This may be because Taunton Deane would have been difficult to hold, though I understand the MP’s own private polling had told him that he was on course to win.
A lot of people are saying this is a great loss to the Liberal Democrats. In a long-term sense it is because this MP had a sincere long-term vision for a liberal Liberal Democrat party that made a big pitch to voters beyond simply offering to modify the other main parties. But Browne had been sidelined by the leadership, who considered his ‘global race’ post that he wrote for this blog such a betrayal that it factored in Nick Clegg’s decision to sack him.
His criticisms of the leadership once he had left government were not heeded, and while he was a popular speaker at fringes and dinners, it was becoming clear that this MP was a maverick voice, rather than someone who could immediately change things.
Britain’s best politics newsletters
You get two free articles each week when you sign up to The Spectator’s emails.
‘I have died and gone to heaven,’ the gentle-faced, fortysomething American beside me murmured into her phone. I turned and stared. Too late I remembered the instructions repeated in childhood not to stand with one’s mouth open. But I couldn’t help myself. In the glorious sun at Chelsea Flower Show, I – unlike my neighbour
Comments
Join the debate for just $5 for 3 months
Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for $5.
UNLOCK ACCESS Just $5 for 3 monthsAlready a subscriber? Log in