We are at the point in the electoral cycle where the political class begins to speculate about a hung parliament. Personally, I’m sceptical that there will be one-the signs point to the polls breaking decisively for the Tories in 2009. But Vince Cable’s comments in The Times are noteworthy as they rule out the Lib Dems propping up a Labour government if Labour is not the largest party in the Commons. Cable tells Alice Thomson and Rachel Sylvester that: “It would be arrogant for us to choose one or other. Whoever gets the largest number of seats . . . whether it is Conservative or Labour, we will work with either.”
Coalition speculation is a mixed blessing for the Liberal Democrats. On the one hand, it makes the media take the party more seriously and pay it more attention. On the other, it accentuates splits in the party about the ideological direction in which it should be going.
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