Lessons for the Lib Dems

Chris Huhne’s behaviour still has everyone at Westminster talking. Earlier in the week, senior Liberal Democrats were saying that once the voting had happened, Paddy Ashdown and the party president Tim Farron would communicate the party’s anger at the behaviour of the No campaign, while the party’s Cabinet ministers began to rebuild relations with their coalition colleagues. Vince Cable, for example, has been far more restrained today than he was during the campaign, blaming AV’s defeat on the failings of the Yes campaign not the No campaign’s tactics.

But Huhne either didn’t get these instructions or has chosen to ignore them. He’s just turned in an extremely aggressive performance on the BBC’s election coverage, reiterating his previous complaints about the Tories’ complicity in attacks on Nick Clegg.

One lesson the Liberal Democrat’s should take from last night is that they have to defend their record better and that trashing the government of which they are part makes that harder.