 Last week Tory MP Philipp Lee defected to the Liberal Democrats, but given he disagrees with pretty much everything they stand for, which I'll go on to identify, the question has to be asked. What are the actual barriers for anyone who wants to join them? And what, by extension, do the Liberal Democrats themselves actually stand for? In recent months, a number of MPs from both the Tory and Labour parties have signed up to Joe Swinson's Lib Dems, helping swell their ranks from 12 MPs to 17. Philipp Lee and Sarah Wallerton have joined from the Tories, while Chaka Umana, Luciana Berger and Angela Smith have joined from the Labour Party. All of them, with the exception of Philipp Lee, came via the Independent Group, or Tindu Cares, it's otherwise known. But what does it say about the Liberal Democrats that they're so willing to allow these people into their parliamentary party? Do they all agree at the very least on the big issues of the day, or are they all tied in by a minimal but liberal programme for government? Well, the voting record of Philipp Lee would suggest not. Quite the opposite, in fact. We know that the Liberal Democrats believe passionately in constitutional reform. And yet, Philipp Lee has almost always voted against removing hereditary peers from the House of Lords, something most Liberal Democrat MPs generally voted for. It's the same with electoral reforms, the House of Commons, with Lee consistently voting against the more representative system. The same applies for votes at 16. On devolution, it's no better. Lee almost always voted against transferring more power to the Welsh Assembly and Scottish Parliament, which, you'd think, is very much at odds with the Liberal Democrats' agenda for devolution and localism. Apparently not. Lee consistently voted for merging police and fire services under police and crime commissioners. He also consistently voted for mass surveillance of people's communication activities. He generally voted against UK membership of the EU, against laws to promote equality in human rights, and against EU integration more generally. Again, all of that appears to be completely at odds with his new colleagues. Elsewhere, Lee consistently voted for a stricter asylum system and against investigations into the Iraq War. Between 2011 and 2016, Lee consistently voted for reduction in spending on welfare benefits 51 times and never against. Similarly, he always voted against paying higher benefits for those unable to work due to disability or illness. He generally voted for reducing housing benefit for social tenants deemed to have excess bedrooms, otherwise known as the bedroom tax, and has almost always voted against a banker's bonus tax, something he in fact did 16 times between 2011 and 2015. Lee generally voted against measures to prevent climate change and consistently voted for selling England's state-owned forests and against slowing price increases for railfares. Worse even than his record on Europe posterity in the environment, however, which would appear to be completely at odds with his new Liberal Democrat colleagues, are his views on LGBT equality. In 2013, Dr Lee abstained on same-sex marriage, even when the Tory party leadership itself backed the policy. A year later, he tabled an amendment on the immigration bill that would have seen immigrants tested for, quote, prescribed pathogens, including HIV, before being granted permission to immigrate to the UK. LGBT and health campaigners criticised the amendment, which was also signed by Boris Johnson's now Foreign Secretary, Dominic Rabb. Yeah, the guy who was the first person to openly talk about pro-roging parliament. At that time, then Liberal Democrat MP, Julian Hupert described the posers rather astonishing. I wonder how he feels about sharing the same party as the amendment's author. Now, maybe Lee has changed his view on the topic, that's possible. But these weren't things he said and did at university as a young person. This was five years ago and they were the words and deeds of a Tory party MP and the fact that on same-sex marriage he deviated from the line of his own leadership would pretty much imply he is anything but a Tory moderate. So was Jo Swinton mixed in her response to Lee joining the party? Not really. She said that quote, Philip brings almost 10 years of parliamentary experience and decades of professional expertise. He shares our commitment to prevent a disastrous no-deal Brexit and to stop Brexit altogether. Is that all it boils down to? The Lib Dems will now accept anyone just as long as they're against Brexit, even if they have voted against Lib Dem policy on pretty much everything else, including, in the past, our membership of the EU and the nature of that relationship. Well, yeah. And don't take my word for it. That's what Jenny Rigg, who until recently chaired the Liberal Democrat's LGBT caucus, said. On quitting the party, she described Mr Lee as a homophobe, a xenophobe and someone who thinks people should be barred from the country if they are ill. I thought the Lib Dems were not a single-issue party, I thought we had soul and principles. She said the new MP believed that quote, people like me are a lower class of human, adding I will not share a party with him. And then, over the weekend, it was revealed that the Liberal Democrats wouldn't contest Rory Stewart's seat. This was a guy who voted for Theresa May's withdrawal agreement multiple times. And yet, Jo Swinton refuses to back a temporary government led by Jeremy Corbyn for the sole purpose of extending Article 50 and to call an election on the basis that he's a secret Brexiteer. According to the Times, at least three other expelatory rebels, including Sam Gema, Marco James and Dominic Grieve, have held similar talks with the Lib Dems about a loose, romaine alliance. Marco James literally voted for the withdrawal agreement on March 29th, and Jo Swinton can work with her, but not Jeremy Corbyn. It just doesn't add up. Philip Lee joining the Liberal Democrats reveals a fundamental vacuity at their heart and absence of core policies or principles. Meanwhile, withdrawing a candidate against Rory Stewart and other Tories who literally voted for Theresa May's deal reveals the extent to which they're serious about stopping Brexite. Looking at these two cases, they aren't. It's just that Brexite has provided them with an opportunity to rehabilitate themselves after the catastrophe that was their participation in the coalition government. Lee's defection is a sign of what's to come, because if you stand for nothing, you'll fall for anything. If Lee is now a Liberal Democrat, the party stands for nothing, and if Liberals think he is one of them, then Liberalism itself has become a meaningless term.