How overseas liberals saw the UK general election
July 10, 2010 1:59 PM
The recent Lib Dem campaign successes, and the way 'Cleggmania' hit the UK after the first party leaders' television debate, was not lost on the foreign press nor on our sister parties in Europe and the Commonwealth.
We had many offers of help during the campaign - Gerald Vernon-Jackson brought over a team from Moldova to help in Portsmouth. They did speak good English! Scandinavians and Spaniards offered to send troops as well.
Foreign press coverage was thorough, and public interest was reflected in dozens of messages directed to Nick Clegg, either directly or through myself and the International Office during the campaign itself.
Afterwards, especially when the Liberal Democrats entered government, there were floods of congratulatory messages. People baffled by our unfair electoral system were delighted to see us break a glass ceiling and join the number of European Governments who have liberal ministers.
Our Catalan sister party, Convergencia i Unió, wished to capture the mood. Knowing that our other known Spanish speaker would be rather busy, I was invited to Barcelona at the height of the negotiations. Upon arrival, I was immediately interviewed by the daily Avui.
This was followed by a radio round table and then a public meeting hosted by Convergencia leader Artur Mas, which some 400 people attended to discuss the importance of climate change and sustainability policies in the Lib Dem and Convergencia manifestos. Catalans go to the polls in November and Convergencia are widely expected to sweep to power.
I then briefed a meeting in the party headquarters about the process of the election campaign and the breaking news of the deal done between ourselves and the Tories.
The following morning, the press was calling Convergencia asking for interviews. As I had limited time, I agreed to a radio session which lasted 10 minutes on the Barcelona equivalent of the Today programme, and then to take part in a televised round table which later made the lunchtime news.
Convergencia found that all of this was of real benefit to their own electoral campaign. The Lib Dems' standing in Europe has greatly increased. We were always the largest European party in terms of votes, but were recently eclipsed somewhat by the euphoria surrounding the FDP's entry into the German Government. We are eclipsed no more.
Robert Woodthorpe Browne
Chair International Relations Committee
Vice President on the Bureau of Liberal International
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