It will seem like heresy to devout tribalists, but I’m unconvinced the future of the Liberal Democrats right now is to act with the same value-free obsession with optics, chasing populism rather than leading public opinion, being guided by focus groups and public relations gurus rather than values, as has clearly captivated the Conservatives and Labour.

This autumn the Liberal Democrats should demonstrate a determination to lead, not follow; to uphold strong values and inspire hope. The preamble to our constitution commits us to build a society in which “no one shall be enslaved poverty, ignorance or conformity”.

Though Labour has prospered through effectively rebranding itself as the Not-the-Conservative-Party Party, they’ve done so through adopting the contemporary received political wisdom of concentrating on almost value-free, pragmatic campaign methodologies. Though I acknowledge this has delivered astounding electoral success. Political parties don’t so much win because of the brilliance of their outstanding manifestos, as that they are perceived less-bad than the alternative. Opposition parties don’t so much win as governing parties lose.

Though the bar was of course set extremely low, there are early signs that Labour may indeed be less-bad. But their evident anxiety of again haemorrhaging support in so-called “red wall” seats has already caused them to play the dodgy game of seeking to out-dog-whistle the Tories on asylum policy; prepared to effectively endorse rather than confront far-right narratives. That they’re also prepared to cut winter fuel allowance from thousands of older people who they must know will struggle this winter, is plain wrong.

If the Liberal Democrats don’t occupy the space which champions our values – to combat widening inequality; to promote the politics of kindness, not suspicion and judgementalism; to be determined to save and rebuild our NHS and public services; to promote social justice and a more equal society; to lead action necessary to combat the climate emergency – we will not so much let ourselves down, as fail our country. We could of course adopt the same cynical view of the larger parties and view our job as a market relations challenge, of adopting market-tested formulations, avoiding difficult decisions and jumping on bandwagons.

While we’re adapting to our improved position, the welcome parliamentary successes, it’s important the Party doesn’t adopt a view that our next challenge is one of centrally-controlled brand development rather than delivery of core values; we mustn’t follow the others by establishing a management strategy built on brand conformity, calibrating policy formulations guided by market-testing.

Ed Davey ran a successful campaign because he was prepared to poke fun at a media which has long become more interested in ‘stories’ than the pursuit of truth. Now we need to be just as bold and distinctive by promoting our values with the same self-confidence. Alongside this Liberal Democrats must face-down the rise of the far-right. Because if we don’t, it’s clear no one else will. I’m sure we’ll be cheered along by many uncomfortable MPs on Labour’s backbenches.