My wife keeps up with the news, but she can’t recall the last time she saw a national story about the Lib Dems. As Labour and the Tories struggle to hold themselves together, the Lib Dems fight simply to be heard. For most people in the country there is a fading memory of a liberal voice where the party used to be.
With the party’s leadership election looming, that matters. There will be a big temptation among activists to make the contest a battle of ideologies. “Which candidate is closest to my beliefs?” members will ask, endlessly dissecting policy statements, tweets and voting records.
Don’t do it. Your ideology is really important, but the harsh truth is that it doesn’t matter whether our new leader shares it or not. Other things matter more.
Our new leader being heard by the millions of people like my wife matters more. Our new leader connecting with those people, giving them a sense that the Liberal Democrats is for people like them and is fighting for the things they care about: that matters more. A leader who ticks every one of your ideological boxes but fails to connect with the voters will do your cause no good at all.
The Liberal Democrats, like the other parties, faces an existential crisis. We’ve been bouncing around 9% in the polls for the last five years and have just 11 MPs. Yes, the party has 100,000 members, a recovering councillor base and activists across most of the country, but that’s not enough. We live in one of the most centralised democracies in the world, and there’s only so much you can do without a strong presence in Westminster.
At a time when both Labour and Tories have moved to the extremes, when both are led by leaders disliked and distrusted by the public, when both support leaving the EU, for the Liberal Democrats to have barely been heard is a failure on our part and one we must fix quickly.
When you come to vote for the party’s new leader, you should ask two questions above all others. First, who has a proven record of getting coverage in the mainstream press. Second, who has a record of talking about issues that ordinary voters care about.
Think carefully – the very existence of our party may depend on your answer.
* Iain Roberts is the former leader of Stockport Liberal Democrats and Lib Dem Campaign Manager in Greater Manchester Mayoral election and for Cheadle constituency in the General Election
