Lions Led by Donkeys

This is an opinion piece written by William Francis, a member of the Radical Association’s board. It was first published on 12th June 2026.

Popularised by the historian Alan Clark, the titular term was used to contrast the bravery of ordinary British soldiers during the Great War with the ineptitude of the general staff. In recent years, this view has been challenged by historians who have argued that the British general staff proved far more innovative than their earlier historical reputations suggest. Certainly, the phrase holds truer of the Austrian, Russian, and Italian high commands, who time and time again delivered countless thousands of young men to early graves through unimaginative strategies, best exemplified by General Luigi Cadorna’s 12 battles to seize the Isonzo River.

The trajectory of 2020s British Liberalism is not yet fixed, but many Liberal Democrats feel that we are at risk of falling afoul of this military metaphor. On the ground, dedicated activists are expected to achieve spectacular electoral results (which they often deliver), whilst Buckingham Gate (where party headquarters currently resides), though industrious in producing social media content, timidly navigates the media landscape, refusing to offer a coherent narrative. Our deliverers, canvassers, connect analysts, and councillors have carried the party from near extinction to the strongest we have been since the 1920s, whilst HQ has done little with these gains to articulate a vision for a Liberal Britain. The odd imaginative post from official party accounts may show an underappreciated flair, but this is the exception to the rule, not the norm (which is increasingly defined by AI slop).

The Lions

Before the 2026 local elections, no other party has a higher ratio of members to councillors, even when taking registered supporters into account. These are the Liberal Lions who are the bedrock upon which the Liberal movement in Britain is based.

These are the very people who helped the Ealing Liberal Democrats canvass 10% of a target ward on Saturday, 22nd November, who have catapulted the Lincoln Liberal Democrats from obscurity to official opposition status, and spearheaded numerous parliamentary by-election victories in recent years from Chesham & Amersham to Tiverton and Honiton. I have met many of these Liberal Lions; from elderly party veterans who have canvassed across London, to Young Liberals working diligently to boost the party’s membership, and those aged somewhere in between who keep the logistics of local party delivery networks going.

Liberal Lions can also be seen in other data sets. Tim Bale’s Footsoldiers: Political Party Membership in the 21st Century provides an invaluable window into the party members in the mid-to-late 2010s. In terms of time spent campaigning, more Liberal Democrat members said they’d committed over 40 hours per week to it than members of other parties in 2015 and 2017. Liberal Democrat members had the second-highest Activism Index and Campaign Activism rating in 2015 and 2017. The joke among activists that the party is a leaflet delivery cult has a degree of truth. Over 44% of party members have delivered leaflets in 2015 and 2017, more so than any other party.

I have met countless unsung heroes of the party; a Lincolnshire councilor who has been a community champion in one of the poorest wards in the county, a London Councilor who has proudly supported residential development despite local NIMBY opposition, a Young Liberal who has built strong relationships between us and our sister parties in Europe and Asia, an Asylum Seeker whose is an active member of Liberal International who traveled to the East Midlands to support a crucial council by-election, the brave souls who endured bureaucratic minutia of English Council, and the numerous students who help craft content for social media.

All these people and countless more have ensured we have more MPs than at any other time since the 1920s. Unfortunately, the leadership of the party they have worked so hard for takes them for granted.

It demands too much and gives too little in return.

The Donkeys

Amid a collapsing support for the two major parties following the 2024 General Election, the Liberal Democrats have seen little momentum in national polls, with Reform UK and now the Greens leading the charge. Both parties capture the media’s attention, whilst the Liberal Democrats see little in the way of coverage. Whilst the party can show evidence of progress, this is not evidence of Buckingham Gate’s strategic genius. The strong showing in local by-elections is more attributable to the logistical and tactical acumen of local and regional parties, as well as ALDC, than the party’s leadership.

There was merit in the strategy of staying quiet. Loss aversion is perfectly natural, especially after such a massive electoral victory. Not to mention gains can be made by merely holding steady amid. Numerous election projections showed that the Liberal Democrats are within spitting distance of becoming the official opposition despite polling remaining essentially unchanged since the 2024 general election.

However, such a strategy has proven to have a very low ceiling. The recent local elections showed that we made gains in places where we already had significant support, such as Sutton and Richmond, but failed to break through in areas where we should have been able to capitalise on the collapse of the LabCon duopoly, such as Southwark, Gateshead, and Gosport.

Furthermore, there are only 27 parliamentary seats where the party is in second place. Even if it were able to win all of them and emerge as the official opposition, the party would not have any room to grow further. In the current fractured political landscape, it will be vulnerable to a resurgent Conservative, Labour, or Reform UK and more dependent on 60,000 irreplaceable Liberal Lions.

However, the party's dependence on these Liberal Lions is lost on Buckingham Gate.

Rather than offering red meat (or a suitably hearty vegan/vegetarian equivalent), the party expects its Liberal Lions to subsist on the ideological equivalent of thin gruel. Rather than making the case for Liberalism, official communications are more interested in technocratic solutions and appeals towards an increasingly small number of Tory centrists (who would have been won over by our commitment to liberal values if they were compatible with our party). Rather than respect the Lion's role in crafting policy via conference, the leadership makes up policy on the fly; from opposing a potential mansion tax (a policy famously backed by the Orange Book contributor Sir Vince Cable), to a poorly conceived approach to crush Treasury dominance. Whilst many Liberal Lions have tolerated this state of affairs in the wake of the spectacular 2024 election results, many have started to grow frustrated. One former Federal Conference Committee member declared to me that “the Davey Train cares not a f**k about conference”, when expressing his dismay at the way that Buckingham Gate treats internal party democracy. Another lion has admitted that HQ’s gruel made her less willing to help out in a local council by-election, something that HQ should keep in mind, given its preference for using local by-election victories as evidence of its success.

The Charge of the Lions

A party that relies on a strong media campaign backed by funding from well-organised producer interests need not worry about their activists. After all, they are not relied upon to gain power, and a desire for power already tempers their ideological convictions. However, we have neither the funding nor the position in the electoral system to draw those who prioritise political power over a commitment to values and vision.

Only recently has the party HQ come to realise that it cannot have its cake and eat it. A recent email by CEO Mike Dixon has argued that the party has an ineffective media strategy, compared to the insurgent Greens and Reform UK, and that there are limitations to relying on a labour-intensive campaigning model with increasingly alienated activists.

The Liberal Lions must lead the charge themselves in reforming the party. Fortunately, the Federal Board has allowed them to do so in the next few days.

We should seize it wholeheartedly.