Are the Liberal Democrats a Serious Political Party?

Obvious John Rentoul bait as this may be, the answer is still a definite No. Actually that’s not quite fair. Nick Clegg and at least some of his parliamentary colleagues are serious; much of the party membership and, above all, the people who often vote Lib Dem are not. That’s one thing to take from the revealing exchange James reports:

The most political part of the Lib Dem electorate is, I suspect, the lefties scunnered by Tony Blair who thought they were buying into a more radical, truly left-wing, party when they hitched their colours to the Lib Dem mast. For all his occasional sanctimony, these people severely misjudged Nick Clegg.

But much of the rest of the Lib Dem vote is an apolitical vote. They receive the votes of people like my mother (when she remembers to vote).