Right-wing Tories doing Clegg’s work for him

I still think that the Liberal Democrats have obtained only two things from their coalition with the Conservatives that David Cameron would not have done anyway had he had a single-party majority:

1. A referendum on changing the voting system – on which the people have spoken, the b—ds.

2. Ministerial jobs, including five seats in Cabinet – “six if you include Ken Clarke”, as Nick Clegg put it yesterday.

That is why I say in my column for The Independent on Sunday today:

The mood of its members is surprisingly buoyant for a party heading for disaster in 2015, because they believe the right-wing Tory propaganda that Clegg has too much power, and because they really do believe in working with other parties as a good in itself.

Right-wing Conservative MPs are doing a wonderful job for Clegg when they complain about his influence (such as Nadine Dorries, whose question to Cameron about abortion, which prompted the “frustrated” faux pas, was: “Does the Prime Minister think it is about time he told the Deputy Prime Minister who is the boss?”).

I stand by my position in the debate I had with my colleague Matt Chorley (who has an interview with Danny Alexander in today’s newspaper) in April. (My footnote on why raising the income-tax threshold is bad policy is here.)

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• Guest

  The Lib Dems are heading for disaster in 2015, are they? You base this prediction on their current poll ratings, presumably? If members are surprisingly buoyant, it is possibly in the knowledge that historically their support in public opinion polls fades away after a general election and flows back for the only poll that matters.

  What should Nick Clegg have done after the inconclusive result in 2010? Renege on his promise made during the campaign to enter into coalition with the largest party in the event of a hung parliament?

  According to Wiki, the result showed an overall 5pc swing from Labour to Conservative, almost identical to the 5.2pc swing achieved by the Conservatives under The Blessed Margaret in 1979. The 97 net seat gains made by the Conservatives outdid their previous best gains total in 1950, when they gained 85. Labour’s loss of 91 seats was worse than their previous greatest loss of seats, when they lost 77 seats in 1970.

  Mr Clegg has showed himself a man of principle, and may yet reap the rewards.

  Certainly, one suspects, David Cameron is more comfortable in uneasy alliance with the Lib Dems than he would be with a slim Tory majority, at the mercy of a group of rebellious right-wing MPs egged on by a handful of egotistical Europhobe bloggers.

• greggf

  Chris Huhne’s post in the Cabinet as Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change may not work out as one of the LibDem “crumple zones” that Cameron expects.

  Apart from the usual platitudes about “green energy” and “balanced energy mix”, Cameron’s views on this area are as cloudy as they come. Which is not surprising since the price of energy is rising faster than he could have expected.But the clamour for energy bills to identify the size of green taxes is hardly one of those bland issues that he can safely leave unsettled.

• http://twitter.com/sxybio ColinW

  Do you have to write this rubbish because your ex-KGB thug of a boss ( with ZERO fashion sense BTW) might beat you up otherwise?

• TarquinBroxted

  The Liberals are the sole party with an interest in human rights, the left Liberals have refused to have the Tories water down the Protection of freedoms bill. Whom do we have to thank for that? Bliar and his 3500+ new laws. Nearly as bad as Iran Mr Rentoul.

• gj1966

  His jacket is discussed elsewhere, and I quite like it, but not with shiny shoes.

• sceptic64

  Rentoul jumps the gun yet again in his haste to slap down anyone who disagrees with his sainted Blair.

  The LibDems may pay in 2015, but we shall wait and see on that point. As to their actions in forming a coalition with the largest party then what, pray, would Rentoul have had them do? Form a coalition with the defeated spendthrifts who got us into the damned mess we are in now? Oh, what a great idea that would be…

  And as an aside, your previous piece about the Tax Threshold is tripe, as with almost all of your pronouncements. First, the amount benefits the poorer much more (and is a larger percentage of income) than the larger amount benefits the rich; and second, the tax system has been amended specifically to address this issue so your comparison is moot. What would you rather do – the usual “hit the poor” move like raising VAT?