Party presses on with stunts and tight policy focus as results vindicate leader’s leap of faith
About 10 days into the election campaign, when Ed Davey clambered into a rubber ring to ride down a water slide in his swimming trunks, several fellow Liberal Democrat MPs quietly warned they might struggle to defend such stunts.
But 10 days on, after the Lib Dem leader jumped off a 150ft high platform at Eastbourne FC, shouting out to voters to “take a leap of faith” and vote for his party, any doubters were won round.
“Within moments of the bungee jump there was wall-to-wall media coverage,” says one party insider. “Ed was on the front page of the BBC website, with a picture of Keir Starmer giving some worthy speech tucked away at the bottom, and all over the TV bulletins. It was incredible”.
The election strategy was simple but effective: combat the usual lack of attention for a smaller party with images of a wetsuit-clad or Zumbadancing Davey, while linking each stunt to the party’s core policy areas – the NHS and care, sewage, and the cost of living.
“In other elections, when we did get airtime we’d be asked about Labour or the Tories, or why we were so useless,” another party insider said. “This time we were asked about our policies.”
Going from 15 MPs to 72 was a dramatic vindication of the strategy, but as Davey closes a gleeful Lib Dem conference in Brighton, some in the party are wondering whether more of the same will work again.
For now, the tight policy focus remains, as do the stunts. On Saturday, Davey arrived at Brighton marina on a jet ski. Later in the conference he accepted a challenge to recite the names of all of his MPs while riding the rollercoaster on the city’s historic pier.
The election stunts are direct descendants of the camera-friendly visual metaphors the party began using to celebrate byelection wins, such as Davey bursting a giant Tory-blue bubble, and lighting a giant cardboard cannon.
Davey’s very visible enjoyment of these events led to a campaign brainstorming session in which staffers came up with 50 possible stunts, some of which were dismissed as either too dangerous – wing walking – or undignified.
But Davey’s team had a second act to come – a highly personal election broadcast that showed the Kingston and Surbiton MP at home with his son John, and reminiscing about having cared as a child for his terminally ill mother. This was widely viewed and well received.
So what now? For one thing, Davey has 71 colleagues to keep busy, with a frontbench revamp expected soon. Newer MPs with smaller majorities will be encouraged to focus on their constituencies, while others will join select committees. Two of the most influential of these, health and the environment, are now chaired by Lib Dems.
The party wants to be a “critical friend” to Labour, supporting it where there is broad agreement, but keeping up the pressure in areas such as social care reform.
At times, the mantra of constructive opposition to Labour will be a tricky balancing act. But, the hope is, it will still be fun.
The Lib Dems want to be a ‘critical friend’ to Labour, supporting it in big issues while keeping up the pressure