Talking to Labour MP these days is a pretty miserable business, to the extent that many journalists are starting to wonder if they should charge by the hour for counselling. Among their many moans is that there no longer seems to be a centre-left, pro-European force in British politics any more. But when I try to cheer them up by pointing out that the Lib Dems surely fulfil that description, those miserable MPs shrug their shoulders. None are considering defecting to Tim Farron’s party. While many moderate Labour MPs are asked the whole time why they don’t ‘f*** off and join the Tories’, no-one makes the same suggestion about their suitability for joining the Lib Dems.
Why is this? I discussed this – and the general changing political landscape – in my Radio 4 programme, Party Futures, last night with former Lib Dem adviser Miranda Green, Times columnist Tim Montgomerie, Professor Tim Bale, Dr Phil Burton-Cartledge and former Labour pollster James Morris.
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