I've been thinking about Daisy Cooper's summing-up speech in the #ldconf Europe debate earlier, and if the party leadership do believe in one part of what she said, then they've given up on the party's usual method of campaigning. (1/11)

I don't have her speech to hand and I'm paraphrasing, so please correct me if I'm wrong, but her argument was that we don't need to campaign on the EU now but at the point in the future when we do, those people who are currently pro-EU will be waiting to "rise like lions". (2/11)

Anyone who's ever been to Lib Dem (or any party, I expect) campaign training knows that it's hammered home that you have to keep your voters motivated between elections, and you have to keep reminding them who you are. (3/11)

If they're not constantly getting new Focus leaflets from you, or seeing you frenetically post about your activity on social media, then they forget about you and their vote's up for grabs. "We don't just turn up at election time", remember? (4/11)

Apparently though, none of these rules apply to pro-EU campaigning. Everyone will remember their position for an indefinite period into the future, hold it just as strongly, and not change it all. (5/11)

They'll not see anything to reinforce that position, but when the Lib Dems unlock the stasis chamber of tonight's "make me a rejoiner, but not yet" vote, they won't have changed their minds, and others will have magically joined them (6/11)

For an interesting response, go suggest a similar strategy for your next election to a member of the party leadership or campaigns team: "We got a lot of voters a few years ago, we just need to remind them when the election comes around." (7/11)

And how was the Brexit referendum won and lost? By Johnson et al only campaigning for a couple of weeks before the vote? Or by a long-running campaign, begun in the wake of the 75 referendum, to keep the issue alive and grow support? (8/11)

Meanwhile, the Remain side spent years thinking they had widespread support and did nothing to motivate people to support EU membership until the referendum was upon them. Except now we're not even starting with an assumption of widespread support. (9/11)

The question on the EU, and a whole lot of other issues close to Lib Dem hearts, is a simple one: if we're not going to go out to argue and campaign for this cause, who will? Because if no one's arguing for it, support isn't going to magically appear. (10/11)

And I know it's not fun arguing for causes that currently have limited support, but if you wanted an easy political life, why did you join the Liberal Democrats? (11/11)