If you didn’t know that it’s the Lib Dem spring conference this weekend, then you will after a quick rustle around the political pages. The yellow bird of liberty is splattered everywhere today — and in some instances it’s causing trouble for the coalition. Take Exhibit A, Tim Farron’s article for the Guardian. Farron is, of course, not one of the most Tory-friendly Lib Dem MPs out there, and neither is he a member of the government — but he’s still rarely been quite so provocative as this. ‘We are in power now, sharing government with a party that unashamedly favours their people, the millionaires,’ he writes, ‘It’s a serious business, so it’s time we focused on our people — the millions who are not millionaires.’
Exhibit B is this blog post by the chair of a new Liberal Democrat group called ‘Liberal Left’. It takes issue with the party leadership over what the Lib Dems should be (‘We have always been a party of the centre left and that self-evidently means we are always going to have more in common with the parties of the left than of the right’). And it ends with a fierce rallying call against the Tories: ‘if like us, you are a Liberal Democrat committed to Liberal Democrat values but dismayed at our party’s role in supporting one of the most heartless, right wing Tory governments ever; do join us.’
And Exhibit C is a letter written by Andy Burnham, which makes its own appeal to the Lib Dem membership: ‘please stand out against the current direction of reform and stand up for the NHS model we all have been able to depend on and trust for 63 years.’ So, yet another pitch for Lib Dem hearts and minds from Labour. And one which is made more piquant by the news that John Healey has succeeded in his bid to have the government publish its ‘risk register’ for the NHS reforms, as quite a few Lib Dems also wanted.
Labour have finally realised, in recent months, that they need to reach out to the Lib Dems, if only because it could mean the difference between power and opposition after the next election. The trouble for the coalition — and Clegg — comes if some Lib Dems reach back. There are signs now that they might be.
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