The Liberal Democrat party of Russia and the Liberal Democrat party of the United Kingdom are not, on the face of it, natural bedfellows. Google declares that the latter’s main policies are ‘healthcare reform, the replacement of Ofwat and closer integration with Europe’. The former’s main policies are the shooting of political opponents, the deportation of all Chechens and something they ominously term ‘imperial reconquest’.

The problem with the Widdecombe suspect’s ‘fair trial’

The radical left-wing takeover of the Democrats is nearly complete

Andy Burnham’s centrist act isn’t fooling anyone

However, as unlikely as it may seem, they are not without their similarities. Both have been accused – not without some justification – of being neither liberal nor democratic. Crucially, one of the main charges critics level against the Russian Lib Dems is that they are part of the nation’s ‘systemic opposition’: essentially fellow parties who give the appearance of a functioning democracy whilst only ever actually voting with the regime. Now doesn’t that sound familiar?

In fairness to the Lib Dems, it wasn’t ever thus. Few did more in the Commons to undermine the premiership of Gordon Brown than Sir Vince Cable – who famously decried the Prime Minister’s transition ‘from Stalin to Mr Bean’. However, the leadership of Sir Ed Davey has marked a particular nadir. Even as Labour MPs such as Diane Abbott, Rachel Maskell, Florence Eshalomi and Karl Turner held Sir Keir Starmer’s feet to the fire in the House of Commons, Davey could be relied upon to deliver craven, easy-to-bat-off non-questions. His number two, Daisy Cooper, invariably does a better job of holding the government to account at Deputy PMQs. Inevitably Davey........

© The Spectator