This ought to be the Lib Dem moment. Labour is in crisis and the Tories are in terminal decline. Most voters (61%) still disapprove of Nigel Farage and, going by local by-election results, there’s only one mainstream party capable of resisting the turquoise tsunami.

Therefore, as they hold their annual conference in Bournemouth, this is the perfect time for the Lib Dems to take it to the next level, presenting themselves as a serious alternative to the rise of Reform.

So what did they do instead? Well, Ed Davey decided to march into conference at the head of the world’s most embarrassing parade — while his party had a deeply stupid row over trans issues. These are not serious people.

Nevertheless, Davey has taken to the pages of the Telegraph to appeal for the votes of moderate Tories. He claims that “most people in the country aren’t interested in the divisive politics being peddled by the likes of Kemi Badenoch and Nigel Farage” adding that, “they just want to see real solutions to their problems.”

But where are these non-divisive real solutions? Is Davey going to moderate his party’s permissive stance on immigration, in which the Lib Dem answer to the small boats crisis is to create more “safe and legal routes” (as if legal migration isn’t already at record levels)? Will he rethink the Lib Dem policy of rejoining the single market, which would require Britain to re-surrender control over its borders?

As for Net Zero, the Lib Dems do have an opportunity to appeal to green-minded Tories. But rather than finding a sensible way through the genuine dilemma of decarbonising the economy without imposing crippling costs on UK consumers and industry, the party only has empty gestures to offer. Their big idea at the last election was to pointlessly promise Net Zero by 2045 instead of 2050.

It’s difficult for Ed Davey to present himself as Mr In-Between when he’s previously — and successfully — made a point of tacking to the Left of Labour on multiple issues. Last year, the Lib Dems took 60 seats from the Tories not despite this positioning, but because of it. They resolved the apparent contradiction by consolidating the Left-of-centre vote while the Right splintered between the Tories, Reform and staying at home.

So why mess with a winning formula? Perhaps it’s just hubris on Davey’s part, but it could be that he’s spotted some cracks in the yellow coalition. For instance, under Zack Polanski, the newly invigorated Green Party could pick off the student vote, plus other bourgeois radicals. If Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana make peace, the same also applies to Your Party — because, try as they might, the Lib Dems can’t out-loony the loony Left. From the other direction, the danger is that the populist vote will continue to consolidate around Reform. This could include the 2019 Tory voters who turned to the Lib Dems in 2024, but who look pretty similar to Reform voters on issues like immigration.

For all of these reasons, the Lib Dems need a new infusion of support — hence Ed Davey’s begging letter in the Telegraph. He’s hoping there’s a group of voters who stayed Tory when the choice was between Keir Starmer and Rishi Sunak and who’d be just as small-c conservative if the choice were between Nigel Farage and himself.

So far, Davey’s relying on the red flags around Farage to make the Lib Dem case — but it’s time he took down a few of his own.

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Peter Franklin is Associate Editor of UnHerd. He was previously a policy advisor and speechwriter on environmental and social issues.

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