Standing outside Toynbee Hall in the East End of London, Josh Babarinde doesn’t exactly look like a rabble-rouser. But despite the well-cut suit and disarmingly large smile, the president of the Liberal Democrats is, apparently, up for a fight.
“There are big modern giants that are getting in the way of people’s ability to thrive, and it is the job of Liberal Democrats to address that,” says the 33-year-old. “How are we going to do that? Well, first of all, we’ve got to flip the table over and rise up.”
Flipping over tables is not behaviour normally associated with Liberal Democrat members, about 5,000 of whom are in Brighton for its annual conference this weekend.
But Babarinde, frequently described as a rising star in the party’s ranks, wants his comrades to channel the spirit of the great Liberal thinker William Beveridge, who finessed his radical ideas on social reform in the 141-year-old Whitechapel building.
Beveridge decried the five evils of want, disease, ignorance, squalor and idleness. However, Babarinde, the Eastbourne MP, is taking aim at targets from big tech to crypto billionaires. “People are looking for a force to help break some of those giants and give power and cash back to people who this country is meant to be working for,” he says.
That people are seeking alternatives to the status quo is undeniable, but whether they are looking at the Liberal Democrats is a matter of debate.
The historic 2024 election result gave the party 71 MPs, yet it has been stuck at about 11% in polls for months.
The Lib Dems gained 153 councillors in England in May and six seats in the Scottish parliament, although the party’s advances were more modest than those of the Greens and Reform UK. The Lib Dem leader, Ed Davey, also struggles to command attention. Lib Dem MPs grumble that Nigel Farage only has to sneeze to attract media covverage, while Davey has to resort to bungee jumping.
“You’ve got a very crowded multiparty system. You’ve got Reform saying any old shit in the media and getting coverage for it with no plan for delivering,” says Babarinde. “As Liberal Democrats, we’re not going to fall into that trap. But what we have got to be clear about is the diagnosis of the problem, who it is standing in the way and what needs to be done.”
He dismisses the idea that the party is yet to produce eye-catching retail policies – “There’s oodles and oodles of it!” – but says it needs to reach beyond its middle England strongholds with digital campaigning that is as strong as its much-envied ground game.
Babarinde, who has spoken about his mother being subjected to domestic abuse and how it shaped his politics, has experience engaging with hard-to-reach communities. He set up a social enterprise smartphone repair service staffed by former offenders and at-risk youth more than a decade ago, which earned him an OBE.
After a stroll through the East End, he points to the stand in Spitalfields market where they had pinned up sheets of A4 paper with “Cracked It” written across them in felt-tip, and laughs. “I would never have got my phone repaired there,” he says. “But when people were giving their money over … I was seeing these guys think: ‘Oh my God, wow! Someone wants my skills. They want what I can offer.’”
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Do the Lib Dems want what the ambitious Babarinde has to offer? Despite being elected in 2024, he was elevated to the role of president in November, giving him a vital say in strategy and organisation. He bats away the inevitable question about whether he would like the top job – but when asked if he is a natural leader, he smiles.
“I roll up my sleeves and get stuck in,” he says. “When I saw those young people in the East End prolifically involved in crime amid a lack of opportunities. I wasn’t waiting for someone to swoop in to come to address that issue. I decided to come up with a solution.”
So if the problem is that the Liberal Democrats – despite a seemingly advantageous political backdrop – are stuck on 11% in the polls, what does he see as the answer? “The solution is exactly what is in the strategy we’re talking about this week,” Babarinde says.
“I stood to be party president because I thought I had something to offer: to help develop a new strategy for the party so we can reach new heights.”
