A comment piece by Jack Kessler in the Evening Standard understands:
Following the catastrophic 2015 general election, the Lib Dems haven't even been the third party of British politics. Yet under successive leaders, they have frequently punched above their parliamentary weight, based on an understanding that they must be different in order to generate the oxygen of publicity. They need to be, for want of a better word, a little bit wacky. And in Ed Davey, the party can boast a leader who has turned this into an art form.
If you remember anything about the Chesham and Amersham by-election of 2021, it will be the image of Davey destroying a model blue brick wall with a small hammer, while a bunch of activists held up yellow placards. It was a gimmick, obviously, but a brilliant one.
This also explains why Davey has this week fallen into Lake Windermere while paddleboarding, got wet (again) on a Slip 'N Slide in Somerset, and cycled down a very steep hill in Wales, where his team appeared disappointed he failed to fall off.
The Lib Dem leader is happy to look a little silly if it means his party picks up two dozen seats in their traditional battlegrounds of the West Country and the South of England, where they can reasonably convince voters they are the lever to pull for those most concerned with ejecting the local Tory MP.
And I like his conclusion:
Ultimately, the Lib Dems do a pretty good job of being the Lib Dems. And as Change UK ably demonstrated, it's harder than it looks.
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