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Layla Moran’s muddled radicalism

Photo by UK Parliament

Layla Moran’s Lib Dem leadership bid has taken something of a hit in recent weeks. The Oxfordshire MP has been the subject of a slew of coded criticisms after she said that under her leadership the Lib Dems would be ‘even more radical than Labour’. Both Tim Farron and Vince Cable came out against her pronouncement, with Farron writing in the New Statesman that ‘a battle to be “leftier than thou” would be a self-indulgent path to oblivion’.

Moran has since rowed back on the comments, telling the New European she instead meant ‘radical liberal’ rather than radical socialist. That clears that one up then…

But Lib Dem voters looking into Moran’s life before politics might find her past political convictions equally confusing. While the former teacher seems to abhor grammar schools, branding them ‘state-sponsored segregation’, a quick scan of her CV uncovers something rather peculiar.

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Steerpike

Steerpike is The Spectator's gossip columnist, serving up the latest tittle tattle from Westminster and beyond. Email tips to steerpike@spectator.co.uk or message @MrSteerpike

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