The Breakthrough Tour - Huntingdon

[Charles Trevorrow]

On his second stop as newly elected Lib Dem leader, Charles Trevorrow today visited Huntington for a notably American-styled rally of members and the public. Press had been told to expect an attack on the Conservatives as an elitist party, and as unable to provide principled opposition to Labour due to tearing themselves apart.

Trevorrow took to the stage with Lib Dem diamonds held high amidst the audience’s party member contingent.

“Did anyone else just watch Cosette Beauvis-Becker on the telly? She is doing my job for me, isn’t she. This is a time in our country’s history when more than ever, I want to prove to people that liberals can provide the real opposition and sturdy, scrutinising, policy positions that will make our country a better place to live. To be the alternative to a corrupt and lazy Labour Government. Well, I could not have done a better job of demonstrating why the Conservatives simply can’t provide a proper opposition to Labour if I’d tried - they are tearing one another to absolute shreds, all to appeal to a tiny fraction of the population, Tory members.

“Here we are, in Huntington. The seat that in 1992, gave the largest ever majority to an MP, in John Major. Now, say what you like about John, and I remember as I got into Parliament that year myself, he had some beliefs didn’t he. For all his flaws, and crikey, there were some, that man believed in Europe, he believed in party unity, and he believed - though his party couldn’t achieve this - that he was doing the right thing. It is hard to look at today’s leadership candidates in the Conservatives and suggest that at all.

“There is only one thing that is totally certain from the Tory leadership election, you know. We will have yet another Conservative leader who is only interested in talking to their own, increasingly small, pool of core supporters. They want to talk about how much they hate Europe, how much they hate change, how much they hate one another. Not about how much they love this country and want better for it. Well, call me a romantic, but my policy positions have always been about looking forward. And all my life I’ve had to look forward - as very little of the time, has there been anything to fall back to.

“The Liberal Democrats under me, I hope, will be the party of aspiration. Labour need an opposition who can hold them to account properly, in a strong, unified manner. Fair enough, bloody-minded individualism and rebellion runs rife in our party - but that’s because it should! We should be free to express ourselves and debate openly and disagree politely without ripping one another to shreds. The Lib Dems have always been capable of that, and it is due to that policy discussion and refusal to treat politics as a zero-sum game that we are the real opposition to this Labour Government.

“There is a reason I am here today of course, and why I was in Bootle yesterday afternoon. Rather far over the Tamar for me, I think a snide journalist commented quite amusingly. I’m here as this is a “safe seat” and for me that concept is an atrocity. I am telling you this as a politician - you should never let us get comfy. Question us, criticise us, open up our political system, that is what I say. There should never be a democracy where the vast majority of votes just don’t matter. In Bootle, 88% of votes made no difference at all to the outcome. Here, in Huntingdon, that number is 77%. I don’t care if you are the deepest blue Conservative in the world, or the strongest socialist, that voting system cannot be allowed to go on. It breeds the cronyism and corruption that we see in every aspect of our politics. And only the Liberal Democrats can get rid of it and build something better.

“No liberal has ever lost because they didn’t have a long enough manifesto, or didn’t have worthy enough ideas. They’ve lost because they weren’t willing to come here, to places that we have thought unwinnable for years, and make a case. And I will be touring this country’s party political stitch-ups because listening to people matters, whoever they vote for, and because for me, winning means we can change this country for good.

“I’m going to spend the rest of the day out, talking to people round here. We are the opposition locally here - a good second place I’m assured - but also nationally, to Labour, we are the only ones holding them to account on the fundamental scrutiny on our constitution and on the way Britain is run that Tories just can’t provide at the moment. I’m making a case, and as I said in the papers the other day, an offer - but I also want to listen properly, and keep my ear to the ground, across Britain. So without further ado I’d like to do just that and get out on the doors!”

Charles led a large team of enthusiastic activists out and about in Huntingdon town, in what the local party said were the most Tory box counts. Their message - the real opposition to Labour and one of Tory commitment to taking us away from Europe being now so secure that there was no place for moderates any more.

[Barclay A.A. Stanley]

This is what I was talking about when I said that "if you're going to go to Bootle, don't slag off Labour." This is the right tact to take. You go to Huntingdon, literally the heart of Tory support, and you don't talk about how awful Tories are. You talk about how Tories are good, but you're better. You talk, in Tory language, about what's wrong with the current Tory party. And, crucially, you talk to a base of almost 12,000 voters instead 4,000.

Using Cosette Beauvais-Baker's television appearance, and the Tories' subsequent response to it, against them was smart. If you consult the election results from 2001, you will see that the Tories are the party from whom you need to steal the smallest vote share to gain the most seats, so it makes sense to dog them a bit.

This speech was definitely better than the Bootle speech which, well, I don't need to go into it again. The quote "no liberal has ever lost because they didn't have a long enough manifesto" was particularly good as it indicated to people that this leader isn't some kind of pie-in-the-sky type, but a boots on the ground, we want to win kind of guy.

Overall, again, the audience was small, but people who did see it were relatively impressed.

+1 XP