This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/sep/19/lib-dems-death-rattle-echoes-round-the-conference-auditorium-john-crace
The article has changed 4 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 1 | Version 2 |
|---|---|
| Lib Dems' death rattle echoes round the conference auditorium | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| You could almost hear the rattle. The exhibitors’ hall was struggling to do any business and the curtains in the main auditorium were half drawn to conceal the empty seats behind. Some griefs must be kept private. The only queue to be found was for Nick Clegg’s book-signing, with many of the 300 or so clutching two or three copies of his non mea culpa in their hands. There are going to be a lot of disappointed relatives at Christmas. | You could almost hear the rattle. The exhibitors’ hall was struggling to do any business and the curtains in the main auditorium were half drawn to conceal the empty seats behind. Some griefs must be kept private. The only queue to be found was for Nick Clegg’s book-signing, with many of the 300 or so clutching two or three copies of his non mea culpa in their hands. There are going to be a lot of disappointed relatives at Christmas. |
| The Lib Dem hard core are a loyal bunch by and large but there’s not enough of them to fill the conference centre in Brighton. If being all but wiped out at last year’s general election and being on the wrong side of the EU referendum result weren’t bad enough, delegates now had to share their party conference with tumbleweed. Even the redcoats struggled to raise spirits in the main hall and at the fringe; with just eight MPs and only a handful of recognisable big names, the same people kept popping up to say much the same thing as before at different events throughout the day. Groundhog Conference. | The Lib Dem hard core are a loyal bunch by and large but there’s not enough of them to fill the conference centre in Brighton. If being all but wiped out at last year’s general election and being on the wrong side of the EU referendum result weren’t bad enough, delegates now had to share their party conference with tumbleweed. Even the redcoats struggled to raise spirits in the main hall and at the fringe; with just eight MPs and only a handful of recognisable big names, the same people kept popping up to say much the same thing as before at different events throughout the day. Groundhog Conference. |
| But not everyone was going down without a fight; least of all the party’s former leader, Paddy Ashdown. In a small side-room of the Grand Hotel, decorated with knock-off Constables, the Institute for Public Policy Research hosted a session entitled: Will 2080 be the year we get the next Lib Dem minister? For most of those who had squeezed their way in the answer was a resounding, “That soon?”, but not for Paddy the Pugilist. | But not everyone was going down without a fight; least of all the party’s former leader, Paddy Ashdown. In a small side-room of the Grand Hotel, decorated with knock-off Constables, the Institute for Public Policy Research hosted a session entitled: Will 2080 be the year we get the next Lib Dem minister? For most of those who had squeezed their way in the answer was a resounding, “That soon?”, but not for Paddy the Pugilist. |
| “I’m fed up with the Tories,” he muttered. “The Tories are ridiculous. They will split long before the Labour party does, mark my words.” He made it sound as if it was only a matter of days. “We don’t want to increase the number of Lib Dem MPs to 30 or 40 at the next election, do we?” There was nothing that everyone in the room would have liked more, as up till then 12 or 13 had been the limit of their ambitions. But when Paddy is in that kind of mood, nobody dares interrupt him. “Thirty or 40 MPs would merely put us in another coalition with the Conservatives. We shouldn’t be aiming to merely remove the Tories; we should be looking to replace them.” | “I’m fed up with the Tories,” he muttered. “The Tories are ridiculous. They will split long before the Labour party does, mark my words.” He made it sound as if it was only a matter of days. “We don’t want to increase the number of Lib Dem MPs to 30 or 40 at the next election, do we?” There was nothing that everyone in the room would have liked more, as up till then 12 or 13 had been the limit of their ambitions. But when Paddy is in that kind of mood, nobody dares interrupt him. “Thirty or 40 MPs would merely put us in another coalition with the Conservatives. We shouldn’t be aiming to merely remove the Tories; we should be looking to replace them.” |
| A few eyebrows were raised. Was Paddy really suggesting that the Lib Dems could win 300 seats in 2020? Paddy went on to outline his cunning plan. He no longer wanted to bother with political parties, he wanted to create a movement. Forget another splinter group of the Lib Lib Dems or the Lib Dem Dems. Paddy was thinking big with the catchy title of More United. Also known as Pademos. Why let the far left have all the fun, when the centre left could have its own Momentum? Paddy wasn’t at all clear about who, other than those who already counted themselves as Lib Dems but were too embarrassed to admit it in public, was going to join Pademos though he seemed to be under the impression that Conservative MP Anna Soubry, would find it impossible not to join once she knew of its existence. | A few eyebrows were raised. Was Paddy really suggesting that the Lib Dems could win 300 seats in 2020? Paddy went on to outline his cunning plan. He no longer wanted to bother with political parties, he wanted to create a movement. Forget another splinter group of the Lib Lib Dems or the Lib Dem Dems. Paddy was thinking big with the catchy title of More United. Also known as Pademos. Why let the far left have all the fun, when the centre left could have its own Momentum? Paddy wasn’t at all clear about who, other than those who already counted themselves as Lib Dems but were too embarrassed to admit it in public, was going to join Pademos though he seemed to be under the impression that Conservative MP Anna Soubry, would find it impossible not to join once she knew of its existence. |
| Just as everyone was trying to get their heads round this, Paddy went on to say he wasn’t really bothered if Soubry or any other MPs joined Pademos or not because this was the people’s granola revolution. “The constellations are in alignment,” he insisted. “We already have 35,000 members and I can guarantee we will have 100,000 by Christmas.” Build it and the people would come. Pademos wouldn’t be denied regardless of whether it had any support in parliament; Theresa May would crumble and bow before its power. | Just as everyone was trying to get their heads round this, Paddy went on to say he wasn’t really bothered if Soubry or any other MPs joined Pademos or not because this was the people’s granola revolution. “The constellations are in alignment,” he insisted. “We already have 35,000 members and I can guarantee we will have 100,000 by Christmas.” Build it and the people would come. Pademos wouldn’t be denied regardless of whether it had any support in parliament; Theresa May would crumble and bow before its power. |
| Nor was it entirely clear what Pademos actually wanted. Earlier in the day, the Lib Dems had passed a resolution making a second EU referendum party policy, but now we had MP Norman Lamb, sitting next to Paddy, saying that such a demand would be electoral suicide. More United was already beginning to look like More or Less United. | Nor was it entirely clear what Pademos actually wanted. Earlier in the day, the Lib Dems had passed a resolution making a second EU referendum party policy, but now we had MP Norman Lamb, sitting next to Paddy, saying that such a demand would be electoral suicide. More United was already beginning to look like More or Less United. |
| Paddy was reluctant to get drawn on too many details. Those could come later. “Political parties are finished; the Liberal Democrats are intellectually dead,” he declared, rather to the disappointment of those who had come to the meeting in search of something other than to be reminded of their existential futility. From now on, all policy could be crowd-sourced and crowd-funded. It would be like picking winners in the National Lottery. Whatever centre-left Britain wanted, it could have if only it dared to believe. Pademos would provide. | Paddy was reluctant to get drawn on too many details. Those could come later. “Political parties are finished; the Liberal Democrats are intellectually dead,” he declared, rather to the disappointment of those who had come to the meeting in search of something other than to be reminded of their existential futility. From now on, all policy could be crowd-sourced and crowd-funded. It would be like picking winners in the National Lottery. Whatever centre-left Britain wanted, it could have if only it dared to believe. Pademos would provide. |