September is the cruellest month for political commentators because it is when something has to be said about the Liberal Democrats. They are a play without a plot, a chorus line of seemingly endless “don’t knows”. Their leader, Ed Davey, recently warned that “we’re in the fight of our lives” to defend the values of liberty and equality. Really? How can this be when Davey is becoming about as relevant as Count Binface?
The Lib Dems’ central predicament has remained unchanged for a century, ever since the decline of David Lloyd George and the rise of the Labour party. There is simply no space in Britain for a centrist party when so little divides the big parties and they broadly stick to the prevailing ecomomic orthodoxy.
