The Leadership of David Laws was initially considered a breathe of fresh air following the disappointing conclusion of Charles Kennedy. Young, handsome, and one of the intellects behind the Orange Book, many thought that when he took the leadership he would lead a revival in the Parties dwindling fortunes, much like his Conservative counter part, Tim Collins, had done for his Party half a decade before. Instead, he would prove not to be the steady hand that would steer the Party back to clear blue waters, but instead instead one who would steer the ship towards the rocks.
Born in Surrey to a banking family, after attending Cambridge and a brief period working for various banking companies, Laws fell into politics, joining the Liberal Democrats as their economic advisor in 1994, and contesting Ann Widecombe's seat of Maidstone and The Weald a short three year later, though failed to overturn her nine-thousand vote majority. In 1999, Laws would take part in negotiating the Scottish Parliamentary Coalition between Labour and the Liberal Democrats, and later that same year entered the European Parliament as an MEP for the South East. He would step down in 2004 to contest the Constituency of Havant in the anticipated 2005 General Election. However, when the election was postponed for the next year, he would redirect his focus on co-editing
The Orange Book, a collection of essays written by prominent members of the Liberal Democrats- such as then Treasury Spokesman Vince Cable- that sketched out a new guiding philosophy for the party, one that pushed it away from the dominant Beveridge-Keynes clique and towards more traditionally social, economic, and culturally liberal thought.
The Orange Book proved highly successful, and was credited with reviving the 'liberal debate' in England, with much of the economic policy outlined finding itself in the 2006 Liberal Democrats Manifesto, commonly known as
The Yellow Bible.
In the 2006 General Election Laws would enter parliament after defeating then Shadow Works and Pensions Secretary David Willetts, and, alongside a wave of MEP's entering Parliament, he quickly found himself on the Frontbench, serving under Kennedy as Spokesperson for Justice from 2007 to 2010. In this role, Laws gained prominence due to his vocal criticisms of the Governments Prison scheme, clashing with then Justice Minister and future Prime Minister John Brecow both in and out of Parliament. He would suddenly lose his position in 2010, when he was famously removed from the Frontbench as a result of the failed plot to replace Charles Kennedy as Leader, replaced with his political ally Chris Huhne. Following the 2011 General Elections and Kennedy's resignation, Laws announced his intention to run as the 'Orange Book candidate', promising a bold vision for the Parties future. Unusually, he would campaign for the leadership with a 'running mate', Lynne Featherstone, who was herself running for the Deputy Leadership after Cable made it clear he intended to step down from the position in the aftermath of the December General Election. Featherstone was an unexpected choice- not a member of the Orange Bookers, and an ally of leadership hopeful Chris Huhne, many would see this as Laws attempting to act as a unity candidate and outmanoeuvre Huhne's, who was among his strongest rivals. Whatever the intention, both would win their elections by decisive margins, with Laws trouncing Huhne, Lembit Öpik, and Norman Lamb for leadership.
Without hesitating, Laws would set out to reshape the Party, with the Frontbench undergoing a major reshuffle. Clegg would return to Foreign Affairs, Mark Oaten would be given Justice, Ed Davey Local Affairs, Huhne's would be sent to Home Affairs, whilst Featherstone was given Education. Others, such as Steve Webb and Michael Moore, would be given Energy and Scottish. It was clear to most that the new Frontbench was predominately composed of Orange Bookers. Much like Kennedy's reshuffle in the wake of the 2006 General Election, the media would hail the reshuffle as a sign 'the Liberal Democrats are getting serious', though some would voice concern at the ideological cull. Laws would dismiss this concern, claiming that he was prepared to listen to all voices in the Party.
The 2012 Local Elections would be the testing ground of Laws' Leadership, and whether his new approach had appeal. In England, the results were encouraging, with a steady net increase in Council Seats, though this was juxtaposed by a loss of control in some Councils. The Conservatives were able to keep firm against any particularly damaging loses, whilst Labour- now under the leadership of Jon Cruddas- struggled, still reeling from the aftershocks of Miliband. In Scotland, the results were a similar story, with Labour struggling as the SNP and Scottish Conservatives flexed their muscles, whilst the Liberal Democrats made modest gains. Through the rest of the year, the party struggled in the Middlesbrough, Croydon North, and Bradford West by-elections, coming fourth in Middlesbrough and third in the latter two. They would have some success in the London Assembly elections, with three list seats, although the Mayoral Candidate Mike Tuffrey came fourth behind the victorious incumbent John Major, Labour's Oona King, and 'London First!' leader Zac Goldsmith.
During this time, the shape of Laws leadership began taking a more solid form. His public persona took a tone reminiscent of that of Menzies Campbell's- a dignified, well groomed, statesman like leader who walked upright and was quick on his feet, though distinctly less stoic than Campbell, though more restrained than his predecessor. He would find the set of
Have I Got News For You as comfortable as
Question Time, and was generally seen as an amiable in the media. But the public didn't appreciate this, finding fault in Laws, seeing him as a Cambridgite elitist in tailored suits, one told them what was best for them and the country. At a time of belt tightening austerity, it was hard for people to not be put off, and, when the Liberal Democrats supported Government measures such as the Parliamentary Constituency Act of 2013, he was derided as an 'Orange Tory'. His open views on a small government and a small public sector would do little to cast of such derision, though compared to the distinctly Haguite policies of the Collins Premiership, there was something appealing in the Orange Book Liberal. This appeal can perhaps explain part of the Liberal Democrats surge of support in the 2013 Local Elections, with some 700 Council Seats gained against Conservatives loss of 1,200 and Labour's more paltry gains of only 300 seats. The rest would be picked up by UKIP- now under the leadership of London Assemblyman Gerald Batten- and various minor parties that were seeing a surge as people desperately looked for alternatives. A more pressing part of this success would come from the double-dip recession of April, and the subsequent revelation in News of the World that Eric Pickles, then Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs, had been claiming a second home a short drive from his then current home, forcing him to resign from his Cabinet position. This scandal, whilst now seem as fairly minor in comparison to the more wild expenses uncovered in the next year, is significant as it marks the beginning one of the more dramatic episodes of modern British Politics.
2014 was consequently dominated by two major political scandals; the uncovering of the Savile Sexual Abuse Conspiracy, and the Members Expenses Scandal (both have been covered in-depth in Part I, Chapter 5, 'Collins'. This section will focus mainly on the Liberal Democrats). The former, concerning the cover-up by the Thatcher Government of sexual abuses committed by the late Sir Jimmy Saville and other prominent public figures, including former members of the House, struck a blow against the Government due to the extent of the abuse and the complacency of the Thatcher administration. The revelation of this conspiracy would also cause harm to the Liberal Democrats, as among those who enjoyed protected by the Government were the late party grandees Cyril Smith and Clement Freud. The question of the Leadership's knowledge and complacency in the cover-up of abuse would be bought to the attention of the press, with Laws forced to defend his Party and the character of past leader David Steel during a now infamous exchange with Conservative MP Katie Hopkins on
Question Time. It is likely that these difficulties resulted in the Liberal Democrats underwhelming results in the 2014 Local Elections, with Cruddas' Labour, yet untouched by the scandals, charging ahead of both the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats. In the Welsh Assembly, the Liberal Democrats results were disappointing, with little change in seats; some had expected that Plaid would seek the Liberal Democrats to continue their Government, but instead a strong resurgence in Labour would narrow them out on a Constituency level, and the next Welsh Government was formed with Labour and Plaid. The results in Yorkshire would be dire- a near wipeout if not for list representation, with United Yorkshire pulling into second, overtaking the Conservatives and UKIP to form a coalition with Labour.
Things would only get worse; David Ward, MP for Bradford East, would ultimately resign his seat following a series of poorly chosen remarks relating to the then ongoing Israeli-Syrian Conflict in June. A few weeks later at the start of July, Chris Huhne was killed in a car accident. Whilst the Party held Huhne's seat of Eastleigh, they would have no such luck in Bradford East, which was gained by Labour in a humiliating defeat. Mark Oaten would be forced to resign from the Frontbench when it was reported he had been engaging in 'unprintable' acts with prostitutes. Steve Webb would take Huhne's place on Home Affairs whilst the Justice Spokesmanship was given to Michael Moore. Shortly after the Summer, the Members Expenses Scandal turned its attention from the Government benches to the Opposition, with the Liberal Democrats having their dirty laundry aired last; Second Homes, throw pillows, plasma TV's, parking tickets, a literal shopping list, over the latter half of 2014 and into the New Year Laws would be forced to face embarrassing questions over his MPs expenses in a string of Committees and press interviews. As a result, Laws became more bitter towards his Frontbench, reportedly giving his close friend Nick Clegg a verbal dressing down when Clegg was revealed to have used his expenses to cover gardening and redecorating. However, shortly before Christmas, perhaps the most damaging claim would be revealed; Laws had been misclaiming expenses on a second home for his partner in the City, as well as a holiday home in France. Whilst it was initially misreported that his partner was his "secret-lover" and the home was a "love nest" (it was in fact for his Civil Partner, though few in the press were aware that Laws was in a Civil Partnership), he had none the less violated Parliamentary Rules over expense claims for properties. Hauled before the Standards and Privileges Committee, he would be found in breech of the rules, and in February was suspended from Parliament. Laws officially resigned the Leadership after the ruling, with Lynne Featherstone succeding him first in her capacity as Deputy, and then as Leader in her own right.
Laws would return to Parliament a few weeks later, his behaviour during the period noted as 'impeccable'. Some expected him to contest the subsequent Leadership election, however this was seen as unlikely given the circumstances. As Featherstone took her place as Leader, she decided against bringing him back to the Frontbench, preferably to replace Vince Cable, though he didn't seem to hold this against her. According to some sources, he was secretly involved in the negotiations between the British Government and Scottish Government over the matter of the Scottish Independence Referendum. He was among the Liberal Democrats loses in the 2016 General Election, and since leaving Parliament has been involved in an updated edition of the Orange Book, and is currently Chair of the pressure group 'Reform'.
Despite his initial success, Laws' Leadership is ultimately remembered for bringing the Party into disrepute, the scandals that ended his Leadership indicative of the Parties decline as a national force. In the coming months, the trustworthiness of the Party and the Leadership was under question, with Featherstone unable to shake the legacy of her predecessor, with opponents using the question of trust to carve deep into the Party. Ultimately, Laws' leadership is remembered for its ending, and the dire effect it would have on the Party in the coming years.
