Whatever happened to the Liberal Democrats? They have disappeared without trace

The recent party of government has dropped off the map since Jo Swinson flew too close to the sun last year, writes John Rentoul

Sir Ed Davey addresses the Liberal Democrat virtual conference (PA)

It was only five years ago that Nick Clegg was deputy prime minister and there were four other Liberal Democrats in the cabinet. Since its crushing defeat in 2015, the party has spent most of the time in the wilderness. Last year it suddenly seemed to be back in business, doubling its number of MPs by defections from both Labour and the Conservatives, and briefly touching 20 per cent in the opinion polls. 

Jo Swinson declared that she intended to be prime minister, which was unconvincing, but it did seem possible, briefly, that the party could make sweeping gains and play a role in helping to stop Britain leaving the EU. 

Now the party has vanished. It opted for the safe choice of confirming Ed Davey, acting co-leader after Swinson lost her seat in the election she helped bring about, in post. Party members voted for no more adventures, and Davey has certainly delivered. The party’s support has touched 5 per cent in the opinion polls three times recently, including once this month when it was level with the Greens. 

Davey has rejected two chances to draw attention to the Lib Dems and to carve out a distinctive constituency of support. First, he has refused to position the Lib Dems as the “Rejoin the EU” party. This involved some classic Lib Dem drafting at the party’s online annual conference in September. Davey wanted a motion that would “keep all options open for the UK’s future relationship with the EU”, but he accepted an amendment to “support a longer-term objective of UK membership of the EU”. That allowed him to persuade delegates to reject a demand to “campaign to rejoin the EU after the post-Brexit transition period ends”. 

The party was so traumatised by its drubbing in last year’s election – and especially by the unpopularity of Swinson’s policy of revoking the Brexit decision without a further referendum – that Davey and many members did not want to go back to the scene of the disaster. Others in the party argue that it would give them a clear message to sell to a large minority in the electorate of committed Remainers. They complain that the “people of government”, such as Davey, who was a coalition minister, worry about the practicalities because they “still think they could be back in power” – when the party needs strong campaigning messages. 

Second, Davey has failed to argue for a civil liberties view of coronavirus legislation. Although Daisy Cooper, the deputy leader, of whom more later, has campaigned against the “inhumane” separation of people in care homes from their families, the party has mostly left it to Conservative MPs – and to Nigel Farage, who hasn’t quite got round to setting up his new party yet – to oppose illiberal laws. 

Given the overlap between Remainers and lockdown supporters, this may seem understandable, but the party has been surprisingly silent on the criminalisation of protest and the intrusion of the law into people’s private lives. 

Green politics is a third opportunity missed that might be added to the list, given that one of Davey’s strengths was that he was the coalition minister most responsible for the remarkable growth of wind power – although greenery is now a crowded and contested field, with Conservatives and Labour outbidding each other with targets for the decarbonisation of the UK economy. 

That leaves the Lib Dems with nothing to go on but the distant memory of betraying students, and the more recent memory of delivering Boris Johnson the last election on a plate – in addition to the prospect of confidential discussions with Keir Starmer about the kind of mutual non-aggression pact that Paddy Ashdown agreed with Tony Blair in the run-up to the 1997 election. 

No wonder, then, that the only thing that animates the semi-comatose structures of the party is speculation about who might succeed Davey as leader, and whether they might do it before the next election. “Everything is about Daisy,” one source told me. Cooper, the new MP for St Albans, was elected unopposed as deputy leader in September – a post that is elected by the party’s MPs. 

The party has only 11 MPs, and Vince Cable failed in his attempt to change the rules to allow a non-MP to be leader, which means there aren’t many to choose from. Layla Moran, defeated by Davey this year, has been damaged by his supporters’ portrayal of her as being to the left of Jeremy Corbyn. Which means Cooper’s likely opponent is Wendy Chamberlain, another new MP, for North East Fife, temporarily parked in the non-job of chief whip. 

If Davey fails to lift the party into the limelight soon, it may fall to Cooper or Chamberlain to try instead.