Could Jeremy Browne be the anti-Nigel Farage?

Conviction politics is back. The two men making the political weather at the moment, Alex Salmond and Nigel Farage, both serve their politics neat. They have no interest in any ‘third way’. They stand for big, simple, defining ideas. They are both far closer to success than the establishment ever imagined they would be.

Now the Liberal Democrat Jeremy Browne is trying to apply this outsiders’ formula to mainstream politics. Sacked as a minister six months ago by Nick Clegg, he is setting out the case for pure, unadulterated liberalism. His new book, published this week, is a deliberately bracing read. It is full of dire warnings about what will happen to Britain in ‘the Asian century’ if it does not reform. He calls for school choice for every parent, the abolition of the 45p tax rate and a much more open immigration system.

The book is the first sally in the war for the soul of the Liberal Democrats. It is clear that Browne intends to be a contender in any post-Clegg leadership battle. This is not the work of someone prepared to let the Lib Dem left take over or have the fudge-and-budge middle of the party win out.

Browne has long occupied a distinct place among Liberal Democrats. He is on the liberal rather than the social democratic wing of the party. His appearance makes many in the party suspicious of him; they feel that he looks like a Tory. With his sombre suits, tightly tied ties and polished shoes, he doesn’t conform to the Lib Dem stereotype — although his sartorial style is more a rebellion against his education at the bohemian boarding school Bedales than anything else.