The future of Liberal Democrat thinking
A panel of leading Liberal Democrats joined the Institute's Director, Lord Adonis, to debate the future of Liberal Democrat thinking on 27 October.
The panel agreed joining the Coalition was the right thing to do – and that the first opportunity of power in peacetime for 80 years had to be taken, despite the nervousness of some in the party.
This was the Lib Dems' chance to prove that coalition government worked. But would coalition mean a loss of identity and a submersion of traditional Liberal values?
The panel
- Lord Clement-Jones - Lib Dem peer
- Julian Astle – Director of CentreForum
- Timothy Cox – Liberal Vision
- Neil Sherlock – adviser to Nick Clegg and Paddy Ashdown
Lord Clement-Jones – how the Coalition's success will be judged
Reminding the audience of the end of the last Liberal-Conservative coalition in 1922 when Tory backbenchers revolted and dumped Lloyd George, the Liberal peer felt joining the coalition had been a "bold decision" - and not one Nick Clegg's immediate predecessors would have made.
Some difficult decisions to swallow – the emergency budget, tuition fees, rushing through the Academies Bill - were forcing Lib Dems to go back to first principles to justify their actions.
But the writings of the much revered Liberal leader Jo Grimond, in 1983, showed Clegg was "entirely in line with the antecedents in the party". Grimond had written of the problems of having become too reliant on the state and too little on other forms of society. He saw a major fault in the failure to control public expenditure and the need to offer a "new radicalism".
Lord Clement Jones felt the government's success would be judged on the economy, fairness and on whether it had established trust.
Video interview with Lord Clement-Jones: Is the Coalition a compromise too far for the principles of Liberal Democracy? (2m:57s)
BackJulian Astle – the one big divide
Julian Astle pointed out that all parties are coalitions – and in the Lib Dems this was less wide than the others, because they:
- were united around core values of internationalism, localism, environmentalism
- were political and constitutional reformers
- were civil libertarians
- cared about social justice and the underdog.
The one big divide was on social and economic policy – between those who saw the greatest danger in market failure or in state failure. That debate was being played out now on school reforms, between radical decentralisers / marketisers and those who wanted to devolve power to local government.
Lib Dem policy had "been insufficiently alert" to state failure. He wanted to promote devolution from Whitehall and Town Hall to individuals, families, communities and other groupings. He felt that David Cameron's 'Big Society' was core liberalism.
Video interview with Julian Astle: Will there be a coming together of Cameron conservatism and liberal democracy? (3m:26s)
Timothy Cox – beware the desperation to differentiate
Timothy was amazed by pessimism at the Lib Dem conference. He felt a "desperation to differentiate" from the Conservatives would lead to bad decisions – and was unnecessary.
Lib Dems were not conservatives – there were big differences on defence, tax, civil liberties and voting reform. Reinventing what they stood for would play into Labour hands.
The party should promote its ideas as an alternative to the failure of the last 13 years, which were "a smaller but better state - with localism promoted through civil society and ensuring equal access to opportunities".
It was important to show coalition can work – and recognise that you only get some of what you want. Coalition tempered extremes and brought politics back to the centre, which is where the Lib Dems had always been.
Video interview with Timothy Cox: What re the big things the Liberal Democrats need to point to when they face the electorate in 2015? (2m:30s)
Neil Sherlock – the optimistic party?
Neil saw the Coalition as building on the party's heritage and experience of power at local level, in Scotland and in the European Parliament.
There were three practical priorities now for the party's success:
- the government must be successful
- it needed to deliver Lib Dem policies
- it needed to show that coalition politics worked.
The London commentariat had been surprised by the election result (having predicted an outright Tory victory) and the Coalition with the Conservatives (because they saw the Lib Dems as an adjunct to Labour).
The Lib Dems and Conservatives had come together to tackle the crisis confronting the country. They had taken to heart Tony Blair's message on the need to make changes early and quickly.
This Coalition was much better than the alternatives on offer. It was not a moment for "doubt and uncertainty". Instead, it answered the eternal question of what the point of voting Lib Dems was – the party now had the credibility of being in government, and "the worst day in government was better than the best day in opposition".
Video interview with Neil Sherlock: How worried should the Liberal Democrats be about negative press from mainstream media? (4m:14s)
More information
- Listen to a podcast of this event - 1h:13m (MP3, 51.8MB)
- The Guardian: Liberal Democrats work on identity – and joint policy with Conservatives
- Timothy Cox on the Liberal Vision blog: The future of Liberal Democrat thinking
- Lib Dem Voice blog: The future of Lib Dem thinking
- Platform 10 blog: Lib Dems: Hands on the levers of power
- Read our report on the Coalition government: United We Stand?
- Read about our previous event: the future of Conservative thinking
Photographs are available on the Institute for Government Flickr photostream
