Tuesday, September 22, 2026
My view on a bland Lib Dem conference
I was present in Eastbourne in 1986 for the defence debate when the representatives defied the party leadership and unconditionally rejected the compromise on defence agreed with David Owen. I saw the electrifying speech by Simon Hughes MP for the motion, and I was sitting in the block of Young Liberals celebrating our victory.
I was present when Paddy Ashdown, then just a prospective candidate, conjured up the image of the doomsday clock to speak against cruise missiles at Greenham Common. And I was in freezing cold, snow-bound Blackpool in 1988 when the party voted for 'merger most foul' as the Liberal Revue termed it. I voted 'no'.
There have been other controversial conferences, but in comparison this one just feels bland. The motions are mainstream and safe, the amendments are being passed overwhelmingly with little or no objections and the spokesperson speeches are predictable and uncontroversial.
That doesn't mean there haven't been highlights, it's just that they weren't that high.
Personally, I enjoyed the Defending Democracy debate and the excellent speech by Home Affairs Spokesperson, Max Wilkinson, while the question and answer session with Ed Davey was interesting with our party leader handling difficult questions professionally.
However, although the rally started well, it soon degenerated into farce with Davey trying to get his audience to join into a chant of 'Why I care, why I fight', a slogan displayed in big letters over a dismembered Libby (as evidenced above). My first reaction was: 'What is this, Play School?'
Later he announced that the party are now in favour of cutting fuel duty by 10p, a policy that has not been agreed by conference and one that flies in the face of our commitment to tackling climate change. The Deputy Leader, Daisy Cooper also launched a new economic policy in her speech, which, once I had got hold of it, appears to be largely sensible, however, that too has not been approved by conference and it also talks about tax cuts.
When exactly did we become a Tory-light party? It is also unclear as to how this will be paid for especially when combined with all the other promises we have made, including a big investment in maternity services at this conference, reaching 3.5% of GDP in spending on defence, plus the investment in social care that we have been talking about for ever and a day. It all comes across as economically illiterate.
The message I get on the doorsteps is that we need to invest in public services. Why aren't we talking about that?
