I’ve got my reaction up on LC. In short, Nick Clegg has destroyed the Liberal Democrat party because he wants to be a minister.
The country benefits in the short term, very very slightly – the Libservative government will be slightly less socially nasty than a Tory plus Ulsterite minority government – but it’s still basically going to implement Tory policies.
In exchange for which, the Lib Dems have, as far as I can see, been wiped out – they will lose so much left-wing support next time round that they’ll be reduced back to mid-20th-century levels of vote share, and they aren’t even likely to get the changes in the electoral system that would make that worthwhile (unless the Tories have pledged to support a “Yes” vote in the Alternative Vote referendum, in which case I’m pleasantly shocked and retract some of my scorn).
So I guess it’s time for UK lefties to rejoin Labour, and try and ensure the candidates who’ll win the seats next time where left-wing voters previously supported the Liberal Democrats are left-liberals rather than Blairites…
I have to disagree. Clegg had no real alternative: he could have put the Tories in in a minority government, which would have collapsed and forced a second election neither of the progressive parties could have afforded, and particularly not the Lib Dems.
Look at the concessions we've got: AV, elected Lords, fixed-term parliaments, the pupil premium, a real-terms raise in the personal allowance every year for 5 years, Trident (painted up to look like a Tory win), the Lib Dem top brass in prominent government positions. Would any of that be happening without this coalition?