Government Affairs Blog

The challenge for the new Lib Dem leader

Next week the Liberal Democrats will have a new leader. In Saturday's Guardian, Martin Kettle argued that 'the next decade might just belong to the Lib Dems'.

The new leader will be facing a major challenge. Both the Conservatives and Labour have made their pitch for the liberal vote in recent months. The electorate are being offered liberal conservatism from Cameron, liberal activism from Brown and liberal democracy from the Lib Dem. Will this outbreak of the L word affect how the electorate cast their vote and if it does, how on earth are they to decide which liberalism they prefer?

The first challenge for the new leader is to be very clear about what they mean by liberalism. The second one is connect party policy to that vision and explain how those policies will promote liberalism. Once they have established their own liberal narrative they will need from time to time to take on the other challengers to the liberal mantle. There is an argument to say best ignore it and not define yourself against another party. However, by defining yourself in the first place you are contrasting your vision and by unpicking the claims of Brown and Cameron the leader will be implicitly criticism the other parties. And that is all part of politics.

Lastly, the new leader needs to be able to communicate all of this effectively and make sure they have the best possible team to help.

If Clegg or Huhne can do all that then they might prove Kettle right.