So Ed Miliband would turn down the chance to be Prime Minister if it meant working with Nick Clegg? Hmmm. If you believe that you'll believe anything.

As for the coalition splitting apart, losing the AV referendum is likely to result in a Lib-Con electoral pact - now that will net Labour a few more votes and MPs (say Simon Hughes) but it will help the Tories more since most Lib Dems won't go to Labour. In fact it will help complete Cameron's project to move his party onto the centre - cue long Labour wilderness. It is very odd that Labour supporters are so fixated with hurting the Lib Dems they can't think straight.

I don't see how Huhne, Laws, Alexander or Cable could be part of a Lab-Lib coalition either.

I'm glad that that's sorted then .... but how soon can we expect the decision to be relevant? I am struggling to see how the left can the end of this ultra-right wing Tory government in less than 5y.

The LibDems would be slaughtered if they walk away at this point, and the Tories vote is likely to collapse in the spring, therefore, their right won't be rebelling... and if there was some principled walkout of LibDem backbenchers, the LP would need a big margin in the polls or the LD vote to hold up sufficiently to keep back the Tories. I can't see this government collapsing under civil pressure so....?

I'd be so glad to have someone show me that I've got this wrong. Cameron-Clegg are really George W Bush II.. no legitimate mandate from the electorate, and bringing in the most draconian changes justified by a total rewriting of history. They will do a lot of damage in 5y.

I wouldn't give any of them the time of day. They are just propping up a callous tory party, who don't care about people, just their mates in the city and the royal family. Sickening.

An idea of Machiavellianism is to vote (albeit with a nose-peg personally) AGAINST the AV referendum - a loss will surely give the non-Cabinet Lib Dems a reason to say enough is enough with the coalition and an election surely will then ensue.

@ petearch

Sorry for some reason the rest of the sentence disappeared. What I had written was:

We clearly have different definitions of ultra right. Yours seems to more like fascism, whereas mine is 'even more right wing than Thatcher'. This Tory government ( I really don't think one can call it a coalition) is wanting to privatise the NHS and education. It is expecting the less well off to fund the mistakes of the well off whilst leaving the bankers and traders totally free to profit yet again from the unreformed system. This is on the path back to the pre WW2 structures. It is certainly not 'One Nation' conservatism.

The banning of wheel clampers, social mobility, civil rights and civil partnerships are the sweeteners, or smoke and mirrors, which are used to confuse the electorate about their right wingedness ... but 'follow the money'!

Hope ed Milly wins

Soon got bored of those hustings things

Would have been good if they'd debated a different policy area per husting

Ed M should just threaten to twat Clegg if he comes any where nr even suggesting a co operation

Nick Clegg A poltical whore who now has political aids

@ petearch and Graham

For the statistics backing my point of view, see Michael Meacher's blog:

http://www.michaelmeacher.info/weblog/2010/08/the-moon-is-made-of-blue-c...

Tom and Barny - calling ANY politician a whore is simply stating a fact. Although point taken vis-a-vis sex workers.

As to progressive - well just repeating a word until it slowly drifts over our heads doesn't prove it so. the word was devalued long before, by those who supported stalin, by place-seeking New Labourites, and many more.
Yes, PFI (and many other policies) were simply a continuation of Conservative policies, often with a little spin put in to sugar the pill. The fundamental assumption was that governments had t do exactly what the City wanted, or fail utterly. The present coalition, with its almost organic links to the City, has not proved to be any different.
In a packed hundred days, they have managed to signal massive redundancies, with more to come, cuts in housing benefits and Defence, with more to come,etc.
I have yet to hear one proposal for Financial regulation from this "energetic" administration.
Where is the progress?
As to renegades - I don't remember the cheers of "well done" for Shaun Woodward and the like when they jumped ship, from the Tories.

A number of people in these boards and the press keep describing Clegg as a whore. This is bloody offensive. Being a vile piece of lying shit who will do anything for power is much more accurate and not synonymous with being a sex worker, who generally sleeps with vile pieces of lying shit for a few quid, not power. Show sex workers some respect comrades :-)

"When I use a word,' Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, 'it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less."
"The question is," said Alice, "whether you can make words mean so many different things."
"The question is," said Humpty Dumpty, "which is to be master— that's all."

progressive

2 (of a person or idea) favouring social reform:
a relatively progressive Minister of Education
favouring change or innovation:
the most progressive art school in Britain

http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_gb0665290#m_en_gb0665290

regressive

1 returning to a former or less developed state ; characterized by regression:
regressive aspects of recent local government reform
...

2 (of a tax) taking a proportionally greater amount from those on lower incomes

http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_gb0697820#m_en_gb0697820

So it would also depend on your basic idea of what Progress is.
To those who will respond citing "starting illegal wars- lalalala", be careful, as over one half of this coalition voted for war, and the liberal democrats have so far no voice whatsoever in foreign policy.
To those who believe that the coalition can deliver meaningful progressive legislation when it comes to health, education, housing etc - well, as neither party has any real interest in furthering the interests of anyone but their backers, I very much doubt that any views will be voiced that ever go beyond a sort of Wall street liberalism. So, they promise not to be openly racist or sexist, but in the end the same people who call the shots in business will call the shots in government. Progress???