Well this is a bit different from Nick Boles, the minister who once called for a Tory-LibDem pact. He now says he was wrong to do so, but wants a National Liberal Party instead, in a speech to the Cameroon Bright Blue group he said:
“My question is this. Is it impossible for us to contemplate reviving the National Liberal Party, or something like it, as a an affiliate of the Conservative Party, which only puts up candidates for election jointly with the Conservative Party? Existing MPs, councillors, candidates and party members of liberal views would be encouraged to join. And we could use it to recruit new supporters who might initially balk at the idea of calling themselves Conservative. In three-way marginals and the key target seats that we have to take off the Liberal Democrats, an explicit National Liberal pitch might make the difference between victory and defeat.”
