For the British Liberal Democrats (LibDems), tomorrow’s parliamentary elections are decisive in several respects: will they again be pushed to the margins by the two 'big' parties, or will they advance to the center of power? In either case, it will be a kind of repeat for the LibDems: they have been under pressure before, and they have previously participated in an unusual British coalition cabinet.
Party leader Jo Swanson appeared on Wednesday afternoon at a party meeting in London somewhat satisfied that the LibDems are on course for gains, but possibly not enough. She fears the polls that predict Boris Johnson will still secure a majority. For Swanson and her campaign team, that is far from certain.
Although the Conservatives have a projected majority of fourteen seats, Swanson said, “that means nothing in the district system.” In an LGBTI theater on Broadway in Wimbledon, she told several dozen party activists that it often happens that a party misses or loses a seat by a margin of only two or three votes.
Surrounded by a crowd of reporters, photographers, and cameramen, the liberal Swanson naturally had to cross the famous rainbow-striped crosswalk on Broadway and gave her speech in the renowned CYMK theater. Professionally, she responded live in ITV’s one-hour news bulletin to the latest opinion polls and once again warned British voters of the dangers of a new Boris-the-demolisher cabinet.
The LibDems have indeed tried to make this general election a real election, and not just a disguised consultation on the Brexit plans of May and Johnson. They are brief and clear on this: cancel and stop the whole affair. Accordingly, the LibDems have compiled an extensive and reasonably well-considered "forward-looking" election manifesto. With this, the LibDems mainly gamble on the younger generation (under thirty years old) that in 2016 “failed” to cast a pro-European vote in the Brexit referendum.
While party leader Jo Swanson mainly wants to look forward, many British voters seem to look backward. They still blame the LibDems for having helped, under the leadership of then party leader Nick Clegg, to bring the Conservative “silverspoon generation” of David Cameron and Boris Johnson to power in a coalition with the Tories. As the junior party, they had to agree to substantial cuts to the social system, the privatization of government services, and the dismantling of public provisions. To make matters worse, they also presented the 2016 Brexit referendum as some form of democratic renewal, say disappointed Britons now.
Moreover, the LibDems haven’t made it easy for sensible Britons either: while in 2016 they were firmly in favor of a referendum, they are now staunchly against a second referendum. "You are not taking us seriously," says the voice at the pub table. "You have seen what comes from the will of the people," says Swanson. As the leader of a modern party, she has everything going for her: she is a woman, well-educated, speaks properly, looks respectable, articulate, a good debater. Yet she is not seen by many Conservatives and Labour supporters as representing the reasonable middle ground.
A few weeks ago, she made a blunder in a TV interview that is still being held against her. She made clear that she and her LibDems would under no circumstances cooperate in the House of Commons to let the hated Boris Johnson become prime minister again, nor the also hated Jeremy Corbyn. In that same sentence, she also made it clear that she herself wanted to become prime minister. That 'grandstanding' as the 'third-party girl' is still rubbed in by many commentators.
For the LibDems, it will be decisive whether enough Conservatives and enough Labour voters make a rational or emotional choice. Pro-European, modern Tory and Labour voters stand in the voting booth facing the decision: hold on to their own pro-Brexit party (a vote for their own political nest, but to the detriment of the British economy) or cast their vote for the LibDems (to the detriment of their own political nest's scent, but to the benefit of the British people).