Why the Cameroons think the Lib Dem poll rating matters

Matt d’Ancona’s piece in The Sunday Telegraph arguing that the coalition should stick to its long term strategy and ignore the slings and arrows of the daily news cycle makes an important point. The Blair governments would, undoubtedly, have achieved more if they had done this. But the circumstances for the coalition are different in one crucial regard: it could fall far more easily.

What keeps keep Tory Cabinet ministers up at night is the fear that the Lib Dems could dump Nick Clegg and that a new leader would then pull the party out of a coalition. At the moment, this seems like an unlikely prospect—not least because it would almost certainly lead to a general election. But it does only require the support of 75 Lib Dem local parties to call a leadership vote. This gives the Lib Dem poll rating particular relevance for the health of the coalition.