Ed Davey loves clowning around, but is it time the Lib Dems get serious?published at 08:55 BST
08:55 BST
Laura Kuenssberg
Presenter, Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg
Image source, EPA
Being ignored is a nightmare for any politician.
You don’t win votes if no-one knows who you are. You don’t get a tick in the box if the name on the ballot paper means nothing to the voter clutching their stubby pencil in the voting booth.
In the last couple of years the Liberal Democrat leader, Sir Ed Davey, has bungee-jumped, jet-skied, and even ridden a hobby horse into the public’s imagination in a way that helped his party to success in the general election, surpassing their own hopes.
He proved there is wisdom in playing the clown in politics – if it gets you attention. But too much clowning around might not look so smart.
And while the government is unpopular, and the Conservatives seem miles from any kind of recovery, the Lib Dems have not been the main beneficiaries from their mutual misery.
As the Lib Dems gather in Bournemouth this weekend for their annual get together, there will be a certain amount of understandable jollity.
That’s not just because of the Lib Dems’ traditional glee club, or the fact that political activists enjoy their conferences the way that many of us might enjoy a minibreak with mates. It’s a different kind, with warm, not cold, wine, and earnest discussions in stifling rooms, rather than a walk on the beach or a lie-in, although the budget hotels and deep fear of rail replacement services to get there are the same.
But the Lib Dems are broadly in a good place after the general election, and they had more gains in council elections in May. They have dozens of new MPs, and a rebooted team on their front bench.
The question hanging over their conference in Bournemouth this weekend is expressed by one of their MPs: “Where do we go now, to make sure it’s not a false start?”
In other words – what next, where, and how? No doubt, there is opportunity for the Lib Dems.