In this second part of my interview with Liverpool’s Lib Dem Council Group leader Cllr Carl Cashman, we look at how he got interested in the party and his political philosophy.

I asked him why the Lib Dems?

Fundamentally I’m a Liberal and quite a lot of people forget that in this day and age and they align themselves with a party because of the colour tie they get to where or it’s going to do well or because they think that’s the party for the working class or that’s the party for business and ultimately I think Liberalism is about giving people the tools to make their life the best life that it can possibly be.

So I believe strongly that if you allow people to flourish, give them the conditions to do so that they will flourish and the difference for me between the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives and Labour Party is there’s that horseshoe of control isn’t there? Where the Labour Party wants to control the use of public assets, the Conservative Party wants all control to go to private companies and there’s a middle space of Liberalism where actually people should control the assets that are in society which is why I’m a huge proponent of mutual and cooperatives.

But Carl doesn’t identify as a Social Liberal or an Orange Booker.

When people talk about Left and Right I say Liberalism is its own distinct ideology and I reject those ideas of Left and Right. I call myself a Liberal and I call myself a progressive because I think society gets better when you make progress and I think you can make progress by being socially liberal and also being economically liberal so in the sense of setting businesses free, so ensuring businesses aren’t paying ridiculously high taxes like they are now but also setting people free. So giving people the education that they need to flourish. Giving people the housing they need to flourish. I think those two things are compatible and are compatible with Liberalism.

Carl has no truck with the Labour Party, his main opponents in the city.

My job is to fight the Conservatives (as a progressive) but also to replace the Labour Party because they aren’t a progressive party.

For me it’s about establishing an identity and I think the Lib Dems struggle with that sometimes. One because were too fair minded in many ways because were Liberals and two because were not wanting to upset people who might have lent us their votes and on many occasions we build that track record around the person and that’s vital but we’ve also got to please some very tender coalitions at times of people who’ve voted for us.

So that perhaps explains why our leadership seem to be running scared of Tory voters and afraid of upsetting the horses, now I understand. I disagree with it, but I understand it.

I’ve been the first person to raise concerns when I’ve seen some of our people talking about certain policies because they’re from a certain area and I say well this certainly isn’t going to go down well in Liverpool.

First and foremost, and this is a question Mathew that I think everyone needs to ask themselves when they’re going in to politics, who do you serve? For me there’s three different things; your party, your place, and the organisation so the Council etc. For me it’s quite clear that it’s first the place where I live that’s Liverpool, then it’s the party, then it’s the institution and I think we’ve got to be really careful to remember that.

So what qualities does Carl think he brings as a leader?

A working class, northern, Council group leader, with a Liverpudlian accent is not exactly a description of your average Liberal Democrat.

Which is exactly why I wanted to conduct the first long form interview with our party’s leader in Liverpool, the man dubbed by the national press as ‘the sexiest politician in Britain,’ Councillor Carl Cashman.

So recently I caught the train up to the great city of Liverpool and spent a few hours with Carl.

I ask him about his vision for the city should he become City Council leader in 2027, his thoughts on the Coalition Government, where he stands ideologically in the Lib Dems, if he’ll run for Parliament, what the party must do better; the attention he gets for his looks, and more.

I hope you enjoy this insight to the man who, for my money, is just about the most interesting personality in the Lib Dems at present.

I began by asking about his background.

When I was younger I grew up in a council house, which is an upbringing that I was really fortunate (to have). I know some people might look down on that kind of upbringing but I absolutely cherished being in a council house and being brought up by my gran and granddad who gave me the morals I’ve got today.

So I’m really appreciative of that upbringing. Even though it wasn’t that we had a lot of money. Quite often gran and granddad would have a bag of chips and that would be tea. I don’t look back at that and think there was anything wrong with that. I look back on that quite fondly. That shaped me as a person.