Could Jeremy Browne be the anti-Nigel Farage?

Conviction politics is back. The two men making the political weather at the moment, Alex Salmond and Nigel Farage, both serve their politics neat. They have no interest in any ‘third way’. They stand for big, simple, defining ideas. They are both far closer to success than the establishment ever imagined they would be.

Now the Liberal Democrat Jeremy Browne is trying to apply this outsiders’ formula to mainstream politics. Sacked as a minister six months ago by Nick Clegg, he is setting out the case for pure, unadulterated liberalism. His new book, published this week, is a deliberately bracing read. It is full of dire warnings about what will happen to Britain in ‘the Asian century’ if it does not reform. He calls for school choice for every parent, the abolition of the 45p tax rate and a much more open immigration system.

The book is the first sally in the war for the soul of the Liberal Democrats.