"Jam And Jerusalem": Inside The Lib Dem Media Strategy
8 min read
While MPs have voiced concerns over their party’s strategy, the Lib Dem media team tell Sophie Church they are sticking with the programme. Illustration by Tracy Worrall
Having just returned 72 MPs to Westminster at the general election – a more impressive victory than some party figures ever imagined – the Liberal Democrats’ autumn conference last year was a joyous affair.
But now, questions over the party’s strategy are troubling MPs. Is being Westminster’s ‘nice’ party the right approach? Could the party be bolder in the voting lobbies? Should they copy Reform UK’s media tactics?
The Lib Dem media team is certain its ‘more tortoise than hare’ strategy will fend off Nigel Farage, and see it gobble up more Conservative seats come the next general election.
The House understands the party is now pursuing a ‘Jam and Jerusalem’ narrative: targeting voters who are proudly British yet turned off by Reform UK.
Having an Ed Davey interview just after a Madonna song and before Teenage Dirtbag is so much better than leaning into Wato
“One of the key things that we’ve been trying to get across recently has been a sense of patriotism, but done in a very different way to Reform,” says a member of the Liberal Democrats’ media team.
“It’s about bringing a sense of optimism about our country, with Farage wanting to put it down – and that’s really aimed at Conservative-leaning women. So similar to ‘Waitrose Women’ [a target demographic group for the party at the last election] but slightly broader. I think the closest terms we have come to it is a ‘Jam and Jerusalem’ conservative.”
Such terms come straight from the playbook of Lib Dem campaign director Dave McCobb, in place since 2020.
It was McCobb who coined the Lib Dems’ ‘Gail’s Strategy’ during the election campaign last year, which saw the party direct efforts in any seat with a Gail’s bakery.
McCobb also launched ‘Operation Broad Church’ before the local elections, a campaign aimed at those angered by Labour’s imposition of VAT on church repairs.
“We have been encouraging campaigners, when they are knocking on doors for the election, to emphasise the pride they place in being the type of person ‘who is good at fixing their church roof’,” McCobb wrote, in an internal party memo seen by The Times.
Party insiders were particularly pleased with a recent image of leader Ed Davey, standing on a village green, cricket bat in hand, celebrating the Lib Dems ousting the Tories to become Wiltshire council’s largest party. This was a perfect encapsulation of the space the Liberal Democrats are trying to occupy, says the media team member.
“That shot of Ed where he was playing cricket with a church behind him appeals to people who don’t really like Nigel Farage, have a sense of decency and fair play, have loyally voted Conservative in the past but really worry about the sense of direction under Kemi Badenoch – that she’s chasing Reform’s tail.
“It’s really the group of voters that stuck with the Tories last year that we think are still there for the taking.”
The Lib Dems are now ruthlessly using regional news media to catch the ear of Jam and Jerusalem types as they perform the school run, or come in from a weekend day in the garden.
“Genuinely, if you were to ask me, would I rather that Ed did a round on local BBC radio stations, or Ed was to appear on World At One,” a party source says, referring to BBC Radio 4 programme Wato, “I would say local radio stations.”
“The music on these stations is very varied; it tends to be an older demographic listening,” they add. “Having an Ed Davey interview just after a Madonna song and before Teenage Dirtbag is so much better than leaning into Wato, or even the Today programme or PM, or these sorts of programmes, where a lot of listeners have already made up their minds about how they are going to vote in the next election.”
The party’s backroom numbers have swelled in line with its increased number of MPs. The Lib Dems have also revived their regional media offices – which were disbanded in 2010.
“A lot of our focus really is on building up: making sure our MP is doing that local and regional campaigning, which they’re all doing, but making sure that it’s getting that regional level broadcast coverage as much as anything else,” says another member of the Lib Dem media team.
These teams are working with MPs to make “fortresses” of their constituencies. Each week, an MP who has performed particularly well is rewarded with a KitKat, The House is told.
“Somebody might have got the KitKat if they just had a really awful week personally and has continued to do a great job,” Chichester MP Jess Brown-Fuller says.
“Or, for example, when Josh [Babarinde] had his huge win in getting the law changed and having domestic abuse added as an aggravated assault or offence, it was just an acknowledgement from the chair that colleagues were doing things that quite often fell under the radar.
“Colleagues can nominate other colleagues that they think have done something that was a bit of an unsung hero moment that might have been missed,” she adds.
While the party sees itself as the “antidote” to Reform, it is keen to emulate its success on social media.
Before the election, the Lib Dems brought in Australian political communications officer Spencer Hurley to help Davey’s comms efforts. The party’s wider communications team has doubled in size since the election, with a full-time member of staff now managing the Lib Dems’ TikTok content.
“We’re finding Ed’s getting really, really large amounts of traction on platforms like TikTok,” says one Lib Dem media team member. “We have seen a slight uptick in support for us in some of the polling amongst younger age groups, like 18- to 25-year-olds.”
New MPs are also making their mark. Maidenhead MP Joshua Reynolds went “really viral” on TikTok, they say, after interrogating fast-fashion manufacturer Shein at a Business and Trade Select Committee hearing.
Culture, media and sport Lib Dem spokesperson Max Wilkinson posted a video on social media of him performing keepy-uppies, while promoting the party’s amendment on free-to-air Premier League games.
Given the popularity of Davey’s stunts in the general election campaign, backbenchers following in his footsteps – or paddleboard strokes – seems a sound strategy. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” says the Liberal Democrat media source.
But with their position in the polls stagnating, does the party need to show a grittier side? “Are we going to be shouting and saying mean stuff about people? No, we’re not – that isn’t who Ed is,” says the party source firmly. “There are people in this party who doubted that we would have a successful general election last time, and they were proved to be wrong. They doubted the way Ed approached politics – they were proved to be wrong.”
But the party is increasingly going on the offensive. In June, Davey met with BBC boss Tim Davie in Parliament to complain about the broadcaster’s coverage of Reform UK, PoliticsHome reported. “I have to say the BBC has got to raise its game to expose Nigel Farage,” the Lib Dem leader later said in a live interview on the channel.
While Tory-held constituencies remain the priority, the Lib Dems say they are now seeing breakthroughs in Reform-leaning territory too. “We definitely feel like some areas – particularly in Northern areas, places like Hull – that it’s started to be the emergence of a fight between the Lib Dems and Reform,” says the Lib Dem media team member.
The party has noticed Reform UK giving a wide berth to Lib Dem-held areas that would seem ripe for the taking. Eastbourne, with rising star Babarinde as its MP and a borough council led by the Lib Dems, is a good example.
“On paper, you think it would be the kind of place that can have quite Reform-supporting demographics, but the fact we’ve got such a strong presence there has kept them at bay,” they add.
Back in the Liberal Democrats’ Vincent Square headquarters, a clock is counting down the days until the next local elections. ‘The One Poll That Matters’ – a slogan referring to the next general election – appears on briefing documents and is thrown around in conversation.
“The approach we’re taking is still yielding really positive electoral results,” says the Lib Dem media team member. “We’ve overtaken the Conservatives in local government. We think we’re on track to do that at the next general election as well.”
