A Lib Dem Surge!

Surprise, surprise: Liberal Democrats like being in government. This, mind you, is only a surprise if you believe the carefully-constructed line, much-loved by the Labour party and some sections of the press, that Liberal Democrat members are appalled by Nick Clegg’s decision to take the party into government in partnership with those wicked Conservatives.

This, we’re often told, was some kind of betrayal even though Clegg’s always been happy to concede that he’s a liberal not a Social Democrat. True, there’s polling which suggests there’s been some decline in Lib Dem support (though not for the coalition parties combined vote) but these polls are, I think, all-but meaningless given that there’s not, barring disaster, going to be an election anytime soon.

Still, every time some no-name Lib Dem councillor leaves the party he (it’s usually a he) will earn some cheap publicity from hacks always happy to hark on about how the Lib Dems are really two parties that will, in the end, split.