He got his referendum, but the Tories promptly ran ads saying proportional representation would hurt babies [1] and it didn't pass.

[1] https://eu-browse.startpage.com/av/anon-image?piurl=https%3A...

Fixed link: https://paperbackrioter.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/avkillsb...

That's almost as bad as the Brexit busses!

Same guy ran the two campaigns.

That link is dead for me. Do you have any more information on that? (I've not heard of this).

never mind, took a bit of googling, but I found some info on it.[0]

Christ that's in bad taste.

EDIT: wanted to add this quote from [1]: "On 5 May, David Blunkett, one of the Labour Party former-government ministers who had supported the 'No' campaign, admitted that the £250 million figure used by the 'No' campaign had been fabricated, and that the 'No' campaign had knowingly lied about the figure and other claims during the campaign."

So it does seem like it was a testing ground for the brexit busses. Just make a bunch of stuff up.

[0] https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2011/feb/25/no-to-...

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_United_Kingdom_Alternativ...

Ack, sorry, I'm from a time when you used to be able to just link to things on the Internet. That is indeed the ad I meant.

There were a couple of others where the proportional representation would hurt a soldier or an old lady instead.

I remember feeling like I had learned a little bit about how the world worked, seeing that campaign succeed.

My question has been answered, but somehow I cannot find a way to feel satisfied. Rather… oh god no, say it's not true, please say it's not true and yes I do realise it's true.

All political careers end in failure.

He/the Lib Dems weren't pushing for a referendum though - that wasn't part of their manifesto was it?