Government Affairs Blog

The Liberal Democrat Conference

There were three narratives running during the Liberal Democrat conference.  

The first one was the leadership question.  All the issues about where the party might be going centred on whether Sir Menzies Campbell would continue as leader.  This is a narrative we have seen before.  We saw it at the conference before Kennedy’s downfall and with Ming, as he is known, almost since he became leader. 

From an outsider’s view it didn’t really appear to ignite in the way it did for Kennedy.  A cynic might argue that this was because the party didn’t get that much publicity anyway.  I suspect that if there had been briefings of discontent from the parliamentary party the press and broadcasters would have had a field day. 

We can probably conclude that if there are misgivings they are not big enough to lead to men in grey suits writing letters.  We also know that Nick Clegg will probably put himself up when Ming goes.  Most people reckoned on that anyway despite rumours he wouldn’t.  And we know from Ming that there could be a woman leader.  He didn’t say who but the obvious candidates are Lynne Featherstone, Susan Kramer and Sarah Teather.

The second narrative was policy.  Not widely reported in the media but important nonetheless.  No doubt there will be much argument about the merits of the policies but this is not the place for such discussion.  The point is the party has taken robust positions on the environment, tax, education and immigration. 

The third narrative was Northern Rock.  The banking crisis, or averted banking crisis depending on how you view it, rather dominated the political and economic news agenda.  Was this bad for the party?  It could actually be a good thing for the Liberal Democrats.  They might have only wanted mood music to reach the public in order to create certain perceptions about the party.

The three narratives came together with Ming’s closing speech.  He told the conference what he thought the party was for, he had the new policies as a backdrop and he could use Northern Rock as an example of economic uncertainty. 

How will it play?  The Guardian ICM poll already has Ming doing well compared to Cameron.  But Labour is next and then the Tories.  Only then will we begin to have some sort of sense of what the voters make of this political jamboree.

Simon Goldie is Head of Communication at The Chartered Institute of Taxation – www.tax.org.uk - and a member of the CIPR GAG committee