Did Spitting Image damage Liberal Party leader David Steel?

As Spitting Image is returning to our screens, it may be interesting to return to an old controversy over it: did its unflattering portrayal of David Steel damage the Liberal Party?

It’s always been particularly interesting for former members of the Liberal Party, with many believing that the portrayal of David Steel as being in David Owen’s pocket seriously damaged the party. Not all who believe that think it was unfair, for Steel had plenty of internal critics who believed the portrayal was damaging because it was so close to the truth.

An interesting snippet of evidence on this came my way when reading another old copy of Liberator. Edition number 157 of the magazine, from 1986, reported:

The Liberal Parliamentary Association recently commissioned research among 20-30 year old voters in key marginals, which among other things sought to discover their main sources of political information. Television was the winner, with about one quarter naming Spitting Image as their main political viewing.