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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jun/09/real-winners-progressive-alliance-voters-forced-result-nick-clegg
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| The real winners? The progressive alliance of voters who forced the result | The real winners? The progressive alliance of voters who forced the result |
| (7 months later) | |
| Fri 9 Jun 2017 10.54 BST | |
| Last modified on Sun 25 Jun 2017 19.46 BST | |
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| It is a measure of what a disastrous night I was expecting for the Lib Dems that a return to 12 MPs (1974 levels), and a dip in the vote share, seems like a thrilling result. | It is a measure of what a disastrous night I was expecting for the Lib Dems that a return to 12 MPs (1974 levels), and a dip in the vote share, seems like a thrilling result. |
| It has been a hugely disappointing campaign for my own party, stuck with turgid opinion polls and apparently refighting a Brexit argument from before recorded history. It is easy to be wise after the event, but students of liberal politics will know there are two routes to election disappointment. | It has been a hugely disappointing campaign for my own party, stuck with turgid opinion polls and apparently refighting a Brexit argument from before recorded history. It is easy to be wise after the event, but students of liberal politics will know there are two routes to election disappointment. |
| One is to imagine that liberalism is simply a mushy gap between two extremes. That (as in 1992 and 2015) always fails to ignite the voters. The other is to focus on international issues when general elections are always won or lost on domestic ones (1945, 1970 and perhaps also 2017). | One is to imagine that liberalism is simply a mushy gap between two extremes. That (as in 1992 and 2015) always fails to ignite the voters. The other is to focus on international issues when general elections are always won or lost on domestic ones (1945, 1970 and perhaps also 2017). |
| But of course Brexit rage and disappointment had looked like a liberal opportunity. Actually it seems to have fuelled a rather broader revenge. | But of course Brexit rage and disappointment had looked like a liberal opportunity. Actually it seems to have fuelled a rather broader revenge. |
| There is no doubt that the real success has not been for Jeremy Corbyn (though you have to take your hat off to the man for sheer grit), any more than it was for Tim Farron. It has been for the progressive alliance of voters who forced a dysfunctional voting system to provide them with the result they wanted. | There is no doubt that the real success has not been for Jeremy Corbyn (though you have to take your hat off to the man for sheer grit), any more than it was for Tim Farron. It has been for the progressive alliance of voters who forced a dysfunctional voting system to provide them with the result they wanted. |
| This is another prediction where I have to confess getting it wrong. I was sceptical about the progressive alliance, and the ability of the small group of activists – Neal Lawson, Caroline Lucas, Chris Bowers – to shape it. Not because I didn’t want it but because I didn’t think voters would believe in cross-party cooperation with so few roots in reality. I was wrong; they did. | This is another prediction where I have to confess getting it wrong. I was sceptical about the progressive alliance, and the ability of the small group of activists – Neal Lawson, Caroline Lucas, Chris Bowers – to shape it. Not because I didn’t want it but because I didn’t think voters would believe in cross-party cooperation with so few roots in reality. I was wrong; they did. |
| So the real question in my mind, before the alliance that delivered this upset is swept away by Labour hubris, is whether it can continue through the next parliament. | So the real question in my mind, before the alliance that delivered this upset is swept away by Labour hubris, is whether it can continue through the next parliament. |
| I think that it can. It certainly should. In fact, if this brief respite from reaction is going to last, it will need to. And I humbly offer these three suggestions that could allow it to last long enough to deliver a progressive victory next time. | I think that it can. It certainly should. In fact, if this brief respite from reaction is going to last, it will need to. And I humbly offer these three suggestions that could allow it to last long enough to deliver a progressive victory next time. |
| 1. It has to be real. Nobody will believe in an alliance where progressive MPs are unable to work with one another to make things happen in and around parliament. The days when Labour refused to work with other parties in the Commons and Lords (on the not-invented-here-principle) has to go straight into the dustbin of history. | 1. It has to be real. Nobody will believe in an alliance where progressive MPs are unable to work with one another to make things happen in and around parliament. The days when Labour refused to work with other parties in the Commons and Lords (on the not-invented-here-principle) has to go straight into the dustbin of history. |
| 2. It also needs roots outside mainstream politics. The forces of change have been led in both the USA and France by controversial figures, swept into power from outside the political establishment. I’m expecting a related phenomenon here. | 2. It also needs roots outside mainstream politics. The forces of change have been led in both the USA and France by controversial figures, swept into power from outside the political establishment. I’m expecting a related phenomenon here. |
| 3. It will require a great deal of thinking (perhaps starting by the BBC rethinking its two-dimensional swingometers). | 3. It will require a great deal of thinking (perhaps starting by the BBC rethinking its two-dimensional swingometers). |
| Thinking is the key, for me, to a more progressive future. Neither Labour nor Lib Dem campaigners managed to fill the vacuum where a driving economic paradigm is supposed to be. Neither really put forward an alternative model for creating and spreading prosperity – and, without that, no party can put forward an alternative government with any sustainable roots. | Thinking is the key, for me, to a more progressive future. Neither Labour nor Lib Dem campaigners managed to fill the vacuum where a driving economic paradigm is supposed to be. Neither really put forward an alternative model for creating and spreading prosperity – and, without that, no party can put forward an alternative government with any sustainable roots. |
| Both challenged budget allocations. Both wanted to tweak the money allowed for schools and the NHS. Both talked about economics as if it were a branch of welfare (Labour), or a function of the European Union (Lib Dems). Neither challenged the model itself. | Both challenged budget allocations. Both wanted to tweak the money allowed for schools and the NHS. Both talked about economics as if it were a branch of welfare (Labour), or a function of the European Union (Lib Dems). Neither challenged the model itself. |
| Yet the old paradigm that has dominated mainstream politics for four decades is pretty defunct. Not even the Treasury really believes in trickle-down economics any more. Yet the parties still have their economic advisers whose task it is to enforce the old model. The structure, institutions and policies of Whitehall assume it. It is the emperor’s new clothes, yet neither Labour nor the Lib Dems dare go further than changing their budget allocations. | Yet the old paradigm that has dominated mainstream politics for four decades is pretty defunct. Not even the Treasury really believes in trickle-down economics any more. Yet the parties still have their economic advisers whose task it is to enforce the old model. The structure, institutions and policies of Whitehall assume it. It is the emperor’s new clothes, yet neither Labour nor the Lib Dems dare go further than changing their budget allocations. |
| The progressive forces, if they can continue to work together, will need to inject into the mainstream a new paradigm of how we can make people sustainable and broadly prosperous if they are going to form a government next time. | The progressive forces, if they can continue to work together, will need to inject into the mainstream a new paradigm of how we can make people sustainable and broadly prosperous if they are going to form a government next time. |
| The real disaster of the night, for me, was the loss of Nick Clegg. I know there has been something of the Marmite about him, but he has dominated liberal politics for the last decade – charismatic, intelligent, thoughtful and engaging. He is a huge loss to parliament and to his party. | The real disaster of the night, for me, was the loss of Nick Clegg. I know there has been something of the Marmite about him, but he has dominated liberal politics for the last decade – charismatic, intelligent, thoughtful and engaging. He is a huge loss to parliament and to his party. |
| My only glimmer of hope is that this may be like the moment in A Matter of Life and Death when David Niven needs a hero to fight for him in heaven and – lo and behold – a motorcycle accident despatches his doctor there to help him. | My only glimmer of hope is that this may be like the moment in A Matter of Life and Death when David Niven needs a hero to fight for him in heaven and – lo and behold – a motorcycle accident despatches his doctor there to help him. |
| If I believe the new progressive force will need to be led from outside parliament (and I do), then Nick Clegg – if he feels up to joining in, and I hope he does – may find himself in the right place at the right time. | If I believe the new progressive force will need to be led from outside parliament (and I do), then Nick Clegg – if he feels up to joining in, and I hope he does – may find himself in the right place at the right time. |
| Liberal Democrats | |
| Opinion | |
| General election 2017 | |
| Nick Clegg | |
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