Lib Dems in buoyant pre-election mood
Lord Razzall, chairman of the Liberal Democrats’ general election campaign, today predicted that the Liberal Democrats would in the long-term replace Labour as the party of government, and “win more seats and more votes” at the next general election, than the party received in 2001.
Lord Razzall said that when the Deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott had predicted that the tectonic plates were shifting, he had been right “but not in the way he meant”.
In the last election, he argued that the Liberal Democrats’ main fight was the Conservatives, because although the electorate was “disillusioned” with the Labour government, people were not prepared to return to the days of a Tory government.
However this time: “Watch out David Davis, watch out Teresa May, watch out Oliver Letwin – we’re coming to get you.’
“But this time it is Labour MP’s too who should sleep uneasily in their beds.”
The Conservative Party was “finished as a serious challenger for Government in all of our adult lifetimes” he added.
He pointed to Sarah Tether’s victory in Brent East and highlighted that 2004 “has been even better”, with a “stunning victory in Leicester South”, a good performance in Birmingham Hodge Hill, and promising signals about the Hartlepool by-election.
Charles Kennedy, Lord Razzall argued, is more popular with the voters than either Tony Blair or Michael Howard, and in addition to “the best campaign team”, the Liberal Democrats also boasted “policies that chime with the needs and aspirations” of the electorate.
Lord Razzall stopped short of predicting when it would happen, but he argued there would be a moment when the electorate would turn its back on Labour and “that moment maybe sooner than we think”.
In the absence of the Labour Party, “the Government will not be a Conservative government, it will be a Liberal Democrat government and Charles Kennedy will be Prime Minister.”
