SUPPORT the Liberal Democrats or face 25 years of Conservative rule.

Tim Farron used his conference speech yesterday to try and woo Labour and provide stronger opposition to Theresa May’s emboldened and increasingly right-wing Tories.

There is a hole in the centre of British politics and the Lib Dems are just the people to fill it, said party leader Mr Farron, who is probably correct on the first point at least.

With Labour expected to re-elect Jeremy Corbyn as its leader this weekend Mr Farron seized the opportunity to appeal directly to his own party’s centrist supporters and urge Owen Smith’s backers to get behind him.

It was a bold and risky move by Mr Farron who admitted that he was asking a lot to expect Labour supporters to jump ship and join forces with the party that cosied up in coalition with David Cameron and reneged on its opposition to tuition fees. The Lib Dem leader also had old school liberals in the conference hall shifting uncomfortably in their seats when he praised some of the policies of Tony Blair. He said that despite opposing Mr Blair on Iraq, he admired him for investing in the NHS and creating the national minimum wage. “I kind of see Tony Blair the way I see the (indie rock band) Stone Roses: I preferred their early work,” said Mr Farron, as he gazed down upon a stony-faced Menzies Campbell.

There is little evidence that voters are convinced the Lib Dems – stuck behind UKIP in the latest opinion polls – are the answer to the centre-left’s problems. Over the last five years they have lost two thirds of their voters, 49 of their seats in the Commons and seen long term goals such as European integration and electoral reform rejected by the electorate.

They are a party going though an existential crisis that lacks power and voter support.

The last thing Labour needs is even more of these things.