Fighting for Liberalism: wise words from Frank Byers
Over a Bank Holiday a few years back, I was working on another draft of my book on campaigning (written with Ed Maxfield).
Looking for an apposite quote for one chapter I dug out Fighting for Liberalism from c.1960. The foreword by Frank Byers starts:
The Liberal Party fights on – and fights harder. On this we are all agreed. We believe that our country needs Liberalism more than ever and we believe it is our duty to seize every opportunity to put forward the Liberal solutions to the difficult problems of the day.
But we all realise that in taking up the fight with renewed enthusiasm we face the organised might of two powerful Party machines both bent on eliminating us from the political scene.
We must realise also that bows and arrows will not stop tanks. We have to build a Party organisation of our own which will match that of others. And we must do it quickly.
Wise words, even if the action plan he then calls for starts with holding a meeting, rapidly followed by debating a constitution…!
(As to how the Lib Dems now should do this, see Reinventing the Liberal Democrats.)
my favourite quote is the one from Charlie Kennedy, we are not to the left of the Tories, or to the right of Labour, we are out in front of both of them.
A variant on the old SDP slogan: neither left nor right but forward!
Could the Con Demn alliance be less ike what the SDP stood for?
Would Charlie have got us into this blind alley?
define 'blind alley'?