The Liberal Democrat Leadership Candidates

Why Liberalism - and why now?

Modern liberalism is tailor-made for the challenges that face Britain over the next 10 to 15 years. Our society is more diverse and our politics far more fluid than when I was growing up. The new generation of voters simply doesn?t believe there are only two options, only two ideas worth having. The old politics of Right and Left, capital and labour, bosses and workers, has finally, mercifully, disappeared. And in its place, a new politics is now taking shape. Increasingly, the political discussion is focused on a new set of challenges:

- How to counter the epidemic of powerlessness that has left people bewildered by giantism in both the public and private sectors;  

- How to create real social mobility that neither the Left nor Right has been able to deliver;

- Where to strike the right balance between national security and individual liberty, and to provide safe communities at a time of heightened fear;

- How to engage the public, mobilise business and Government, and use our clout in the world to tackle global warming;

- And how to make sense of globalisation in a fast-moving world.

Socialism and Conservatism, as traditionally defined, are simply not capable of making sense of these challenges, let alone meeting them. You cannot answer powerlessness by aggregating more power to the centre. Social stagnation has been caused by the policies of both Left and Right: only Liberalism, with its emphasis on the liberating potential of education, offers a way forward. You cannot answer fear and insecurity by playing catch-up with alarmist tabloid headlines. You cannot tackle climate change by hectoring citizens to take action: inspiration and motivation is needed, too. And you cannot answer globalisation with protectionism or isolationism. In the debates that will dominate politics over the next 10 to 15 years, it is Liberalism that has the answers.

What would you change about the way in which the party campaigns, and what phrase or slogan best communicates your core message?

Eight years ago, I was elected MEP for the East Midlands. I was the first Liberal parliamentarian in the region since 1931. They said we couldn?t win. But we did. And that victory made me believe that Liberal Democrats can reach out to the British people, even those who haven?t voted for us before.

Locally, we are second to none in our ability to identify the issues that matter to people, and then relentlessly campaigning with flair and focus (capital Focus too!). Yet at national level our core messages are often too dispersed, too varied, lacking the consistency and focus we deploy at local level. I would want to work with my colleagues in the Westminster Parliamentary Party to ensure we become a campaigning force once again, reinvigorating our political vocation as an anti-establishment party. After all, we seek power at Westminster to change the rules of the game altogether.

I start from a simply proposition: that Liberalism is about giving individuals, families and communities as much control as possible over their own destiny, free from disadvantage, prejudice and needless government interference.

I want the Liberal Democrats to be the gathering point for everyone in Britain who wants a different kind of politics. It?s as simple as that.

Which figure from Liberal history do you most closely associate yourself with?

I take my inspiration from Clarence Henry Wilcock, the north London dry cleaner who, when asked for his identity card in the 1950s, said ?no?, and with that small word brought down the whole apparatus of identity cards enforced by the Government for over a decade.

For me, the really Great Britons aren?t just the Churchills, the Gladstones, and the Nelsons. They?re people like the suffragettes, the levellers, the peasants who marched in revolt in the 14th Century. We are a nation of people?s movements, of rebels and dissenters. A bolshy, stubborn people with a strong sense of fair play and social justice. We are suspicious of arbitrary power, impatient with bureaucracy and wary of government interference. And we have always put our faith in the power of ordinary men and women to change our world. It is those liberal British instincts that I will place at the heart of the Liberal Democrats under my leadership.

Why Liberalism - and why now?

Now, more than ever! Liberalism is a spirit as much as a creed. The old politics of the 20th Century were about class interest. We are witnessing this politics disintegrate, as New Labour and Cameron?s Conservatives wrestle over the same turf ? crass, callow and conservative. They have substituted managerialism and a ?Dutch auction? for any ideology, principle or well-considered policy.
The biggest mistake a liberal party can make is to join them there. The politics of the 21st Century will be about ideas, attitudes and identity, not class and interest. We are Britain?s only liberal party, and to join the crowded market of illiberal parties, just as fashion is turning, would be insanity. What matters now is that we communicate liberal ideas more clearly and comprehensively to the half of the population who think of themselves as liberal, but who do not yet see us as their party.
If not Liberalism, then what? Liberalism is the only set of principles left standing after the fall of the Berlin Wall. It is about giving the individual control over his or her life ? not only removing unjustified interference, but enabling each person to fulfil their potential. That is why Liberalism is also about equality: the individual needs a fair start, not just an open road. Illiberal politics offers the temporary comfort of being told what to do, or seeing others bullied in a manner you approve of; but for the rational of mind and the liberal of temper, this is repellent.

What would you change about the way in which the party campaigns, and what phrase or slogan best communicates your core message?

Our country needs a Liberal Revolution ? one in which we change the system, not just the Government. After all, 40% of the population are so disheartened with politics that they cannot be bothered to vote. We should be their party. The Liberal Democrats want to hand back power to the communities and people of Britain, and rebuild trust in our political system from the ground up. We represent real change, not the artificial tinkering of Labour and the Tories, and we must rediscover our radical, anti-establishment edge.
The LibDems want Britain to be more free, fair and green. But we need to be catchier and more effective at communicating to voters what it means to be a Liberal Democrat. Charles Kennedy was right, for example, to go on the anti-Iraq war march and I was delighted to accompany him. If we had not, the party would never have conveyed in television pictures ? in that key visual way ? our stance in opposition. I regret that other parliamentarians were too sniffy to join us.
Similarly, we need to take risks to highlight our campaigns. When Maya Evans was arrested at the Cenotaph for reading out of a list of our war dead in Iraq, I wanted to bring a group of our MPs down to do the same and highlight the injustice and illiberalism of the ban on demonstrations near Parliament. Older heads said ?no?, but I think it would have provided a powerful image of our defence of freedoms. For these reasons too, I would not co-operate with an ID card scheme.
We also need to get out of our comfort zone on civil liberties, internationalism, decentralisation and the environment. If the LibDems are to attract 25-30% of the vote, we have to be a party that people can trust on the economy, where suddenly Gordon Brown looks vulnerable and David Cameron merely weak. Historically, the economy was always a key issue for Liberals, and we must regain it with an understanding of how to help people faced with the challenge of earning a living.

Which figure from Liberal history do you most closely associate yourself with?

It has to be David Lloyd George. All heroes have their flaws, and ?LG? certainly had his in abundance. But he also had an energy, passion and radicalism that I admire. He had an ability to see the world clearly, and was the only mainstream politician who understood Keynes and the causes of the depression. As the leading social reformer of the 1906 government, he introduced the old age pension and made the key transition to the modern social Liberal tradition. He put into action the thoughts of New Liberals like L.T. Hobhouse, who understood that you people could not live to their full potential without a more equal society. That is as important today as ever: in Britain there are 3.8 million children living in poverty, whose life chances are limited by an accident of birth. LG?s titanic ?People?s Budget? of 1909 made not only a giant step in social reform, but broke the power of the landed interest in the House of Lords.