Rennard: Lib Dems could ‘decapitate’ Howard and Letwin
The Liberal Democrats have a realistic chance of unseating leading Conservative MPs including their leader, Michael Howard, and frontbenchers David Davis and Oliver Letwin.
That was the message from Liberal Democrat chief strategist Lord Chris Rennard at a election strategy briefing at the party’s spring conference.
He said they would be targeting key Tory figures who had slim majorities in seats with a large Labour vote. For example, Shadow Home Secretary David Davis had a majority of just 1,903 in a seat with 7,000 Labour voters.
Lord Rennard said that when Labour voters realised the Conservatives had no chance of winning the election and Labour was assured of victory, they would be safe voting tactically against leading Conservatives.
This had happened to then party chairman Chris Patten in 1992, he added.
“I don’t think Labour voters will be able to resist the temptation.”
He denied allegations that the Liberal Democrats were tailoring their message to suit the electorate by appealing to disenchanted Conservatives in some areas and angry Labour voters in others.
The Liberal Democrats had a consistent national message that had broad appeal, he said.
Asked about earlier suggestions that the party could pick up another 20 seats at the election, he said, “I think we could well do rather better,” but did not commit himself to a specific target.
Earlier in the briefing, Lord Rennard said this year’s campaign would “look the same” as the one it ran in 2001, which was rated the best campaign by all voters.
The Conservatives were no longer a political force in Scotland, Wales and large areas of the North, and did not have any councillors in Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle or Gateshead, he added.
“The Conservative Party is I think virtually dead in about 35 per cent of the country.”
Lord Rennard outlined private polling that showed health, education, and law and order were the issues most important to swinging voters, and therefore the ones they would be concentrating on.
The campaign would also play up leader Charles Kennedy’s reputation for “telling it as it is” in contrast to the charge of ‘spin’ now forever associated with Tony Blair, he said.
The war’s long-lasting effect had been to turn Mr Blair from an asset into a liability as far as Labour was concerned, he added. For many voters, he was now like a car salesman who had sold them a ‘dud’ car and would never again be trusted.
On whether Mr Kennedy’s pregnant wife Sarah would feature in the election campaign, Lord Rennard said: “Charles and Sarah will not in any way exploit their personal situation during the campaign.”
If the baby were born during the campaign, Mr Kennedy would “duck out for a time” but there would be no designated “alternative leader”.
