Chill Wind: The Liberal Democrat Campaign

Abstract

Olly Grender, a long time Liberal Democrat strategist, revisits the various factors that made this such a painful campaigning experience and electoral outcome for the Party. Crucial was the fateful decision taken in 2010 by Nick Clegg and colleagues to enter government as junior partners to the Conservatives. Grender explains how the Party organised and planned for 2015, facing as it did the hugely well-resourced Conservatives as well as a sizeable loss to its own activist base. Key to Liberal Democrat attempts to promote their case was the assertion that by entering government they had helped ensure many policies, notably in relation to the tax system, were designed and enacted to promote greater equality and fairness.