“Health and social care will be a top issue at the next election, and people who think otherwise haven’t read their history books, they haven’t looked at election day, over the last 30, 40, 50 years,” he argues. “If you look across Parliament and outside, the Tories are nowhere, they’ve got no credibility. They don’t raise it … Reform is really not interested. So I think, on a massive issue that I think will be one of the top issues at the next election, we will be the only opposition party with any credibility.”
72 is a crowd
Generally speaking, the Lib Dems present a sunny face to the British public, although the party is not free from factional murmurings below the surface. While none of the MPs POLITICO spoke to suggest there are maneuvers to oust Davey, the first MP quoted said some in the parliamentary party “have concerns” about an inability to effect change.
They point to Christine Jardine’s letter to Davey after she was fired from the front bench, in which she says there is an “an internal process and communication challenge in making people feel that they are involved … definitely a disconnect between the leaders team and the people around him and MPs and the public on the ground.”
“No one wants to frustrate things for the sake of it,” the MP said. “I think people want change, and people are trying to effect change, and if no change is forthcoming, then I think people will look for different ways of effecting change.”
Speaking to POLITICO, former Lib Dem Leader Vince Cable says the “big challenge” in maintaining their increased voter base will lie in economic policy, “I think this cuts to the heart of the kind of difficulties we have as a party, and Ed Davey has personally,” he said.
“Because we were in the coalition government, we did make some enemies, a lot of Labour tactical voters were quite angry with us in 2015 and 17, but it did establish a reputation for constructive working in government and fiscal discipline. I think the one nation Tories” — a key part of the newer coalition of Lib Dem voters, Cable says – “will regard those as quite important qualifications.”
