Who’s afraid of Jo Swinson? Corbynistas

When I was fresh out of university, I applied for a job as a parliamentary aide to Jo Swinson. The MP for East Dunbartonshire was full of promise and more to my political tastes then than the clunky managerialism of new PM Gordon Brown. She rejected me. If nothing else, this shows Swinson has sound judgement. After all, I would have made a terrible Lib Dem staffer. I was – and remain – in favour of the Iraq War, the war on terror, tuition fees, first past the post, nuclear power and erecting a statue of Tony Blair in every parish in the land.

For many years, that was the Lib Dems’ strong suit: what they were for was so vague almost anyone could support them. The Coalition shattered all that when the party found itself, unexpectedly, in government and, terrifyingly, held to its most recent manifesto pledges. Now that she is party leader, Swinson will have to decide whether to revert to the old strategy or plant herself on firm ground and convince the electorate that the time has come to abandon the creaking Tory-Labour duopoly. 

Brexit identification today is stronger than party identification, which hands Swinson an opportunity to assemble a new party around her from disaffected Remainers.