Farron: no, I don’t want to change the party’s name to “Liberals”

Party leadership candidate Tim Farron has comprehensively rubbished the media stories that he’s toying with the idea of changing the party’s name by dropping “Democrats” from the name.

Aside from the legal issues (there’s already a Liberal Party which has the legal rights to use that name on the ballot paper), Tim has also told me he well remembers the painfully long arguments after the merger which created the party over what its name should be. That’s not something he wants to return to.

If you’ve listened to Tim speak, you’ll notice he likes the shorted hand of “Liberals” and certainly the full name contains quite a few syllables. However, using shorthand when speaking is very different from changing the party’s name.

What is on the table if Tim Farron wins is a major look at the party’s branding but, as he says, “you need to sort the product first” and that won’t involve changing the name to the Liberals.