What on Earth is the point of the Lib Dems?

Power versus principles — it is the trade off that is at the heart of politics. To what extent should a political party sacrifice its deeply held principles in the pursuit of winning an election?

It is not a new question, or one that has only appeared in the context of democratic politics. It was the central theme in the first part of Sir Thomas More’s Utopia, which was published during the reign of Henry VIII in the 16th century. In a discourse between More and the fictional philosopher Rapheal Hythloday, More argues: “You must not abandon the ship in a storm because you cannot control the winds… You must strive to guide the business as well as you can, and what you cannot turn to good, you must at least make as little bad as you can.”

But it goes back much further, to the philosophy of Plato, who argues, rather differently, that a good man entering a corrupt state is like a man falling into a den of wild beasts. He won’t be able to influence them, and they will eventually tear him apart.

It’s what makes the Lib Dems the most cringeworthy waste of space in British politics — and that is saying something. Almost uniquely, they occupy a position with no prospect or even ambition for entering office, be it in Downing Street, Cardiff Bay, Holyrood or Stormont. They have no real need to worry about More’s trade off.

For every other party this is a real challenge. Farage is no longer presenting Reform as a radical right-wing alternative. Instead he aims to simply replace “the old fuddy-duddy existing Conservative Party with a new force on the centre-right, that’s got a bit more energy, a bit more enthusiasm, a little bit more fire.” The Conservative Party, but with a fresh coat of paint and a new engine. Plaid Cymru have ditched some of the net zero baggage and have avoided talk of independence as it seeks power in Wales. Labour’s election strategy in 2024 was to avoid saying anything, to anyone, at any time, anywhere in case it might give them the heebie-jeebies. Hell, even the mad, bad Greens are now considering a major review of its policies after fears that some of its more controversial offerings may be putting off swing voters. That’s what being second in the polls does to you.

There is no party in British politics more guilty of slavishly and pathetically following public opinion

To the hardcore disciples of these parties, this can be endlessly frustrating. But the reality is that elections are generally won from the centre ground — even if, frequently, the centre ground does not lie close to where Rory Stewart and Alastair Campbell like to believe it does. Voters are well to the right of politicians on immigration and crime but (sadly) to the left on many economic issues.

So what is the excuse of the Liberal Democrats? There is no party in British politics more guilty of slavishly and pathetically following public opinion than Ed Davey’s and his gang of do-gooders. I remember sitting next to one of them on the Politics Live sofa — a bloke called Ben Maguire. In 45 minutes not a single intelligent word came out of his mouth. All he could manage was absurd and unrelated outbursts about Liz Truss, Tufton Street and anything else his staffer had no doubt mentioned to him prior to going on national television to humiliate himself in the belief that these almost Tourette’s-like tics might appeal to a certain slice of middle England.

Just look at their latest policy offering, a new law that would require developers to fund, build, or expand existing GP surgeries in time for the arrival of new residents, funded by taxes on developers. No doubt that polled well, and doesn’t it just sound so bloody brilliant? Who could oppose that? But the cause of the housing crisis, on top of just outright, entrenched nimbyism, is ultimately the endless regulations and planning requirements that have built up for decades. The camel’s spine has been ground into dust, and yet the cowardly Lib Dems are pledging to pile on more straw.

It has been a long time since the days of the orange bookers, who attempted to put forward a genuinely classically liberal approach to government — one based on a smaller state, the restoration of personal responsibility, fiscal prudence, deregulation and housebuilding, social liberalism, free speech and an end to nanny state policies. Those policies won’t win many votes, Ed Davey might tell me. But who cares? A couple of dozen MPs with a genuinely coherent, principled political philosophy is better than 70 with absolutely nothing to offer bar a putrid smorgasbord of niche issues that went down well in focus groups.

The broader public may not care about the lack of philosophy or principles that is so core to the 2026 version of the Lib Dems. There is that nebulous vibe of being sensible, reasonable and inoffensive which will provide a good escape for voters to use as an outlet. But to anyone that cares deeply about the plurality of ideas that should provide democracy with the energy it needs to sustain itself, they are the cannabis of British democracy. It may feel good momentarily, but you don’t achieve anything and you end up a little stupider than when you started. In fairness to the Lib Dems their policy on cannabis is to legalise and regulate it, which at least is one liberal policy they support. Would that there were more.