FOOD FOR THOUGHT OR A GENERAL RAMBLE - YOU DECIDE

I am currently listening to Andrew Marr's 'History of Britain' in the car on my way to work and it is very good: informative but not too laden with details about specific Cabinet meetings which added 1p to the tax rate to appeal only to sad politicos.

I'm now up to the 1990s and the moment when Gordon Brown and Tony Blair started to plot to take over the Labour Party. Marr gives a limited amount of detail as this is an abridged version for the audiobook but it is significant that they started to work ouit where they were going years ahead of achieving their sensational result in 1997.

I find this kind of detail fascinating because it demonstrates that you don't just walk out with a few Focuses and win an election, you have to work bloody hard, usually for years. Buit more than that is the fact that it seems the greatest success comes from a real root and branch rethink of what you're about.

We are an impressive, effective party which has successfully dragged itself back from the brink of extinction in the 1980s to running real government across the country. We will fight great campaigns in both Crewe & Nantwich and in Henley and activists will come from all over to help. It is a tribute to the effectiveness of such campaigns that the others fear us so much in by-elections.

However, I humbly suggest, we may have plateaued.

In common with all other parties we need more members, money and commitment to avoid standing still and I worry whether that can continue indefinitely based on the current model. Our activists are our not-at-all-secret weapon but the pool inevitably needs to be constantly refilled. Will the type of labour-intensive, all out campaign which we do so well always be possible?

I think the crux of this post is that I hope (and quietly expect) that our upper echelons are thinking ten years ahead and looking at developing our successful machine for another era, an era of postal voting, even more diffuse political 'tribes' and an all-encompassing internet. There is much which has been done, as the countless blogs and LD Voice attest in a small way.

Perhaps it is worth reflecting that New Labour wasn't anything special, just a massive effort, 100% commitment and a clear idea, which was, quite simply, victory. Plus, New Labour was able to ride exuberantly on the mighty wave of a Tory Party tearing itself to pieces to the delight of everyone else.

I also don't buy the inevitability of a Tory victory in the next General Election. They've done well but they remain a house of sand, built on nothing solid at all. Dave's quietly dropped the environment - it served its purpose, he's now the huskies' pin-up. But what else is there?

Typically, I don't have any answers, just a lot of uncertainty. What is reassuring is that the core LD party remains uniquely united, which is a superb basis for growth. Bring on Crewe and Nantwich!