Today’s LibDem annual report for 2020, published this morning by the Electoral Commission, does not make for happy reading. At the very end of the 25-page audit, the party reveals that in one year their membership collapsed from 126,724, to 98,247 – a fall of 22.5%. Who knew Jo Swinson was such a pull factor…

Labour’s membership figures are also down, albeit by a surprisingly small amount of just 1.7% from 532,046 to 523,046. They can – and do – at least boast that “party membership reached a new record high in February, at the time of the Leadership contest.” 

The Tories are the only party of the big three to keep quiet on their specific membership figures, which would usually imply they’re covering up bad news. On the contrary, they claim “membership of the Party remained stable compared to other post-election years with members and wider supporter base responding well to a programme of virtual events and grassroot fundraisers”. The real story will come this time next year when we see how the Labour membership responded to Starmer’s leadership in 2021…