PoliticsUK

Charlie’s Footsteps: Trevorrow announces leadership bid

Charles Trevorrow MP. Smartly dressed as ever, well-groomed brown beard and wide smile, chats to advisors and MPs assembled. He moves away slightly to check his notes, a more somber tone becoming notable already. After some rehearsing in a private part of the hall, he composes himself, and walks to up to the stage - in a central London location - to rapturous applause from Lib Dem members.

The news from St Pancras the other day was news that you really, really, really never want to hear. Charles Kennedy. My hero. My political idol. A man who has done more for this country’s good, decent, egalitarian centre-left than anyone I know. A man who was a true leader. A man who deserved better and fought hard for his values. More than that, though, for me at least, though, he was a mate. God, I miss him already.

Charlie was the visionary for a project. To turn this country around and create a better world for us all to live in. To make politics more honest, more decent, less rooted in the public school cronyism that both of the main parties are rooted in. To represent our communities, however diverse and varied they may be, and to take the time for those we seek to represent. They are, after all, people - not numbers - as he used to say.

That is for me what liberalism is about. Humanity, generosity, decency. I am not a religious man by nature, but Methodism was the order of the day when I was growing up, in a little fishing cottage around Mevagissey. And those values - perhaps subconsciously - have stuck with me. Do unto others, the golden rule. Perhaps if more of us followed that in politics, instead of trying to beat one another to a pulp needlessly, we’d all be a bit better off.

This is a somber occasion for our party and for our country. But I know that the last thing in the world that Charles or anyone else would want us to do here is to slink into irrelevance. There have not been more liberals in Parliament in living memory, thanks to his work - and it is now our duty to use that influence, that sway, that momentum to make people’s lives better, and make our country stronger, kinder, and more honest.

Today, I want to make an announcement. I have decided, after very careful consideration, to do something I really never thought I would. I’m going to be running to be the next leader of the Liberal Democrats.

We have come so far over the last years. When I first joined the Liberal Party, on the dole, a hopeless case, in the late 70s, we were a mess. Defunct. In my patch, in Truro, by sheer force of personality, we were turned around by the late David Penhaligon. Coming from third to win and change lives for the better wasn’t easy - he worked us to the bone - but every single piece of casework I do, and he did, however little, however minor, has made a difference to the life of someone. That is what politics is about - changing lives for better and helping people beat the systems we're stuck with.

Proactive, dynamic campaigning works. David often commented that, taking over Truro, a third-placed no-hope seat, he was too naive to know winning was impossible. I’m running for leader as I’m too naive to know that winning is impossible too - just, I see our aims as making such inroads that we can change this country for good, and have the ambition and self-belief to make that pitch to Britain.

There is one final reason, a personal reason, I am doing this. I left school at 15. I worked on the fishing boats, till the work ran out. Then on a farm, till that too went out of season. I worked for British Rail, at a time of real turmoil and unrest. I’ve been on the dole, and not known what to do, and felt hopeless, and useless, and just wanted to make ends meet. I’ve not been born into anything and not had anything on a plate for me. If by leading a major party, it proves that someone like me - with no posh education, with no big donors, with no gentleman’s club background - can do this, and can make change for good. Then I hope that sends a message to the millions out there like me too. That aspiring and working hard, even in a brutal and unfair system, is worth every second.

One final comment. I’ve never confirmed this publicly, you know, but I got offered a knighthood a year or two back. And I turned it down. And I turned it down because I thought of the fishermen I’d worked with, who do back breaking jobs to put food on the table for all, and I thought of the farmers, and the railwaymen, and the people over the years who’d done hard work for rubbish money, and I thought how dare I even consider becoming a knight of the realm. I have the total respect for those who have taken up honours, and those who deserve them, I really do. For me, though, to claim I was of a higher class than the people who made me who I am - well, it’s not what I’m about. And as Leader of the Liberal Democrats, smashing the establishment will be top of my agenda.

Winning is not easy. It is bloody hard, in fact. But it is worth it. And as liberals, we have a duty to win now more than ever, and to reform and overthrow the establishment elitist system this country has been plagued with for far too long. Let’s get out there and do just that.

Trevorrow left the stage to a standing ovation from the assembled members, MPs, and senior party figures there, shaking hands and charming the media in attendance.

Trevorrow is a well-known figure among Liberal Democrats and his announcement is, while not entirely expected, is not a massive surprise either. This speech does what it says on the tin, throws in a bit of extra emotional flair, and doesn't really go much further.

The Cornish MP gives us a brief overview about his history--one which, you might think, would predispose him to being a Labour man. He calls himself centre-left. He talks about things like compassion, smashing the establishment, and making people's lives better. Notably, he doesn't say how, nor does he talk much of liberty. That should probably concern the Orange Book brigade, but to his camp it all sounds fine.

But that's about all that can be said of it: it sounds fine. The Beveridge Group are, to put it politely, a lot of snobby, city-living policy wonks who find New Labour too mainstream. A fisherman-turned-farm hand-turned-brewer-turned-MP is hardly their idea of a thrilling new leader. And that is the challenge which Treverrow faces: though he aligns nearly entirely with the Beveridge Group, he lacks the aesthetic that they love. Can he convince them that he is smart enough, hip enough, and savvy enough to lead them? Can he keep the Orange Bookers onside like his predecessor did? Is he Kennedy or Kinnock, in other words.

This speech was ok. It had very little by way of red meat for the base to sink its teeth into, but it did tell a romantic story of a plucky, down-on-his-luck fisherman from Cornwall climbing the greasey poll and providing an example to others from his state. Will that engratiate him among the upper-middle class city people who vote for donate to his party? Time will tell. Will this speech engratiate him to the policy wonks at the LSE who get off on being the cleverest (and least partisan) of their peer group? Surprisingly so. For it is in that latter part that this speech finds its strength: Trevorrow is partisan, of course he is, but he doesn't sound partisan. If he can continue to make it sound like he is pursuing the national interest, even when pursuing partisan and self interest, then he can be successful as leader of the party.

No XP is gained by this speech.