The Lib Dems new slogan, “Bollocks to Brexit”, has upset some. Too crass, too crude. What’s funny about this is that most of those claiming to be taken aback are precisely the same people who always say the problem with he Lib Dem is that they are too anodyne. This makes me think that the slogan has achieved its purpose on this evidence alone.
Yet there is more to talk about here. For a long time, the Lib Dems were frustrated that their messages on Brexit didn’t seem to be cutting through. They weren’t cutting through because they were too vague and innocuous. “We’re being so clear in our messaging but no one is listening!” No, guys, the message wasn’t clear at all. “We believe that we should have a second, confirmatory referendum so that in the event of any Brexit withdrawal Bill being ratified by parliament, the people can ratify that arrangement themselves” would not look good on the side of a bus. With the local elections, the Lib Dems were finally completely clear in their messaging. “Stop Brexit” – that’s easy to understand. “Bollocks to Brexit” has the added bonus of having a slightly risqué element to it, meaning it will be discussed and thus picked up on. The result was 700 more council seats, the first real Lib Dem victory since 2015, and a party looking more and more like being the receptacle for Remainer votes in the face of Labour’s continued Brexity behaviour and Change UK’s failure to launch.
For those out there saying, “Yes, but this means it will be difficult for the Lib Dems to win over Leave voters now”, I can only say that the Lib Dems tied their fate to the Remain cause long ago. There is no point in trying to do a Corbyn and sound equivocal – the Lib Dem base, as we have seen in action over the last four years, is simply not big enough. The Lib Dems have to go big or go home.
Messaging of this kind will be harder for the Lib Dems when you move beyond Brexit, of course. But in a way, that doesn’t matter for now – as Jeremy Corbyn just repeatedly fails to grasp, politics is all about Remain v Leave for the foreseeable future. Those who try and tread the middle ground, as Labour are doing now, will get crushed. If it starts to look like the only way to stop the Brexit party is to vote Lib Dem, then the party will be truly back in contention.
Those who try and tread the middle ground, as Labour are doing now, will get crushed
You say that, but then why are they still a solid second place in the Euro polls? Obviously that could collapse in the actual vote with Leavers peeling off to Farage and Remainers to Cable; but at the moment it’s looking like their strategy of keeping both moderate Leave and moderate Remain voters (the ones who have a preference but for whom the whole Brexit thing honestly isn’t that big of a deal) in their tent is working.
Probably not working well enough to win a general election, but then it’s been doubtful for a long time whether Corbyn cares about winning general elections. He really does seem to think that real politics is what happens at street protests, not at the despatch box.
Solid 16% to Lib Dem’s 15% in latest yougov. With greens on 11% brexit on 34%. I’m not sure it is working. Any half decent labour leader could sweep up the remainder vote.
Well, it’s attention seeking Nick. In so far as it works, any publicity is good publicity when the greater danger is of being ignored entirely (like the Greens). It looks to me, though, that while the LibDems could get 6,7 or 8 seats instead of one – that is likely to be achieved in part at the expense of squeezing out the Greens and Chuka’s Change.
Lib Dems slogan is too crass, too crude, too much of a swear word., too much below the belt. For Jo Swinson to say on LBC this am – “Well in this day and age …………….. ” does not wash – its a poor excuse for using such language. If the Lib Dems were the last party on earth I would not vote for them. They have really shown themselves up for what they are – grasping at straws and dredging the bottom of the pool in the hope that this kind of language will appeal to people. How can anyone say to their children – “join the Lib Dems, they say “BOLLOCKS TO THE BREXIT PARTY” Could Jo Swinson say that to her children?. .
Why not? I’ve shown it to my children and they understood straight away that the Liberal Democrats are saying Brexit is a very bad idea and they are against it. The idea that children are going to be offended by a word like bollocks is just nonsense. Yet I note that you seem happy to write this terrible word in CAPS?
And how are you going to explain to your children that they shouldn’t say, ‘Bollocks to homework!’ when they point out that if it’s okay for a political party to say then why isn’t it okay for them?
M says
12th May 2019 at 12:03
And how are you going to explain to your children that they shouldn’t say, ‘Bollocks to homework!’ when they point out that if it’s okay for a political party to say then why isn’t it okay for them?
The Lib Dems are not only going to kill off Brexit, but homework too!!
What if they say, bollocks to bedtime! Oh my God, civilisation is collapsing and it’s all because of the Lib Dems.