The Liberal Democrats launched their local election campaign yesterday in what has become their fashion: not with a serious speech delivering a flurry of policies designed to change the country, but with Ed Davey riding around on a wooden horse, while jumping about on a toy horseracing track. Just another one of Davey’s stunts, designed to get him and his party some attention without actually having to say anything of substance.
Lib Dem leader @EdwardJDavey launches his party's local election campaign by attempting hobby horsing pic.twitter.com/ARDZ0AUqri
— ITVPolitics (@ITVNewsPolitics) March 31, 2025
I understood during the general election campaign why the Lib Dems wanted to focus on these sorts of goofy moments. It felt new at the time, and it got the party the attention it needed without having to get into sticky policy issues that would have divided their potential electorate. This was particularly tough for the Lib Dems last summer given most of the voters they were aiming for were disaffected Tories, ‘Remainer Conservatives’, who had turned against that party over Brexit and Boris – and most of the Lib Dem activist base makes Richard Burgon look like a right-wing reactionary.
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