Will Clegg resign if AV is rejected?

[wednesday1]

The thing is, the LibDems didn't have to go into coalition with anyone, Labour or the Tories. I think if Clegg knew then what he knows now, he would have simply let the Tories form a minority government and voted for or against them as circumstances/policies dictated.

 

That government almost certainly would have fallen by now but at least the LibDems would have had real power over the Tories - "You drop/change policy X, or we vote against you and make you government fall" - but they got greedy, mistook Cleggmania for a long-term phenomenon and tied their horse to the Tory cart.

 

Now all they can do is to try to come the hard man with the Tories and hope the Tories will knuckle under. The fault with that line of thinking is that the Tories know full well that even if they get a hammering at the next general election, they'll be back in power one day. The same most definitely can't be said for the LibDems, so when push comes to shove, the Tories will simply take a general election defeat on the chin, leaving the LibDems forever on the margins in future.

 

If, by some miracle/disaster, the Tories manage to get enough seats to form their own government next time, are the LibDems naive enough to think they'll be invited to form part of that government? They couldn't be that stupid, could they?

 

Much as I loathe the Tories, you've got to admire the way they've let the LibDems take the front seat this last year and thus all the flak, a very, very slick bit of work indeed. Cable says they are ruthless, calculating and very tribal. Errm, didn't the LibDems know that before they got into bed with them, or are they completely delusional to think that "Tories" and "being reasonable" was ever going to happen?

It would all be funny, were it not for the state this country is going to be in by the time the current Tory government has finished with it. Gawd help us all!

 

 

 

Exactly, the Lib Dems have behaved like the naive fools that they are, and are now held hostage in this coalition. If Clegg had little influence before, he has absolutely none now.

[caparo]

The thing is, the LibDems didn't have to go into coalition with anyone, Labour or the Tories. I think if Clegg knew then what he knows now, he would have simply let the Tories form a minority government and voted for or against them as circumstances/policies dictated.

 

That government almost certainly would have fallen by now but at least the LibDems would have had real power over the Tories - "You drop/change policy X, or we vote against you and make you government fall" - but they got greedy, mistook Cleggmania for a long-term phenomenon and tied their horse to the Tory cart.

 

Now all they can do is to try to come the hard man with the Tories and hope the Tories will knuckle under. The fault with that line of thinking is that the Tories know full well that even if they get a hammering at the next general election, they'll be back in power one day. The same most definitely can't be said for the LibDems, so when push comes to shove, the Tories will simply take a general election defeat on the chin, leaving the LibDems forever on the margins in future.

 

If, by some miracle/disaster, the Tories manage to get enough seats to form their own government next time, are the LibDems naive enough to think they'll be invited to form part of that government? They couldn't be that stupid, could they?

 

Much as I loathe the Tories, you've got to admire the way they've let the LibDems take the front seat this last year and thus all the flak, a very, very slick bit of work indeed. Cable says they are ruthless, calculating and very tribal. Errm, didn't the LibDems know that before they got into bed with them, or are they completely delusional to think that "Tories" and "being reasonable" was ever going to happen?

 

It would all be funny, were it not for the state this country is going to be in by the time the current Tory government has finished with it. Gawd help us all!

 

 

Actually looking at the figure for Thursday's vote the libdems didn't do anywhere near as badly as some predicted. They polled 16% of the vote which is way up on the polls. Of course they lost council seats because they had taken so many off Labour and the Tories over the last couple of council elections, and went into the election with more councillors than Labour. I suspect that Clegg will now get his head down and concentrate on repairing the ship. He has 4 years to do it.