The Lib Dems' toughest week so far
James Forsyth 2:44pm
This, in the admittedly short life of the Coalition, has been the most difficult week so far for the Lib Dems. The Coalition agreement had the Lib Dems winning huge concessions from the Tories. Afterwards, all the talk was of Lib Dem negotiating skills, what a good deal that they had won for themselves. But after the Budget, the mood was very different. It is now clear that this is, first and foremost, a fiscally conservative government.
One of the problems as Andrew Rawnsley notes in his column is that the Lib Dems are now being depicted as dupes by large sections of the media and the Labour party. However unfair this caricature may be it is going to prey on Lib Dem minds. Combined with a falling poll rating, it is going to make the Lib Dem base even more jumpy about whether they have done the right thing by going into Coalition.
All this makes Vince Cable of critical importance; Ben Brogan lauds him as ‘the stabiliser of the Coalition today. It is certainly true that as long as Vince stays in government and offers reassurance that the Lib Dems are doing the right thing in very difficult circumstances then Nick Clegg’s internal left flank will be pretty well protected.
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ollie
June 27th, 2010 3:51pm Report this commentthe best thing that could happen is the lib dems break the coalition, there is an autumn election, and the tories win a decent majority. the tories DO NOT need the limp dims.
Mr L
June 27th, 2010 6:32pm Report this commentDr Cable has surprised me; I thought he might be very flaky. But he coped with a whole lot of rubbish from Mr Balls on Question Time with great aplomb, and looked as if he could make a competent minister.
Maybe the Tories would get a majority if there were an election soon: but I wouldn't count on it. Think of all those public-sector workers and spongers that Labour would make every effort to scare into voting for them. Having a coalition gives the Tories a lot of 'cover' for unpalatable things (well, they are unpalatable to a lot of people).
Paddy
June 27th, 2010 8:01pm Report this commentI think they have all been marvellous.
What a breath of fresh air it is to have some grown-ups in government.
The sun is shining. It's Wimbledon for another week. Just a shame about the World Cup - but you can't have it all.
Mycroft
June 27th, 2010 11:33pm Report this commentTo suggest that the LDs were 'duped' by the Tories is just a line of attack developed by enemies of the government, one of those lines of attack that they don't even believe themselves; whether Clegg and the other LDS who negotiated the deal were right or wrong to do so, they knew exactly what they were doing, and are in it for the long haul. This is something new, it marks the end of the old Conservative - (so-called) Progressive dichotomy and will take us in unforeseeable directions. That is why Guardian types so hate it. Curiously enough, it is people like ('I belong to the Progressive left') Hughes who now sound like dinosaurs.
Dimoto
June 28th, 2010 12:15am Report this commentDespite all the chat about "Labour drifting leaderless", as far as opinion polls are concerned, Brownless Labour are in a nice place. They can make generic criticisms about cuts and tax rises, without having to present alternatives, and left LibDems can indulge their post-purchase regrets.
Once the new leader is in place, and under the media eye, a lot of this comfort zone stuff will disappear as MiliBalls are revealed as rather ordinary and unattractive.
charles hercock
June 28th, 2010 7:56am Report this commentLet us not forget that if the basic rate of income tax had not been raised as per the Liberals requirements it would have loked less 2fiscally conservative".Do not put your trust in dangerous Vince
j ashurst
June 28th, 2010 8:47am Report this commentlibdems manifesto was abig lie power crazy they have put the libdems back 20 yrs bring charles back
Teepee
June 28th, 2010 9:08am Report this commentPolicy gains: increase in the tax threshold; big projects such as ID cards
Policy losses: increase in VAT; big projects such as Trident.
Today's key message: "reduce the number of people claiming disability benefits".
The Lib Dems are having a moderating influence but when it comes to it, the voice is that of Thatcher's Tories.
Lady Amelia
June 28th, 2010 10:20am Report this commentwrong, Teepee. The voice is that of a group of people trying to stop our country being bankrupted. The echo you hear of "Thatcher's Tories" is that she also propounded the notion of balanced budgets and living within one's means. A painful lesson we are all going to have to learn all over again starting May 2010....
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