ALTHOUGH eight months remain before Gordon Brown must call a general election, the sequence of three Party Conferences -- which began yesterday with the Liberal Democrats and continues next weekend with Labour and on 5 October with the Conservatives -- will go a long way to clarifying the issues that are likely to dominate the election when it takes place. The LibDem leader Nick Clegg made a good start yesterday by posing this question: Were you one of the millions who turned to New Labour in 1997? Were you excited by the progressive promise? Did you believe that the ideals of fairness, social mobility, sustainability, civil rights and internationalism would finally have their day?
His valid point, of course, is that you haven't got what you wanted from Labour and are unlikely to get it from the Conservatives -- so vote LibDem. In theory the LibDems should have a better chance of making an electoral impression next time than for many, many years past. Labour is in the doldrums and the Conservatives still have to produce detailed policies if they are to turn their opinion poll lead into a working parliamentary majority.
Although Mr Clegg cannot realistically talk of the LibDems forming a government themselves there is no reason why his party should not do well enough to claim a share of power in a hung parliament. He has the great advantage of having in Vince Cable the most respected parliamentary spokesman on economic matters.