The official line is that today’s reshuffle is all about prioritizing the economy – with reasonable evidence for this with Ken Clarke staying on with an economic brief; Cameron beefing up the Whip office and thus backbench discipline; and appointing someone with previous experience of that role – Patrick McLoughlin – to Transport to push through infrastructure projects like HS2.
But the commentary from Twitter to the BBC is already painting this as a move to the right. Lib Dem tweeters are suddenly gloomier about the lifetime of this coalition, but here’s what I think: the Tories have inadvertently given us a windfall.
First of all, a move to the right does no favours to the Conservative party. They failed to win a majority as a modernized party in 2010, and moving backwards won’t help – promoting Jeremy Hunt to Health has sparked jokes about Murdoch buying the NHS, Grayling’s comments about B&Bs refusing gay customers have been brought back to the fore, and overall the reputation of the ‘Nasty Party’ seems back to stay (not to mention George Osborne’s pantomime villain greeting at the Paralympics).
Secondly, and more importantly, any shift to the right boosts our claim to the centre-ground, with breathing space to establish our own identity. And frankly this couldn’t come at a better time with the coalition evolves into a stage of greater differentiation. Now is where we can begin to spell out our own views on what we would do with a Lib Dem in charge of the Justice Department; instead of pandering to Eurosceptics we must tell voters in rural communities like Somerset what the EU can do for them, and how we’d reform it.
And thirdly, with the honeymoon phase completely and utterly over for even those most supportive of our evolution into a party of government, our reason for staying in the coalition is inescapably clear: the economy. Whilst we still have a chance to implement and influence policies through Lib Dem ministers – watch out for a Liberal Democrat stamp on education reforms with David Laws joining
Michael Gove – we can now be unequivocal that we are not Conservatives, we differ with them on a number of social policies, but we have made this sacrifice and continue to do so in the national interest and with a view to getting the economy back on track.
If we can commit ourselves to the task at hand, and take joint ownership of restoring the economy to health, whilst doing what we can to make sure it happens in a fairer, greener and Liberal Democrat way then we can once again look voters in the eye and ask for their support.
* Sean Davey is the Chair of London Liberal Youth
