From circus canons to bashing blue walls – the wacky ways the Liberal Democrats celebrate a win

The Liberal Democrats have secured a fourth by-election win for this parliament, overturning a huge 20,000 majority in the Somerton and Frome to take the South-West constituency from the Tories.

And it wouldn’t be a by-election if the party didn’t organise a wacky stunt to mark the moment.

We take a look at today’s memorable celebration, and some of the other unusual ways the Lib Dems have rung in their victories.

Somerset canon

This Friday, party leader Sir Ed Davey headed to Somerton and Frome to celebrate a huge win for the Lib Dems.

And for this momentous occasion, he and his new MP, Sarah Dyke, “lit” a circus canon, leading to an explosion of confetti.

Berkshire countdown

Earlier this year in the local elections, the Lib Dems celebrated gains throughout the day.

But Sir Ed headed to Windsor to make his point that time was running out for the Tory government and its leader.

Devon door

In June 2022, the party secured another massive swing in the Tiverton and Honiton by-election, ousting the Tories from another South West seat.

As Sir Ed claimed, his party was showing the government the door…

Shropshire balloon

After one of the biggest lobbying scandals to hit parliament in recent times, the Lib Dems secured the seat of North Shropshire for the party.

Boris Johnson may still have been a popular figure at the time, but former leader Tim Farron showed it was time to burst that bubble.

Buckinghamshire bricks

You will have already heard Lib Dems talking about winning back the “blue wall” of Tory seats in the south.

Well, Sir Ed wanted to make this saying more literal when it came to winning the seat of Chesham and Amersham.

Political stunts haven’t just been something for Sir Ed though.

Famously, former Lib Dem leader Paddy Ashdown ate his hat – a cake version of it, anyway – after a throwaway comment.

In this case, it wasn’t for a victory. Mr Ashdown had said he would eat his hat if the polls were right to suggest his party would lose 47 seats.

They lost 49.

In 2015, Nick Clegg also walked across a zip wire in a photo-op attempt aimed at boosting his campaign.

“Can Nick Clegg pull off his high wire act?” the headlines read the next day.

We will let history tell that story.