Just whom will the Lib Dems work with, then?

Two noteworthy entries, today, in the will-they-won’t-they game of coalition government.  The first from Nick Clegg in the Sunday Times:

“You can’t have Gordon Brown squatting in No 10 just because of the irrational idiosyncrasies of our electoral system.”

And the second from Paddy Ashdown speaking to the People:

“Nick Clegg cannot work with David Cameron … We could not go into a coalition with the Tories, it wouldn’t work.”

So, assuming both are true, it sounds as though Clegg would only work with a Labour party headed by someone other than Brown.  But don’t count on it.  I, for one, think it’s unlikely that Clegg will prop up an unpopular governing party – and, as I suggested a week or so ago, there’s enough political overlap between Clegg and the Tories to make a Lib-Con alliance a distinct possiblity.  There would be difficulties, sure.  But, on paper, they’re barely more insurmoutable than those between Labour and the Lib Dems.

In the end, I suppose that we shall just have to wait and see.  But if anything is more likely than not, after all the intrigue and speculation of the past few weeks, then I’d say it’s that Clegg won’t work with Brown.  And that’s more of a headache for Labour than it is for the Tories.

UPDATE: Clegg has just added another dollop of confusion into the mix on Marr.  From what I could make out, he’d work with anyone who supported Lib Dem policies, but wouldn’t support a Labour PM if Labour finished third in the popular vote.  So that leaves a coalition with a third-placed Labour party open – but with someone other than Brown as leader, and with a Lib Dem Prime Minister in Number Ten.  I think.