UK Liberal Democrat leadership election, 2015

[Filuwaúrdjan]

He's a capital E Evangelical.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

By this point it's mostly a matter of personal votes and inherited personal votes (as the party label becomes associated with good constituency work), as can happen in seriously rural areas (the long Liberal domination of Montgomery was similar).

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Theoretically not a bad idea (the 'LibDem' label is clearly tainted), but there is the small matter of the continuity Liberal Party.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

A lot of former SDP MPs did actually (some even rejoined in the late 80s). I think for those who stayed it was a case of too many bridges having been broken.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

The label is, however, contaminated now.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

If they drop the Liberal name then they might as well fold. Most of the votes they actually held onto were for that name.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Yes. The Liberal name is about the only asset they have left now.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Farron is not exactly a common or garden Christian, practicing or not: he's at the Evangelical end of the Evangelical wing of the CofE for want of a better way of putting it, a happy clappy even unto happy clappies. He's also said and supported some things that put him beyond what is entirely typical even of people in his part of the CofE. And he's just been elected leader of a liberal party. So, yeah, there will be media interest in this, inevitably. It doesn't help that he has a habit of giving weird equivocal answers to questions about certain issues.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

How not to handle this kind of situation:

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[Filuwaúrdjan]

Yes. Crankery and a parliamentary party small enough to fit into a taxi; it's just like old times!