Will Cleggcapping Work?

Well, yes, it probably will have some effect. But as Jonathan Freedland argues Clegg may survive the press’s assault with his dignity and credibility more or less intact. Indeed, the entire episode might have the effect of firming up some support for Clegg. There willl be some voters who see it as proof that the Liberals must be doing something right and others who feel that it will be worth endorsing Clegg just to spite everyone else.

It occurs to me that the Liberal Democrat surge is not quite unprecedented. That is, it can reasonably be compared, in some respects at least, to the SNP’s campaign during the Scottish parliamentary elections in 2007. Like this election that was a damn close run thing and then, as seems to be the case now, a good number of voters shrugged off or simply ignored doom-laden predictions and scare-mongering and decided that, damnit, there was nothing in the manual that said you could only vote for the existing Labour-LD partnership.