But you wouldn't know it from the Association of Liberal Democrat Councillors' report on Lib Dem Voice:
On Surrey Heath Borough Council, Lib Dem candidate Jacques Olmo came agonisingly close to beating the Conservatives in Frimley Green ward. Well done to Jacques and the team for winning 47% of the vote. But sadly, they were just 19 votes shy of the Conservatives.
You would be somewhat better informed by the post on the blog written by Mark Pack, the president of our party. (May he live for ever.)
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Under the headline:
Conservatives gain seat from Lib Dems after Ukip no-show
Mark writes of
a rare Liberal Democrat loss to the Conservatives after a recount and helped by the absence of Ukip this time:
Commiserations to Jacques Olmo and the team for getting so close but not quite making it in this contest in Michael Gove’s constituency.
But if you go to the indispensable by-election preview written by Andrew Teale, you will find that Ukip didn't have that much to do with it.
The result last time this three-member ward was fought (May 2019) was:
Lib Dems 1019/1012/889
Cons 601/568/519
Ukip 269
Pirate Party 190
Given that demolishing the Tories' blue wall is our only apparent strategy, this is a deeply disappointing result.
My worry is that if we are not honest about how badly we are doing then the party will continue to dwindle.
It reminds me of the way we reacted to the collapse of 2015 by tweeting incessantly about the #LibDemFightback.
Having convinced ourselves it was a real phenomenon, we were shocked when our vote went down at the 2017 election.
