Friday, May 31, 2019

Not seen for 38 years!

A very interesting poll of people's general election voting intentions was published by The Times last night. The downside was that The Brexit Party were on 22% and in 2nd place. The upside is that the Lib Dems are in first place on 24%. Sky News this morning said that the last time the Lib Dems were in the lead in terms of general election voting intention was in 2010 during the general election. I can't recall this at all and I suspect what they are actually referring to was a poll on the performance of the party leaders after the leader debates when Cleggmania was at its peak.

Personally, I have to go back to 1981 for the last time the Lib Dems (then the Alliance) were ahead in the polls. The SDP had just been launched and I was a founder member. The poll lead however did not last and the Conservatives were returned at the 1983 general election with a landslide majority, assisted by the Falklands War and a meltdown in the Labour Party.

Whether or not what is happening now - Lib Dems resurgent while the Nigel Farage fan club has moved home from UKIP to The Brexit Party with Labour and Conservatives in meltdown - will become a permanent fixture is an interesting question which has no clear answer, at least not yet. Nevertheless, we should enjoy it while it lasts and keep on recruiting new members to the Lib Dems - 11,000 have joined this month so far.

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