John Pugh: Lib Dems risk repeating the errors of the 1920s

Writing on Liberal Democrat Voice, John Pugh (Lib Dem MP for Southport) draws an important historical parallel:

Optimists point out that we could still hold up to 37 seats in the General Election if we just dig in properly,but we thereby effectively concede the overwhelming majority of the country to our political rivals and that is not a strategy for the future. 

We risk repeating the errors of the 1920s when a diminishing band of Coalition Liberal MPs intent and  on their own survival tried to cling on, while the party in the country withered. Only when Grimond decades later urged the party to get out of the trenches and walk towards the sound of gunfire did the party revive.

Being serious about power cannot mean merely clinging on to three dozen seats (mainly in the South of England) and praying they give us the balance of power.

It must also mean wanting to wield power in the European Parliament, in Edinburgh and Cardiff and in the great cities of the North and Midlands.