LOCAL ELECTIONS
Welcome to the Liberal capital of Britain: rich and cosy Richmond
Megan Agnew
and
Harry Yorke
Sunday May 08 2022, 12.01am, The Sunday Times
Liberal Democrats
Fiona Collingwood has just been rowing on the Thames. It is a lovely morning in Richmond, the river wide and flat. On the path beside her are the usual Saturday sights: young parents pushing prams, people wending their way to coffee shops in yoga gear, families on bike rides.
In the spring of 2020, during the first lockdown, this same stretch of river was a “nightmare”. Collingwood said: “People with dogs on chains, lots of people from out of the borough, huge numbers of people gathering and the crime that came with it. A little like Downing Street at that same time, to be honest with you.”
Collingwood, 65, voted for the Liberal Democrats in last week’s elections because she believes in “law and order”. She wants to preserve the peace and greenery of her borough — “and morals are important”.
The Lib Dems are “coming for” constituencies like Richmond: leafy, affluent, liberal, socially conscious and environmentally friendly.
They finished with 48 seats in the borough last week, while the Conservatives lost all but one of their 11 councillors — nine to the Lib Dems and one to the Green Party. Although Richmond has historically been Liberal, it is still a considerable loss for the Tories. The party now controls its fewest London councils for 24 years.
The Lib Dem performance here has been replicated across England, with the party gaining 191 councillors — almost four times as many as Labour — including in dozens of seats in traditional Tory areas.
Party officials are particularly jubilant about taking control of Somerset county council, which has been in Conservative hands since 2009.
Elsewhere, the party has taken Hull city council, edging out Labour, while making further inroads into the “blue wall” in the southeast of England. Lib Dems pulled off a historic victory over the Tories in the Chesham and Amersham by-election last year.
The results last week far exceeded the expectations of Sir Ed Davey, the party leader, who had been hoping for 120 gains at best.
Davey acknowledged that the Downing Street parties scandal had angered traditional Tory voters in rural and southeastern strongholds. However, he said the Lib Dem success could be attributed to wider problems affecting voters, in particular the state of health services and the impact of the rising cost of living.
Yet back in Richmond, the question that remains unanswered is whether this is really a Lib Dem resurgence, of lukewarm comfort, of John Lewis politics — or is this simply Anything But Boris?
“Boris was breaking the very laws he made,” said Collingwood, her rowing gloves still on, carrying a coffee. “I have always voted Liberal, but the truth is, I would vote for anyone that would get the Tories out. I have no respect for them.”
Richmond had a Conservative council between 2010 and 2018, when the Liberal Democrats took power.
Davey is “OK”, said Dr Roger Kennedy, 73, a child psychiatrist who has lived in Twickenham for 26 years. “At least he’s lost some weight.”
Kennedy has always voted Liberal — in both local and general elections — partly because voting for Labour is “a waste”. People in Richmond cared deeply about the environment, he said. “It is a comfortable area, so people want trees.” The Lib Dems had five key promises in the area, one of which was environmental: to plant a “record number” of trees, insulate more buildings and improve air quality.
Early yesterday, a group of paddleboarders collected litter on the Thames. Great boughs from willow trees hung over the water, dotted with heron nests. Richmond Park, a short climb from the river, felt ancient.
This is a green, clean, comfortable area, the middle-class butt of the joke in the TV hit Ted Lasso, in which an American football coach takes charge of the fictional Richmond Premier League football team.
Emma, 33, who works in media, and Dave, 30, in marketing, are having a sushi picnic with their toddler on Richmond Green. They both voted Lib Dem.
“It’s not Boris necessarily that I’m against,” said Dave. “It’s the Conservatives. As long as they’re not in.”
Susannah, 42, thought the Lib Dems made Richmond residents feel “safe and cosy”. “This area is soft Conservative,” she said, “but you’d be mad if you weren’t completely fed up with the way that the Tories have messed up and continue to mess up, particularly with the embarrassment of partygate. It’s a soft Tory borough that has had enough.”
The high street is a familiar mixture of brightly lit chains: Costa, Five Guys, Tesco. Independent shops and cafés are hidden off the main drag, tucked down the cobbled streets. Many have recently shut down and stand empty and gutted.
One of the key Lib Dem promises is to invest in the high street, alongside tackling crime, investing in youth services and building more affordable homes — specifically for key workers and families in need.
Steve Robson, 65, a filmmaker, did not see a single Conservative campaign poster in the lead-up to the vote, despite his long walks with his new puppy, Barney. He voted yellow last week. “The Liberals have stayed very well out of all the arguments. They’ve always been a decent party for a long time, without any massive negative things happening.
“People here care a lot about social issues but they are also wealthy,” he said. “So it is historically Liberal. It makes sense.”
