The Sunday Times reports (£) that the reason missed that vote the other night was because he was at a meeting discussing the formation of a new centre party.

A few brief thoughts from me:

First of all, I think that if it is finally going to get off the ground, @libdems need to know about and work with it where it shares our values. It would be daft to stand against each other in an anti-Brexit election.

It may be that we can only work together on the anti-Brexit stuff because @libdems couldn’t work closely with a party that didn’t have a clear strategy to tackle poverty and inequality, tackle climate change, reform our political system & champion human rights & civil liberties.

So it’s very sensible for Vince to be in the discussions. He may be telling them that the best thing they can do is join the Liberal Democrats because we already have the campaign infrastructure and the Commons presence and experience.

If Vince wants @libdems to co-operate closely with any new party – and we’ve heard about lots of these which have never got off the ground – he will have to persuade our Conference to vote for it and there will be some spirited resistance.

It will not be easy for him to convince us to work with a new centrist party. We need to have much more information about it. And none of us wants to end up as the smile on the face of the tiger.

And, yes, Vince should have been at that vote. He knows that and it won’t happen again. A genuine mistake, owned and taken responsibility for in a candid manner. Refreshing to see these days. I’m over that now. And he has done so much more to oppose Brexit every day than, say, the Leader of Her Majesty’s Official Opposition, who has been waving the Tories’ ridiculous plans through.

A final thought – we’re in this politics game to change the world, to get rid of poverty, ignorance and conformity. We should work with others where we can to achieve that. Let’s see what’s on offer and decide then.

UPDATE: Vince was on spectacular form on Pienaar’s Politics. I can imagine the mischievous glint in his eye as he said he was spending the Summer on a staycation, plotting.

I couldn’t have asked more from him in that interview. He was clear that he wanted the Lib Dems to be at the forefront of a realignment of British politics that he sees as inevitable given the fractures in Conservative and Labour parties but he explicitly, as you would expect, ruled out joining a new party. He said that he had a good oarty of his own that was winning the arguments.

He also dismissed the idea of plots against him as “ridiculous” saying that he has a united, cohesive team of people working with him. He is right. Parliamentary Party is the most united I have ever known it.

The really great thing about what he said is that it is our absolute priority and preoccupation to stop Brexit. He said it several times.

It was one of his strongest performances. It isn’t like him to get through an entire interview completely on message!

Another good point was that he was very honest in admitting that missing that vote was a mistake and it wouldn’t happen again. It’s a pity that those who have put us in this appalling mess over Brexit can’t admit their catastrophic error.

UPDATE 2

Here’s what Vince has to say on today’s story:

The Liberal Democrats have a strong tradition of working with others across the political spectrum, to do the right thing. Very often, we have led a debate and found others coming in behind us. It happened with our opposition to the illegal war in Iraq; it happened on cutting income tax for the lowest earners; and now it’s happening on Brexit too. Our campaign for the people to get the final say on any Brexit deal was once derided by the political establishment. Now, more and more people are joining forces with us to get an exit from Brexit. But something broader is happening too. I have always said that Brexit could lead to some form of realignment, since it has exposed so brutally the fact that there are really at least two Conservative parties, and at least two Labour parties, all fighting like rats in a sack. In that environment, I think it right that Liberal Democrats should set tribalism aside to work with others who share our values. That does not mean that there should be a new party. Britain already has the big, strong, liberal, centrist political force – it is called the Liberal Democrats. Thanks to our 100,000 members, we are the strongest grassroots voice in Britain speaking out against Brexit and demanding a new and better politics. As the political landscape changes, I am determined that our party should win new support from the millions of people who are political liberals, but have not yet been persuaded to vote Liberal Democrat. Our party’s future is as a commanding force in the centre of British politics. Join us now to be a part of it. https://libdems.secure.force.com/Libe…/NewMemberRegistration

* Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings