The Liberal Democrats should be more liberal

The Lib Dems have had a much more enjoyable campaign than their rivals. Sir Ed Davey has been splishing and splashing all over the country. On Monday he jumped off a crane attached to a bungee cord while imploring people to ‘do something you’ve never done before: vote Liberal Democrat!’ A few days before he was at a theme park. We will see in the early hours of Friday morning if his stunts have paid off.

It hasn’t all been bungee jumping and rollercoasters. Alongside all that, the Lib Dems have remained disciplined in the seats they are targeting. One senior Lib Dem source told me: ‘[it] still feels like the Conservative campaign just hasn’t turned up in many of the seats we’re fighting seriously. That’s partly about them realising how grim their prospects are and moving resources to safer seats but also seems to reflect complete financial bungling over their election plans, without enough funds to run the sort of target seat campaigns they are used to.