Remember the Lib Dems? They won a record 72 seats at the general election but some party figures worry they have faded into obscurity since then.
Josh Babarinde wants to change that. The MP for Eastbourne is vying to be their next president, a role that will give him a key say in implementing strategy if he wins.
Politics Live: Government to reconsider whether to give compensation to Waspi women
Central to his pitch to members is being a “megaphone president” who can challenge Nigel Farage on the airwaves and connect with more voters.
“The plan if I win is to make sure that the Liberal Democrats are the last line of defence against the populism that’s sweeping our country,” he told Sky News.
“Reform, they’re dividing our communities and they are stirring all sorts of division. The two main parties are all too often fuelling rather than fighting that and it’s for the Liberal Democrat to stand against that.”
If that sounds familiar, then cast your mind back to a recent party election – Labour’s deputy leadership one. Lucy Powell, in a similar strategic role, said in her victory speech that her party needed to “wrestle back” the political megaphone from Farage.
But if anyone is doing that at the moment it’s the Green Party, which is surging in the polls and has doubled its membership in the two months since media-savvy Zack Polanski became leader.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
3:13
Liberal Democrats MP Josh Babarinde talks to Sky News.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
2:20
‘Farage has connected with people’s anger and fear’
Mr Babarinde insists he is fully behind the Lib Dems’ leadership. However, it’s clear he wants to do things differently in order to cut through.
He went bungee jumping with Sir Ed Davey during the election campaign and has no plans to do that “for political purposes or any purpose again”.
“The stunts can be a really effective means of capturing attention. We’ve also got to make sure that our pitch captures attention, that our policies capture attention, that our means of engaging with people captures attention.”
Image:
Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey bungee jumping during a visit to Eastbourne. Pic:PA
Battle for the youth vote
For Mr Babarinde, that starts with engaging with 12- and 13-year-olds who, by the next general election, will be voting for the first time, after Sir Keir Starmer lowered the voting age.
The former youth worker said these young people “can’t be left to the online right” and he can use his national platform as an MP to connect with them.
“We definitely need to up our social media strategy. That means TikTok, that means Instagram, that means Snapchat, and making sure that we’re conveying our messages in the places where they hang out.
“But we also need to do much better when it comes to political education. All parties need to be better getting into schools, for example.“
Image:
Josh Babarinde
It’s not just the youth vote he is after either. He said there is “absolutely” more that can be done to tackle fed up Labour voters and that “nowhere should be off limits”.
“There is lots of opportunity to speak to former Labour voters and say, look, the Liberal Democrats have listened, we have solutions.
“It’s really important that we reach out to people across the whole country, beyond the Conservative heartlands. It’s really important to me to diversify our party.”
On that, his opponent Prue Bray agrees. The Wokingham councillor, who has been active within the party for 30 years, wants to change the perception of the Lib Dems as a party that is “for middle class people”.
For her that is not about making headlines, but being active in communities where they don’t currently have a large voter base – particularly the north of England.
She told Sky News: “After Brexit we recruited a lot of people and as that has declined in people’s minds they have stopped being members, so we need to attract more people.
“People feel let down by the Conservatives and we don’t want them to turn to Reform so we need to be more visible in their communities.”
Image:
Prue Bray. Pic: Wokingham Borough Council
Canvassing is seen by many within the party as its number one strength. A recent BBC report found that while the Lib Dems membership had halved in the past five years, those that remained were more active than their counterparts in other parties.
It’s one of the reasons party insiders believe they did so well at smashing the Tories’ blue wall, with a targeted ground campaign.
But in the words of the outgoing president Dr Mark Pack, who has held the role for the past six years, “how someone best fills the roles very much depends on the circumstances of the time”.
For him, that was picking up the pieces after the Lib Dems’ 2019 disaster, and for his successor it will be maintaining the momentum of the 2024 success in a new era of multi-party politics when grabbing attention matters and winning seats even more so.
The two contenders have the same goals when it comes to that – but different plans for achieving it. It’s up to the members to decide which one they prefer.
Voting has now closed, and the result will be declared on Wednesday.
