“A lifelong Labour voter, I’ve now left to join the Lib Dems”
That quote is, of course, not from me but from someone else. In this case, Liberal Democrat member Liz Jarvis on her conversion from Labour.
Writing for The Independent, Liz Jarvis says:
I surprised myself when the decision finally came. I was raised in a politically split household: my mum, the daughter of Irish Catholic immigrants and a Women’s Libber, took my sister and I on marches and Labour Party picnics. My dad had been in the Middle East Land Forces and admired Thatcher. It was sometimes like living with Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton and the rows were furious.
At my radical comprehensive kids were invited to stay at miners’ homes during the strikes, Ken Livingstone spoke at our sixth form society, and we were forced to sing Ebony and Ivory during the Brixton riots.
By the time I arrived at Essex University my commitment to Labour was assured, and I was elected on to the student union newspaper as a Labour candidate.
But then came Brexit, and Jeremy Corbyn’s repeated support for Britain leaving the EU, following on from his lifelong support for Euroscepticism and his decision to go on holiday during the referendum campaign.
As Liz Jarvis adds:
[Brexit] is quite simply anathema to me, not just because I’m the granddaughter of immigrants, but because I believe so strongly in freedom of movement, and that the evidence backs up the overwhelming truth that we are better off in the EU than we can possibly be out of it.
The Momentum-propelled adulation of Jeremy Corbyn left me cold. I was also increasingly uneasy about the accusations of anti-Semitism in the Labour Party…
The more I delved into Lib Dem policies, particularly on education, the NHS and crime, the more I realised that this was the party for me. I have always believed passionately in equality and internationalism, and politically, I am home.
Liz’s journey into the Liberal Democrats is one many other Labour supporters have been taking too.
Welcome, whether or not you find joining like a scene from the Wizard of Oz.
Welcome Liz. I was a lifelong Conservative until the referendum. I joined the Libdems because I believe, so called brexit, is the biggest act of self harm driven by a small but powerful and wealthy clique within the Conservative party which has no regard for our young people or those of lesser means than them.
Wel, I almost joined Labour – but for the fact that the wrong Miliband was chosen. Clegg was an utter disaster!
I did not know my father until I was nearly five years of age because he was fighting in North Africa, Sicily and Italy. He ended up in Rome, where political visionaries for peace drew up a far-seeing treaty to end a thousand years of racial bloodshed across Europe that ruined my childhood. Now aged 77, I have been a lifelong greatest-good Liberal fighting for a united Europe that provides peace and happiness for me, my children and grandchildren.