Lib Dem membership lies

The New Statesman carries this illuminating insight into how political parties use figures.

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Since the election the Lib Dems have lost 35% of their membership (from 65,038 in 2010 to 42,501 in 2012) , the lowest annual figure in the party’s 23-year history.

But wait – what’s this we hear from the Lib Dem tweet machine?

“The Liberal Democrats are the first governing party in recent history to have increased its membership while in power”

Which rather implies that their membership has gone UP since the election. What’s going on here?

Once pressed they admitted that:

“To be clear, we’re up 7-800 in total in 2013, inc c2000 in Q4.”

Ah so over 22,000 lost since the election – but 800 gained recently!

What a triumph!

The Independent is impressed saying

“an achievement not matched by their Conservative coalition partners who have seen steep falls in paid membership since 2010.”

The Haze is less than impressed – both with the wilfully misleading claims of the Lib Dems or the shoddy journalism by The Independent.

I have a hunch this expose will not form the basis of an article in The Guardian!