Liberal Democrats leader Tim Farron laughs at a speakers impression during a Rally at the party’s Autumn Conference in Brighton, Sussex.
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“Labour is having its leadership contest in a few days’ time, so of course Jeremy Corbyn may not be leader for much longer”.
When asked to compare Farron with the Liberal Democrat party, just 23% stated that they liked Farron but slightly more – 28% – said they liked the LibDems, with no change from last year’s conference.
Mr Farron pointedly dismissed such talk as a “parlour” discussion of no interest to voters after Mr Clegg suggested a realignment of the centre-left, and Lord Ashdown called for a single pro-EU candidate to fight the Tories in the looming Witney by-election caused by David Cameron standing down as an MP. You are the prime minister.
To be fair to Tim Farron, he stressed how he was not a Blairite and had vehemently opposed the former Labour chief on the Iraq war but he made clear he admired TB for getting things done like introducing the national minimum wage, building schools and investing in the NHS.
“Here was this guy, George Osborne, who they didn’t really like. Three months on, it isn’t good enough to have brainstorming sessions at Chequers while investment and jobs steadily bleed away”. He expressed “regret” that the SNP’s currency policy favouring a sterling union with the rest of the United Kingdom was presented as the only option, and said a future prospectus for independence should reflect a wider set of views, so that more supporters can see what they want to see in it.
The speech essentially positioned the Liberal Democrat leader as the new “heir to Blair”, a phrase first coined for David Cameron when he tried to drag the Conservative party to the centre after becoming leader.
“We talk about schools – how many schools are going to have careers officers say to people, ‘have you thought about prostitution?'”
In a further blow 46 per cent said they dislike him, and 41 per cent dislike his party. “We have not, but that’s a way a lot of people see us”.
“I respect him for believing that the point of being in politics is to get stuff done, and you can only get stuff done if you win”.
“He recalled how an aid worker say him handing out water bottles to refugees on the island of Lesbos and told him: “‘Stop handing out bottles of water and take some f****** refugees'”.
But some former Remain supporters are hoping that a protracted negotiation process and negative economic news could swing the public mood against Brexit and force the government’s hand on holding a second vote.
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“I would rather we kept our own identity because I think you would struggle to find enough common ground to unite enough people for enough time”, she says.
