<p>The paper explores the intriguing, yet seriously under-researched issue of discursive shifts in the communication of the Liberal Democrats on Brexit and the United Kingdom’s (UK) relationship with the European Union (EU) since the 2016 in/out referendum. Through a critical discourse analysis of a large dataset of public pronouncements, the study investigates the party leaders’ evolving stance, from campaigning for a second referendum and revoking Article 50 to a more tempered position of acknowledging Brexit as a reality to pledging to rejoin the single market. Theoretically, the study builds on the concept of discursive shifts but extends their conceptualisation by foregrounding the phenomenon of temporal layering in political discourse. We argue that what we observe in the Liberal Democrats’ case is an accumulation of overlapping and at times contradictory articulations that remain discursively available. Yet, while such cumulative layering can be read as an attempt to maintain strategic responsiveness in a volatile and often hostile political environment, it also carries some risks. We highlight how it risks projecting an outward impression of clutter and ambiguity that might complicate the party’s ability to project a coherent message on the party’s stance towards the EU.</p> Graphical abstract <p></p>