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Andrew Russell, The Liberal Democrat Campaign, Parliamentary Affairs, Volume 58, Issue 4, October 2005, Pages 743–756, https://doi.org/10.1093/pa/gsi067
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IN the immediate aftermath of the 2005 general election, Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy hailed the party’s performance, claiming that ‘we now live in an era of three party politics’, while a BBC political correspondent was quick to claim, ‘Charles Kennedy has every reason to be delighted with the Liberal Democrats’ performance in the general election’.1 The Liberal Democrats increased both their representation in parliament and their share of the vote. The only party to increase their share of the vote in every region of Britain, they took seats from both of their main political rivals. Kennedy was the most popular of all three party leaders, and the public’s assessment of the party’s election campaign—unlike that for their opponents—was favourable throughout. Yet as the dust settled on the campaign it was clear that the Liberal Democrats had fallen short of their ambitions in 2005. Their electoral advance was skewed both politically and geographically; the Liberal Democrats had won a considerable amount of votes from Labour but had fared much worse against the Conservatives. Moreover, the detail of the party’s results actually posed as many questions as it answered on the future strategy of the party.
