“Have we sold our souls to the devil?’ my weekend neighbour asked cheerily last Saturday morning. “Not me”, I said, but then I am not a Liberal Democrat and my highly esteemed Lib Dem MP had not just been unseated by the Tory equivalent of Sarah Teather – albeit an Oxford music scholar who has a way with Gershwin.
In fact, in this part of the Oxfordshire countryside, where the Lib Dems reasonably expected to return not one but two MPs to Westminster and ended up with none, there is righteous indignation among party activists at the way that things have turned out.
If the actual results were not dire enough – against all odds, Labour’s Andrew Smith increased his slender majority in Oxford East, while, in Oxford West and Abingdon, Lib Dem Evan Harris lost to Tory Nicola Blackwood – many Lib Dem supporters have been left gasping for breath at the negation of democracy that saw their leader leap into bed with David Cameron before the Tory leader even had time to warm the sheets: more electoral swinging than an electoral swing.
Resignations from the local branch of the Lib Dems are piling up on the secretary’s desk and anecdotal evidence suggests that more will follow. Most have jumped over the port side of the ship and joined Labour. Others have simply thrown themselves overboard.
Meanwhile, a good friend of mine, Stephen Gilbert, the newly-elected Lib Dem MP for St Austell and Newquay (now there’s a job I wouldn’t mind having), had to leave his overwhelming new “to do” list and catch a train back to his constituency to address an emergency meeting of the executive committee of his local branch.
He said: “I was aware that the parliamentary party has been on a long and difficult journey since the result of the election became clear. Many local members were left feeling confused and bewildered and it was important to set out the parliamentary party’s point of view.”
I hazard a guess that it was not just his own party members who were left feeling confused and bewildered.
“What of the progressive nexus that exists between his party and Labour?” I asked.
“Nick Clegg was always very clear that we would work with whichever party received the most votes”, he told me – before admitting: “We have all been forced to act with our heads and not with our hearts”.
He added, less convincingly: “Ordinary party members fully understand this and, locally at least, the decision received enthusiastic endorsement.”
Gilbert blames the lack of a deal with Labour on an “inward-looking Labour Party, more concerned about personal positions than the good of the country” and believes that, even if Gordon Brown had resigned immediately, it would have made no difference. In fact, the only reason for entering negotiations with both sides was “to get the best price”. He asked: “You wouldn’t sell your house to the first buyer who came along, would you?” Well, no, but then I wouldn’t move in with a Tory either.
So far, Gilbert is not aware of any resignations from his local party, but concedes that he probably wouldn’t know anyway. It is more than can be said for the Lib Dems in Worcester, where local chairman Alex Kear has resigned because he feels “betrayed”. He has been replaced by Alasdair Wood – who, at 17, is still too young to vote.
In my own part, of west London, where we have received telephone enquiries from disaffected Lib Dems, the hiss on the line is presumably the air coming out of their big yellow balloon.
But the Lib Dems did manage to pull off one feat I would have thought beyond them. They succeeding in summoning 2,000 supporters to Birmingham on a grey Sunday afternoon, with just three days notice, to hear Nick Clegg explain, in slightly apologetic tones, why a coalition is good news – not just for them, but also for the country. Potentially tricky questions from the floor were swatted away with the euphoria that comes from having wandered alone in the desert for too long, surviving on nothing more than half-baked promises.
The Conservatives may think that the coalition is a done deal and, for now at least, they are right. However, according to one Lib Dem MP, the Government’s survival is dependent on squaring two circles (and there may be others). First, the Tories must commit to preserving the Human Rights Act in its current form. Should they attempt to dilute this one piece of legislation, I am told the Lib Dems will walk. Also non-negotiable is Harriet Harman’s equality agenda, the source of much Tory scorn over the years. Lynne Featherstone will be watching Theresa May for any signs of divergence, dilution or digression.
So what of proportional representation? It’s all very well blaming first past the post for the fact that the number of Lib Dem MPs went down while their vote went up, but do the Lib Dems really think the Conservative Party is best placed to deliver PR – without which their leader can never aspire to be anything more than the Prime Minister’s fag?
Certainly, the influx of new, active members to the Labour Party will make for an interesting leadership election, but one thing seems clear. However bright the future may be, it won’t be orange.
