I wasn’t going to write an article on this subject. But somehow, it was staring me in the face; the following is the product of necessity.
Yesterday afternoon, Tim Farron was elected the fifth leader of the Liberal Democrats (if you discount interim leaders). As a self-avowed member of the Orange Book wing, some might expect me to mourn. Yes, I probably would have preferred Norman had become leader, but I’m not particularly gutted. I can see why Tim was elected. I was tempted to list his positive traits here, but you all know what they are.
The big fear about Tim for a lot of people who joined because of Clegg and/or the Orange Book isn’t his religious faith, nor his overly leftish tendencies, nor his track record on gay rights issues. It’s that he might take the party back to being basically a campaigning charity with a small parliamentary wing. Some of the things he said during the leaders campaign played up to these worries: the classic being very recently, when he said everyone who worked at HQ should go and work at a charity or NGO so as to learn how to campaign. This statement mostly made me realise that Tim must have only ever had surface contact with what is known as the “voluntary sector” – Lib Dems have pretty much nothing to learn from such a venture. Any of the central operations of Labour, the Tories and the Lib Dems, even at their lowest ebbs, surpass every NGO campaigning group by exponential amounts. That isn’t meant as a compliment to party machines, incidentally, if you can read between the lines here.
Having got all that off my chest, I don’t think Tim will do anything as daft as make everyone who currently works for the Liberal Democrats go and do three months at Unlock Democracy. And I remain hopeful that Farron won’t allow the party to go backwards; for everything he said that made me slightly wince during the leadership campaign, he never slagged off Nick, nor did he disavow the Coalition, at any point. This gives me hope in the possibilities for his leadership.
The most compelling reason to welcome Tim Farron as the new leader of the Lib Dems is simple yet depressing: the party faces an existential crisis and its very survival is at stake. Having someone as never say die as Tim in such a situation is probably crucial. The most important thing for the party is that it continues to exist for the time being. Opportunities will come the Lib Dems way, particularly with the Labour Party trying very, very hard to kill itself at present. Someone wise once said that the good things in politics are never as good as they first appear; nor are the bad things quite as bleak as they initially seem. But you have to be in it to win it, someone less articulate also told us all once. So good luck, Tim. Keep the party alive, please.
Probably the most important comment in his speech last night was when he spoke of how the party is more like D66 than VVD – a clear signpost for the direction in which he sees the party going. It’s surely a clear statement he sees the Lib Dems as a social liberal party of the centre-left rather than a party dominated by those on the centre-right.
What I like about Tim Farron is that when he speaks, he tells a story, He sets the scene and you can picture him in that Preston Terrace on a Main road with his lovely single parent Mother. He takes you back to where he is from so you can be on the same wavelength as him. I dont know anyone else in politics who does this so cleverly. Leaders have to connect with people. People have to understand where the leader is coming from so they too can put themselves in their shoes and vice versa. Its all about the connection, and one thing that I can say is that he does have that connection.
Might it not be said that the party has already been transformed into ” being basically a campaigning charity with a small parliamentary wing” in May this year?
And I rather suspect that Farron is just as committed as the rest of us to slogging our way back to a substantial Commons presence (and reviving the local government power base that has been slipping away).
I have read many of your articles; you have a fine analytical mind and can unravel complex problems in a way I, and probably most others, often can’t. However I think when it comes to the value of charity involvement; it’s not about head, it’s about heart.
I worked as a charity fundraiser for several yrs (while also a LibDem cllr). To be successful, you need two things: empathy – a real ability to ” feel” for the ppl your are trying to help; and passion – a deep felt desire to fight for what is right and necessary. Yes you need the analysis to form a plan of action etc, but it’s the passion, belief and commitment that yields results when trying to do things which largely benefit others.
I loathe the Tory culture (even tho I may agree with 50% of their policies) because it is largely about self. I agree that sometimes the “left” want to go too far and that is why the LibDems must strike a balance. If there was a level playing and we were starting from scratch maybe “liberal” Orange book style stuff would be ok. But the field is far from level, and many inequalities need to be reduced and eliminated 1st.
I left the party in 2003 partly due to health problems but also because of Laws & co going too far to the right.
I think Tim Farron’s election is a step in the “correct” direction; fills me with hope that the poor and disadvantaged may again have a proper voice and where #Equlity4All straight/gay/m/f/black/white/jedi or jew Everybody will have a fair chance in UK.
Irritating health problems are still there for me, but if “tory lite” culture is on it’s way out, then many ppl may be inspired to get involved and fight again.
The enemy – possibly within and without – is unequivocally “The Tories” .
In short, sir – use your heart as well as your head; don’t be too quick to judge those “working class” caravaners some of them may actually be good charity campaigners!
Great that Tim is taking us back to our proper position to the left of the Tories and New Labour. Labour lost power because they betrayed their principles and moved too far to the right. It will take some time before the public trust them again. We betrayed our principles when we went into coalition, and left a million people to use food banks. It will take years to get over this disgrace. The Tories have long been the nasty party, and will remain trusted, because so far their nastiness has appeared consistent with their selfish principles and are not yet beyond the pail.
As Paul says party has already been transformed into ” being basically a campaigning charity with a small parliamentary wing”, but if our campaigns show a return to our principles then we may be back in contention faster than you think.
Am surprised by your some of your comments on campaigns and especially you voluntary sector caricature. The erosion of the Party’s campaigns capacity has been one of the Party’s biggest problems ending up in GE 2015 with a poor central campaigns team and even poorer ground operations – Nick Clegg, whatever his other strengths, had little to no interest or understanding of the actual ‘nuts and bolts’ of campaigning.
It’s often a problem with Parties that go into Govt that they lose their campaigning edge, active membership and activism dies, central control freakery takes over with its cautious calibration of messages, and they have to work hard to get back the dynamism and mobilisation that delivers successful winning campaigns. There’s actually a great deal the Party could learn from 38 Degrees, or from Citizens UK about community organising, or from committed local community volunteers linked up through national infrastructure from the CAB to the British Red Cross and NAVCA. In fact if you compare the numbers of people who join single issue charities and campaigning pressure groups, with the numbers of people joining political parties there simply is no comparison…on that score at least the voluntary sector is streets ahead on ongoing mobilisation and recruitment; that’s not to say that they do everything well, but you don’t seen to have recognised the central issue – its the Party machines that are struggling and ours in particular.