The Lib Dems have rediscovered their byelection mojo – can they capitalise?
arah Olney's win may be unlikely to affect Brexit, but her party's victories in Richmond Park and elsewhere point towards a new chapter 'Richmond Park was a byelection made in heaven for the Liberal Democrats. Their opponent - a prominent leave campaigner whose father had funded the anti-EU referendum party in the 1990s, and who upset many of those of a small "l" liberal disposition with the style and tone of his London mayoral campaign in the spring. The constituency was a Lib Dem stronghold for over 40 years (until the vote collapsed, like almost everywhere else, in last year's general election) where over 70% of voters had voted to remain in the EU, putting it in the top 10 pro-EU constituencies. Local Labour voters were long used to voting tactically for the local Liberal Democrat. All the party had to do was to turn this unusually propitious set of circumstances to its advantage.
