Why I'm Running for Leadership of the Liberal Democrats

2 March 2020

Ten years ago, we were filled with great optimism for our liberal future, but we ended the decade with real disappointment.

We started with the hope of making lasting changes for a tolerant, sustainable and outward-looking Britain. We have ended with eleven MPs, the most right-wing government in recent history, and departure from the EU.

We Liberal Democrats cannot pass off all responsibility for this outcome. In hindsight, wrong choices were made.

Those choices were strategic, not merely tactical. They were rooted in a misjudgement of how liberalism in the 21st century can be protected and advanced.

The mistake was to see our party in the political centre, standing equally between right and left. In this day and age, the biggest threat to liberalism – not just in Britain – comes from the right.

Our reasons for entering coalition with the Conservatives in 2010 were well intended, but we ended up undermining our values. We ultimately legitimised the Conservatives’ long-term illiberal, nationalist agenda.

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Moreover, in the 2016 EU Referendum, because of our heavy defeat in the 2015 General Election, our vision of a tolerant and outward looking Britain was on the margins.

In the years after the coalition this equidistant strain in our strategy continued. In the most recent election, we trained our fire equally at the Conservatives and Labour, even though Labour backed a People’s Vote, had a plan to address the climate crisis and wanted to invest in public services to deliver a more equal society.