The love that dare not speak its name

The Conservatives’ unrequited love for the Liberal Democrats receives attention this morning. The Times’ Rachel Sylvetser points out that in reality, away from dreams of government and official opposition, the Lib Dems have everything to gain by giving in to David Cameron’s and Eric Pickles’ serenades:

‘They set themselves up as the party of honesty, who will tell the truth about fiscal restraint, but on the issue over which they have most control — the role they would play in a hung Parliament — they offer only obfuscation. They define themselves constantly in terms of the other two parties, then when it comes to the crunch they refuse to say what demands they would make in return for their co-operation. The C-word Mr Clegg will not use is coalition.

Of course there is a difficult line to tread: the Liberal Democrats can’t just look like they are rolling over in front of the bigger parties.