP, but if someone wants to be able to use their skills for the benefit of the Party, but not in a public-facing role, there is a much less clear route. My volunteering at HQ first in Membership and later in Candidates & Diversity came about through a personal contact, who was already in a senior role in the Party, but we should not be relying on this sort of informal approach. Perhaps the candidates for Party President will make their positions clear on how they would push the Party to make better use of volunteers and their expertise.

  • Khaled Hassan 26th Oct '22 - 12:09pm

    Hi everyone,

    Many thanks for the support that I’ve received. I wanted to clarify a few points:

    I would be delighted to continue this conversation. Clearly, we are in the same boat and the article reflects the experience of many. Please find me on Twitter (@Khaledhzakariah) or email me at [email protected]

    I need to be blunt here; we currently don’t have a ‘brand’ of our own. If we were a supermarket, we’d be a corner shop that no one notices and only visit when it’s a Sunday and nothing else is open. We’re not the Waitrose, or Aldi/Lidl kind of brand, where you know exactly what you’re getting. We’re largely indistinctive and off-putting to the average voter. That’s why we’ve been losing since the infamous coalition. We were off to a good start in the early 20th century, but we’ve been coming third for decades, and, since the coalition, we’ve been doing even worse that we may very soon compete with the Greens over third place! Below is a brief note on our performance:

    “62 Liberal Democrat MPs were elected in 2005, the highest number for the
    Party and its predecessors since 1923 (when the Liberals won 158 seats). In
    2010, there were 57 Liberal Democrat MPs, but their number fell to 8 in 2015.
    In 2017 the number of Liberal Democrat MPs rose to 12, before decreasing to 11
    in 2019.” https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-7529/CBP-7529.pdf#page=8

    By the way, I sent Jo Swinson an email right after she launched her 2019, warning her that the campaign and our political messaging were so off-putting that even I wouldn’t vote for her. She, predictably, ignored my email. We were so inept and detached from reality that our campaign was remarkably laughable. It had nothing to do with established strategic political communications. It came across as lame, inept and unpromising. I fear we’re doing it all over again.

    I hope this makes sense.

    Many thanks,

    Khaled

  • Barry Lofty 26th Oct '22 - 1:02pm

    Again I ask what is meant by the party becoming more populist, it is important for me know how this proposal would be implemented???

  • Khaled Hassan 26th Oct '22 - 1:11pm

    Hi Barry,

    I am a brown, Jewish man and an immigrant. Naturally, I would not suggest we become Farage- or Boris-like, for obvious and practical reasons (such as the fact that Farage is a complete failure; he ran 7 or 8 times and got nowhere, and thus he’s the opposite of what I am suggesting!). I am merely suggesting that we actually dedicate our efforts into a strategy to appeal to the public, through charismatic leaders, effective political messaging and a sound strategy with what matters to the public at its heart. We can be brilliant, but if people find us lame and off-putting, we’re going nowhere.

    Best,

    Khaled

  • Peter Davies 26th Oct '22 - 1:42pm

    Had we had a conference this year, we would have passed one of two policies that involved a greater degree of redistribution than the Labour party is even considering. That would not be populist, it would not even be centrist, but it would be a potential vote decider for well over half the population that would benefit. Unfortunately, those people overwhelmingly fall within the 90% of the population that we have de-targeted since 2010. We don’t have to pander to illiberal prejudices. We admit our differences with them freely if asked and then talk to them about issues that will make a real difference to their lives.

  • Peter Bowles Comment: It isn’t about being ‘populist ‘. It’s about becoming identified with key policies that we ‘make popular’ because they are so important. Examples might be:
    Economic: – 25% of children under 16 in Middlesbrough were identified as cold and hungry by ONS Feb 2022. Far worse now. What’s our plan to end current economic and energy crises.
    Join Single Market and Customs Union:
    Make Britain a Real Democracy : – proportional representation and Codified Constitution – Makle every vote meaningful- ending default confrontational debate.
    We need 3 things that people immediately identify us with. Currently we are , erm , ” that lot who are not Labour or Tory” .
    Save Our Planet:
    Just a few possibilities in answer to your query

  • Chris Moore 26th Oct '22 - 1:44pm

    Khaled, in the run up to the 2019 election, I sent off various messages pointing out that the Remain Alliance strategy was doomed to failure: in a FPTP system, alienating 50% of the voters – Leavers – up front will make it extremely difficult to get a majority in individual seats and will put a low cap on overall vote share: you need heroic percentages of Remain voters (30%) to get you a 15% share of the vote.

    No replies to any communication.

    The same message cogently argued on various party sites was often simply removed: too disturbing to blind and psephologically naive optimists.

    Has the party really learned anything from 2019? It’s disturbing to see people who thought Remain Alliance and Revoke were a brilliant idea still in decision-making positions.

  • Toby Keynes 26th Oct '22 - 2:00pm

    @Barry Loftus; “Again I ask what is meant by the party becoming more populist, it is important for me know how this proposal would be implemented???”
    I’m pretty confident that when Khalid writes that we should engage IN populist politics, he means that we should engage WITH it (with apologies if I’ve misread this). Recognising that peoples’ concerns about, for example, immigration, may be genuine enables us to engage with them, understand why they are concerned and perhaps persuade them that their concerns are unfounded – or even that their concerns are reasonable but can be addressed in more liberal ways. Writing people off as prejudiced and ignorant – and perhaps making it very clear to them that we are doing so – may give us a brief high of moral superiority but won’t help us, them or, for that matter, potential future immigrants.

  • Adrian Sanders 26th Oct '22 - 2:05pm

    Barry Loft, I think he means the Party should campaign up front on the issues that concern the public – so long as they are consistent with our values and principles – rather than those that seem to concern ourselves the most. We don’t drop the latter, but we focus most publicly on the former.

  • Barry: one can have policies which are popularly-supported and expressed in a popular form without either the policies or their expression being far-right (or even right-of-centre, for that matter). Nationalisation of utilities/railways would be an easy example of a popular/populist left-of-centre policy. Certainly the article leaves open *which* 30% of voters the Lib Dems should try to win over, which is a very important question, but I’m fairly sure the author wasn’t thinking of the most right-wing ones!

    For me populism isn’t so much about the substance of the policy as about the delivery: compare with Starmer’s “I don’t have any policies but I’ll deliver them very competently” style … he can (for now, at least) get away with that, but the Lib Dems definitely can’t. As the article says, focus on how your policies will improve things for people.

    Populism has a bad name because lots of populists lie to answer that question; the response to that in Westminster seems to have been “well, therefore good policies are unpopular ones” and that’s often even worse.

  • Agree 100% great article
    We need to be radical too.
    Decriminalise Drugs
    Get rid of Trident
    But most of all join EEA pronto, on Europe we are pussyfooting about like Labour. Sometimes I can’t see the point of us……except maybe an anti Tory vote in the blue wall..

  • Barry Lofty 26th Oct '22 - 3:52pm

    Thanks Khaled, and all the others who answered my question, even though my unusual surname had some different formats, I now have a greater understanding of where you are coming from and can only hope that your ideas come into fruition in the not too distant future!!! Good luck.

  • Nonconformistradical 26th Oct '22 - 4:35pm

    @Khaled Hassan
    ” I am merely suggesting that we actually dedicate our efforts into a strategy to appeal to the public, through charismatic leaders………”

    I’m concerned about the term “charismatic leaders”. Does ‘charismatic’ take precedence over political judgement? Because if so I’d disagree. Political judgement is far more important in my view – failures of political judgement lead to disaster.

  • Khaled Hassan 26th Oct '22 - 4:49pm

    Hi @Nonconformistradical,

    Why did you decide that it has to be an ‘either..or’ situation? Some of the most charismatic leaders in the history of politics were both, extremely charismatic and had sound political judgement. I believe it has to be both. It’s like trainer driver who can actually drive a train, and stay awake while doing it. But having leaders with sound political judgment who are nonetheless so lame and off-putting that no one even knows what they stand for is essentially going to be the end of our party.

    No offence to any of our leaders, but I don’t remember a time when we had a charismatic leader. Every single time Jo Swinson addressed the public, we lost votes. Likewise, people now view Ed Davey as a echo of Starmer’s.

    Best,

    Khaled

  • Peter Davies 26th Oct '22 - 5:03pm

    Does ‘charismatic’ take precedence over political judgement?
    It’s something of an academic question at the moment. We have not been offered that choice in any recent leadership election.

  • Nonconformistradical 26th Oct '22 - 5:39pm

    @Khaled Hassan
    I didn’t say either or.

    I’m asking you which you think is more important. But I do think that however charismatic someone might be, if they lack political judgement they’re a potential catastrophe if they do get into a position of political leadership.

  • Patrick Morrissey 26th Oct '22 - 5:53pm

    Profound article and agree with sentiments expressed. I was expected to be a lifelong Focus mule for long held wards with little or no support from my local party.
    I am now campaigning to win back a ward we haven’t held for ten years. I am basically doing this on my own with help from four individuals which highlights everything expressed in the article.

    I understand the important notion of perception around policies for people to start voting for us again. They don’t need to be overarching, academic, complex or longwinded but they do need to resonate with the voters.

    Before we identify which policies we wish to promote we must first consider if there’s an appetite for them, how they will be framed and how they will be perceived by the voters.

  • What Khaled says goes to the heart of my personal LibDem paradox. I believe we are right on devolution, proportional representation and internationalism, yet whenever I open my mouth on these topics I worry about confusing the crap out of people or boring them. It’s really hard to convert head into heart. Look at the Tory messaging:

    Take back control
    Get brexit done
    Build back better
    Right thing to do

    They all mean nothing and everything. How to counter it? Copy their idea? Why not? They pilfer everyone else’s:

    Your vote should count
    We can’t shun the world
    Right side of history
    One planet liberals
    Healing the past can help the present
    etc etc

    Also, how about we drop “Democrat” from the branding? Become Liberals and own the word in all senses. Yes, people should be allowed to protest. Yes, refugees should be treated with compassion. Yes, people should be free to think and say what they feel – even if it offends others* – but also Yes, people should be free to wear what they like – even if it offends others**.

    *yes, of course, caveats apply. For the purposes of this comment please assume we could define them correctly, if we feel the current law goes too far/doesn’t go far enough.
    ** ditto. The population probably cares more about clothing coverage than artificial gender clothing norms

  • Chris Moore 27th Oct '22 - 8:43am

    Hi, Nonconformistradical,

    We had the perfect combination in 2019 of a lack of charisma and a lack of political judgement.

    Paddy and CK are examples of politicians possessing both.

  • Nonconformistradical 27th Oct '22 - 11:14am

    @Chris Moore
    “Paddy and CK are examples of politicians possessing both.”
    Agree.

    What other attributes do you/others here feel are important for good leadership? Especially when those being led are volunteers who can walk away if they choose.

  • Laurence Cox 27th Oct '22 - 11:54am

    @Paul

    “Also, how about we drop “Democrat” from the branding? Become Liberals and own the word in all senses. ”

    Because we would be breaking the law and the Electoral Commission would come down on us like a ton of bricks. There is still a Liberal Party in Great Britain (which came out of those in the old Liberal Party who never accepted the merger) and they have the right to the Liberal Party name. See:

    http://search.electoralcommission.org.uk/English/Registrations/PP54

    Those of us old enough to remember the “Literal Democrat” will know why this change to the law was neccessary. For others:

    https://www.lgcplus.com/archive/electoral-petition-dismissed-in-literal-democrat-case-11-11-1994/

  • Hi Nonconformistradical,

    Both Paddy and Charles had big personal flaws. I believe this enhanced their standing with the electorate…….

    For me, personally, it made them more credible and likeable: even if in the end, in the case of Charles K, it meant he was not able to fulfil the stingent demands of leadership.

  • Khaled Hassan 27th Oct '22 - 2:24pm

    Regarding 2019, we indeed had a deadly combination of; lack of charisma + lack of sound political judgement + unjustified ambition, which is exactly how I would describe Truss. Ironically, again I mean only to draw lessons not to offend anyone, both Swinson and Truss were the shortest-serving leaders of their respective parties’ history, rightly so.

    What other attributes do you/others here feel are important for good leadership?; In short, pragmatism, optimism, ambition and intelligence (you need to know what motivates people and use that for our party’s benefit). To be brutally honest, I am ambitious and thus willing to spend time trying to get to where I want. A party turning people like me away, when the Tories receive us with open arms, is utterly doomed and shouldn’t exist. That’s why we WILL change the party.

  • Neil James Sandison 27th Oct '22 - 2:48pm

    I would prefer a dynamic leader rather than charismatic. Agree, People listened to Kennedy, Ashdown, Williams, Jenkins and Steel. We need champions of Liberal Democracy and clear policy goals for areas like Education and Skills, The Environment and renewable Energy, A modern state and real local democracy not dictated to by over powerful secretaries of state. Defending and protecting the rights of our citizens from an over controlling state that is curtailing of our civil liberties.

  • Nonconformistradical 27th Oct '22 - 2:49pm

    @Khaled Hassan
    Good leadership attributes – how about willingness to listen to the troops and take on board what they say? They might be telling you something important…?

  • Interesting article. I agree that we should focus on the issues that matter most to voters and shouldn’t get bogged down in debates about culture wars etc.

    However, liberalism is not populist and never will be in my view. When it comes to issues like immigration, Europe, crime and punishment etc we should make our case, build our core vote and not kowtow to the lowest common denominator.

  • Khaled Hassan 28th Oct '22 - 1:38pm

    Hi Marco,

    Thanks for your kind remarks. It really all depends on how you define the term ‘populist’. If you take it at face value, a populist is a politician who reaches out to and appeals to the average, ordinary voter who feels neglected by the ruling elite. Hence, Liberalism can be extremely populist, and popular, with the right kind of leader behind it.

    Alas, our leaders often complicate things when the public is looking for simple, yes/no answers. That’s where the challenge lies.

    All the best,

    Khaled

  • Khaled Hassan,

    I think that my knowledge and experience could be used by the Federal Party in developing policies. I felt that I was ideal to be on the Fairer Society working group and I still think I would have made a better member of it than many who were on it. I managed to get the email address and name of someone in the party who had contacts with the people drafting an amendment to our policy on the cost of living crisis to include our new idea to freeze the energy price cap at the April 2022 rate. I hoped that I could work with this group on that amendment but the member of staff I emailed never replied.

    I have written to our leader and to some of our MPs. Before Ed was elected as leader he used to reply to emails sent to him. When I wrote to Wendy Chamberlain, Kathryn a researcher responded to my enquiry.

    Lorenzo Cherin,

    It is very difficult to get a policy motion accepted by Federal Conference Committee. (If we had held our Conference in September the standing order amendment I drafted might have been passed to make it easier.) Katharine Pindar and I have had more success in getting our amendments either accepted for debate or taken as drafting amendments. It is difficult but not impossible if the amendments are well written. I always submit them for drafting advice in the hope that the advice will help with getting them accepted.

  • Khaled Hassan,

    I have the impression that Conservative members have less involvement in the running of their party then ours do. How do you believe the Tories ‘receive’ and use the skills and experience of their new members?

    Ian Jones,

    Join Single Market and Customs Union
    proportional representation and Codified Constitution

    Meg Thomas,

    Decriminalise Drugs
    Get rid of Trident
    But most of all join EEA pronto

    Are not the issues that concern the public.

    We were first to announced the policy of an energy price freeze and it was more radical than the Labour Party’s and Liz Truss’s. We need to build on it and have clear policies to deal with the cost of living crisis and to increase economic growth while not spooking the markets.

    If we had held our Conference we would have passed a new social care policy – for it to be free for everyone like the NHS (if I have understood it correctly). We might also have passed a policy to remove everyone from deep poverty within the decade. (I would prefer it was more radical and we had a policy of removing everyone from living below the poverty line within ten years.)

    We also have good environmental policies.

    And it is these policies we should be stressing on issues which do concern the public.

  • Peter Chambers 30th Oct '22 - 1:30pm

    This article and also a newer one on LDV ask where the penumbra of our political party is. Where are the summer schools, front organisations, talking heads, outriders, supportive academics, social media channels, and news letters? It is such a penumbra that absorbs surges of members and supporters and gives them something useful to do in addition to providing development. Parties with a lot of this become governments in waiting, parties with none of it compare to ChangeUK. We have ALDC and a few other associated organisations. It is not clear to me why we do not have more. Money could be a factor.

  • Katharine Pindar 31st Oct '22 - 10:00am

    It’s not too difficult to identify our policies with what people want, it seems to me. People want help immediately with the cost of living, and I don’t find opposition to taxes on wealth and on the super profits of the energy providers, which could help prolong the help with energy costs for both individuals and SMEs beyond April. Clearly we also support the majority of our citizens against exploiters, such as the wealthy who hide in off-shore accounts and devices to foil the taxman, and some Tory MPs with lucrative second jobs.

    The Conservative government can’t deny that they have seen national growth fall under their management. And what I think should be a strong case for us still is our opposition to Brexit. Because we no longer need to think of Leavers and Remainers, and the former being inacccessible to us – the pollsters show that increasing numbers of Leavers now agree that Brexit was a mistake. We should make the case now for rejoining the single market, gaining ready access again to the greatest trading bloc on our doorstep. We have a strong identity to proclaim as the only national party completely opposed to Brexit.

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