High Peak Liberal Democrats

Sir John Curtice at the NLC

Jonathan Fryer

I was pleased to have a last-minute opportunity to attend a presentation at the National Liberal Club by academic and TV election pundit Sir John Curtice (a long-standing member of the Club) on The 2019 Election: A Tale of Hope and Disappointment.

One might correctly guess from the title that the talk was particularly focussed on the Liberal Democrats' less than optimal performance last month.

Far from taking off during the campaign - which was the case in several previous general elections, thanks largely to a higher media profile - the LibDems actually lost nearly half of their opinion poll percentage as the weeks went by.

Certainly some of the Remain-leaning Conservatives who lent the LibDems their vote in May's European elections, not least in Greater London, went running back to Boris Johnson, despite Brexit, out of (unnecessary) fear of a possible Jeremy Corbyn government.

Many commentators at the time also attributed the fall in LibDem support to

(1) Jo Swinson's call to Revoke Article 50, rather than pitching wholeheartedly for a second EU Referendum, and (2) her claim to be a potential PM in waiting, despite the modest number of LibDem MPs (albeit supplemented by both Labour and Conservative defections). However, Professor Curtice said polling, notably from YouGov, did not support that assumption. Instead, he highlighted three conclusions about the election result based on his research:

1. It was not clear that the decision to back revoking Article 50 without a referendum was electorally costly;
2. Jo Swinson failed to make a favourable impression on voters and thus provide a point of attraction in contrast to Jeremy Corbyn;
3. The Party failed to communicate what a "brighter future" for Britain might entail.

Other points from John Curtice's brilliant presentation which particularly struck me were that the Liberal Democrats drew most of their support from the educated middle class, but unlike the other parties had an almost equal level of support across all age groups.

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