The Liberal Democrats risk finding themselves on the wrong side of history. They wait generations for a popular uprising against the political establishment and when it finally comes, as it did on June 23, the party finds itself on the same side as JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs. Having been defeated in that referendum, the LibDems appear to want our future outside of the EU to be decided on a “best of three” basis.

Worse still, the Liberal Democrats’ prescriptions for society’s problems are just not very liberal. In fact, they are incredibly conservative.

The solution to the perennial crisis in the monolithic and centralised National Health Service is to make it even larger and to fund it even more generously. A liberal solution would be to look across the channel, learn from our European neighbours and give far more choice and power to individuals at a local level. If there is to be a hypothecated national tax to prop up the NHS, a liberal should be comfortable in allowing individuals to opt out.