Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Nick Clegg wants gory government: so should the Tories

There’s nothing wrong with Nick Clegg putting some distance between his party and the Conservatives. Today the Liberal Democrat leader is going to open up about the gory details of government, explaining where his party has held the Tories back, and heralding a new era where he and colleagues are honest about what they actually think of policies. On Friday, I argued that this sort of honesty about the workings of coalition government was a good thing. But there is one caveat to this.

Conservative MPs are pretty unhappy at present, and it’s not just that they are overtired before the Christmas break. Their unhappiness stems partly from the splits crisscrossing their party, but also from a disconnect with the Tory leadership and a yearning for certain policies which coalition seems to be blocking.

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