Where Could Lib Dem Tribes Emerge?

With more MPs than ever before, the Liberal Democrats have a task on their hands to keep the newly expanded party in line. Can the 72 stay united?

With 72 MPs, the Liberal Democrats are now the largest third party in history, and have returned to the third party offices they were booted out of nearly a decade ago. The challenge they now face is maintaining unity amongst their new ballooned cohort for the next five years.

“We’re not a very tribal organisation,” says Richard Foord, Liberal Democrat MP for Honiton and Sidmouth. He says he “prefers families” to tribes, though adds that it’s nothing like the Conservative Party’s five families. “It’s not like the ERG or the New Conservatives where they always seem to be competing against each other. It’s much more about interests, not rivalry.”

“If there’s a tribe, it’s more likely to be a geographic one rather than an ideological one,” argues one senior Liberal Democrat MP. With so many unknown faces, many new MPs have been sticking in “regional clusters” local to their constituency. One WhatsApp group of Surrey-based Lib Dems is called “Surrey Massive”, according to an insider.

“The phone just goes constantly,” adds the senior Lib Dem, who says they are bombarded with a flurry of questions from new MPs at all hours of the day. 

“At the moment we’re incredibly united all pulling in the same direction, but as the Parliament wears on – and you’ve got a Labour government this time – it will be interesting to see where people fall on certain issues,” says Bobby Dean, the new Lib Dem MP for Carshalton and Wallington.

“This is very much a group of 72 people who are still getting to know each other. I probably knew half of the candidates elected,” adds Foord.

All 72 MPs campaigned on three