In 2015, they teetered and fell. Vince Cable, the Coalition Business secretary, thudded to the ground in the London suburb of Twickenham. Danny Alexander was toppled in Inverness. As a resident of Southwark, inner London, I knew it was over for Simon Hughes when the curry house bearing his posters quietly removed them a week before the poll.
Progressive voters were fed up with the party that once wooed students becoming the handmaiden of Tory austerity. Nick Clegg, once the darling of TV debates, scurried away from corridors of power.
But now an early election has been announced, it’s time for the Lib Dem fightback! Apparently the big beasts of liberalism are willing to forgive the public for their 2015 misjudgement and will be coming to reclaim their seats. Here is who is standing so far:
Vince Cable – Twickenham
In 2010, the Lib Dem veteran Vince Cable had a comfortable majority of 12,140. Then he landed a plum job in the Coalition government, tasked with restarting the economy. Surely his voters would be grateful? But no – they booted him out and elected the Tory Tania Mathias instead with a majority of 2,017.
Cable may be 74 by the time of polling day, but he’s not ready for retirement just yet. He tweeted: “I plan to lead fight back to recapture Twickenham for Lib Dems. Brexit. Heathrow. School cuts. Social care. Plenty to campaign on.”
Simon Hughes – Bermondsey and Old Southwark
Hughes first won his seat in 1983, after a controversial by-election in which the openly gay Labour candidate Peter Tatchell suffered homophobic abuse from the media while the Lib Dem’s leaflets promised “a straight choice”. However, Hughes became a respected constituency MP (and has apologised to Tatchell for not doing more to change the tone of the election debate).
In 2015, Labour candidate Neil Coyle kicked out Hughes with a majority of 4,489. But his predecessor will now be stalking him on the streets. He tweeted: “Ready 2 lead #LibDemFightback in Bermondsey & the north of Southwark – vs Conservatives & Labour on housing, NHS, education & Brexit.Join us.”
Julian Huppert – Cambridge
In 2010, Julian Huppert posed happily next to the Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg holding the pledge to end tuition fees. As the MP of a university seat, the picture would come back to haunt him. Meanwhile, Huppert had to contend with rude parliamentary backbenchers, who bullied him and sang the Muppet theme tune when he stood up in the Commons.
But when the knife of 2015 came down, Huppert only lost by the slimmest of margins. His Labour successor Daniel Zeichner has a majority of just 599, and is now the one attached to a floundering national party while his Europhile constituents get very annoyed about Brexit. Huppert was selected to stand again by his constituency party as early as July 2016 and he’s already recruiting his campaign team.
Ed Davey – Kingston and Surbiton
Two years ago, Davey was the canary in the coalmine. He was the first secretary of state to crash out of the general election and lose his comfortable seat in the London commuter belt. He was trounced by James Berry, a Conservative, with a majority of 2,834.
So perhaps it’s no surprise he was one of the first to throw his hat in for the next election. If Cable also wins, and Sarah Olney holds on in Richmond, the Lib Dems will have made a little corner of Greater London yellow again.
John Leech – Manchester Withington
Leech clung onto his seat for ten years, before losing definitively to Labour’s Jeff Smith in 2015. But not that definitively! Leech has attached himself to the Lib Dem campaign, and hopes to suck up some support in time for the general election in June.
However, to win again, he will have to overturn his successor’s majority of 14,873.
Gordon Birtwistle – Burnley
Manufacturing man Gordon Birtwistle pulled off a coup in 2010 when he took Burnley from Labour, but his victory turned out to last a mere five years. In 2015, Julie Cooper took it back for Labour with a majority of 3,244.
Birtwistle, like Cable, is a septuagenarian, but he’s so keen to get back into work that he’s already been selected as the Lib Dem candidate.
Tessa Munt – Wells
The Lib Dems often get criticised for their lack of women MPs – so welcome back Tessa Munt, who has her eyes on her old seat of Wells, which she lost in 2015.
James Heappey, her Tory successor, has a majority of 7,585. But will Munt benefit from the post-Brexit Lib Dem surge? We’ll soon find out.
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