Remember the Lib Dems? They won a record 72 seats at the general election but some party figures worry they have faded into obscurity since then.
Josh Babarinde wants to change that. The MP for Eastbourne is vying to be their next president, a role that will give him a key say in implementing strategy if he wins.
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Central to his pitch to members is being a “megaphone president” who can challenge Nigel Farage on the airwaves and connect with more voters.
“The plan if I win is to make sure that the Liberal Democrats are the last line of defence against the populism that’s sweeping our country,” he told Sky News.
“Reform, they’re dividing our communities and they are stirring all sorts of division. The two main parties are all too often fuelling rather than fighting that and it’s for the Liberal Democrat to stand against that.”
If that sounds familiar, then cast your mind back to a recent party election – Labour’s deputy leadership one. Lucy Powell, in a similar strategic role, said in her victory speech that her party needed to “wrestle back” the political megaphone from Farage.
But if anyone is doing that at the moment it’s the Green Party, which is surging in the polls and has doubled its membership in the two months since media-savvy Zack Polanski became leader.
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