Jo Swinson dons mantle of Defender of the Union as she senses 'seismic change' ahead

Amid the oak-panelled and chandeliered splendour of the Institute of Civil Engineers in the shadow of Parliament, the Scot spelled out her party’s core message: “Stop Brexit.” Not once or twice but numerous times. As any campaigning politician knows repetition is the grist of elections.

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Indeed, the ever-present Steve Bray, the man with the megaphone shouting “STOP BREXIT!!!!” at every chance he can should have been there to increase the volume.

Camley's Cartoon: Jo Swinson launches bid for General Election victory.

Asked if she agreed with her old chum Nick Clegg, who admitted only a few months ago that Brexit would mean the “clock is ticking” on the end of the Union, Revoker Jo declined to agree with Nick but admitted: “We are in a dangerous time for our United Kingdom.”

But the leading Lib insisted she would "never stop fighting" for the preservation of the Union and had a direct message for Nicola Sturgeon, Jeremy Corbyn and Boris Johnson: "I will not let people wreck it."

She pointed out how the PM’s deal would do something that he himself said no Prime Minister could ever accept and place a border down the Irish Sea.

“He is prepared to sell out the people of Northern Ireland because everything is about him and him being Prime Minister; he does not care about anything else,” declared the chief Liberal.

She said she was a strong supporter of Scotland playing a “full role” in the UK and the country was stronger as four nations working together. The echo of the 2014 pro-Union slogan “better together” ricocheted around the launch venue.

“The reason why I believe Scotland is better in the UK is for the same reason why I believe the UK is better in the EU, it means you achieve more when you work together with your closest neighbour, when you share values, history, economic trade and culture.”

Indeed, Revoker Jo was on a roll and sought to adopt the Defender of the Union mantle that Ruth Davidson once so proudly displayed.

“I recognise these are difficult and dangerous times for the UK and it is only the Liberal Democrats who are standing for the UK and keeping us together,” she declared, explaining: “There is the SNP who is trying to break up the UK and the Labour Party aiding and abetting them in that and the Conservatives undermining the relationship with Northern Ireland. These are dangerous times.”

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With a background reminiscent of a marmalade jar – the yellow peril must now be renamed the orange peril – the girly swot, as she has referred to herself as, brushed aside the charge of double standards – supporting a second referendum on EU membership but against a second referendum on Scottish independence – by insisting such was the mess that was Brexit that adding “extra uncertainty and chaos” onto uncertainty and chaos was the last thing Scotland needed right now.

Of course, in any political event taking pot-shots at your opponents is the easy bit. And so the chief Liberal likened the nation’s leader to Donald Trump with his “big lies, brash politics and attitudes towards women”.

Jezza, meantime, was equally unfit to be PM, unable to give a straight answer to a straight question. “A vote for Labour is a vote for Brexit,” declared the Scot.

She dangled a £50 billion windfall before voters’ eyes; the dividend from staying in the Brussels bloc and enjoying all that lovely continued growth.

"So we know that that Remain bonus will be £50bn that we can spend on our public services, investing in our schools and in the welfare system to help the poorest in our society. So every vote for the Liberal Democrats is a vote to stop Brexit and invest that £50bn in our public services."

At one point, Ms S insisted the voters were yearning for change and she was that change, not the crusty leaders of the two “tired old parties” vying for power.

The MP for East Dunbartonshire suggested the election could be a moment of "seismic change" where a "new and different" politics could emerge and admitted she never thought she would be standing as a candidate for PM but insisted she was "absolutely certain" she would do a better job than Bozza and Jezza.

But, of course, seeing the 39-year-old Scot in Downing St would mean the Lib Dems having engaged warp 10 for six full weeks and miraculously shot through the political cosmos, zipping from 20 MPs to 320 MPs.

Eternal optimism is, of course, in the DNA of Lib Dems, as the late great Charlie Kennedy often noted, but it is hard to see how even he, reclining serenely on his heavenly cloud, could exude such blissful hopefulness.