The LibDems lurch to the right explained by Clegg.

[Gromit]

//"There were some people, particularly around the height of the Iraq war, who gave up on the Labour Party and turned to the Liberal Democrats,” he said.
"I totally understand that some of these people are not happy with what the Lib Dems are doing in coalition with the Conservatives. The Lib Dems never were and aren't a receptacle for left wing dissatisfaction with the Labour Party. There is no future for that; there never was," he told the Independent. //

As someone who feels narked that they waste their vote on these mercenaries, it is refreshing that Clegg has now come clean. Shame he didn't have the honesty to do it when he was accepting member fees from disgruntled Labour members.

The Conservatives seem to have all the bases covered on the right, so I am not sure where the LibDems will get any votes there.

Will anybody, left or right ever vote LibDem again? Are we witnessing a last gasp before they all lose their deposits?

[Gromit]

http://www.telegraph....ture-on-the-left.html

[R1Geezer]

well it's a tough one for yer Lib dem, they at least have attained power but had to compromise. That must tell thm that the public don't want lib dem policies. So Lib dems, change or die, this is a trial run for the future.

[Gromit]

Geezer, if they want to get votes on the right, there is only one party they can take from - the Conservatives. Labour will be laughing their heads off at this new pitching.

[Kromovaracun]

", if they want to get votes on the right, there is only one party they can take from - the Conservatives. Labour will be laughing their heads off at this new pitching. "

Not necessarily. They could win over the same voters who kept New Labour in power (those who didn't vote Conservative, anyhow).

I'm not a Liberal Democrat, but all this resentment about their dealing with the tories really strikes me as quite childish and kind of gets under my skin. Yes, nobody voted for a Con-Lib coalition but frankly that's the standard of what you get in a proportional system which so many of the same people chamption. It also really was the only practical alternative save for forcing another election (in which the likelihood of a complete tory victory was much higher).

Depending on how they do in office, I reckon the Liberals might actually have a more optimistic future than Labour, not that it's saying much (as I said in AOG's thread, I think Labour is heading for one hell of a crisis).

Either way, for better or worse I reckon we've got a big period of Conservative pre-eminence coming up in the near future.