Nick Clegg had promptly resigned as leader, although (perhaps unfortunately for him) he had clung on to his Sheffield Hallam seat. Now they were reduced to a single table – and the group was pondering how the party would ever recover.
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Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron has spoken about his upbringing in Preston at the party’s conference. Among the 2,000-plus attendees have been 500 such “political virgins”.
BuzzFeed News spoke to politicians, members, and staffers to gauge how this “fightback” would actually happen.
But he will tell activists the party must stick to austere policies aimed at eliminating the structural deficit by 2017/18 – a position which demands spending cuts or tax rises.
Mr Farron will say: “It’s tough and I tell you frankly that it means that we won’t be able to do all the things we might like to do in the short term”. Now, though, he seemed to have changed his tune: “We are proud of what we did in Government”.
“There is nothing grubby or unprincipled about wanting to win”.
In his first party conference speech, the new chief cast himself as an “outsider” who would break out of the “Westminster echo chamber”. I have inherited all of his passion for music… and none of his talent.
But Farron has adapted pretty well to the new, post-Corbyn landscape.
Mr Farron said: “Maybe you are now in the Labour party – and you see your vote being used to pedal fantasy economics that will cause greater poverty and austerity”. They pointed to Douglas Carswell, who defected from the Tories to UKIP despite Nigel Farage’s party having no House of Commons presence at the time.
Looking at our own figures we’ve got from the parties themselves, either from headquarters or from press releases, when it comes to party membership, Labour has – by a considerable margin – been the success story.
He said: “And we will start with next year’s elections for the Scottish Parliament, for the National Assembly in Wales, for the London Assembly, and for local government across the country“. Nevertheless, the “squeaky bird” gave a very convincing speech which “shook awake” the 2015 Lib Dem Conference, Farron was “self-depreciating; he was amusing, [and] he showed warmth”. At least that’s the view of the Lib Dems in many political circles.
In his speech in Bournemouth he said his party should be “serious about power” and claimed the election of Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader had left the Lib Dems as the only credible opposition to the Tories. Clegg is also likely to stand down as an MP at the next election, leaving Sheffield Hallam in jeopardy.
John Cridland, CBI Director-General, said: “Business will welcome Mr Farron’s commitment to creating an environment where firms and people can prosper, including action on housing supply, better transport links and broadband connections across the country”. But nobody is saying that out loud.
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“We’ve got lots of new members, young and enthusiastic”, says Rodney Jackson, a retired health and safety inspector, still busily absorbing the VW diesel scandal in the morning papers.
