Clegg is finished. There is no way back.

@kif

There is horse trading and then there is what Clegg did, he and all 57 LibDem MPs signed personal pledges to vote against any attempt to increase tuition fees. It is only because a majority of LibDems broke their pledges that the tuition fees increase passed.

And you use the example of the FDR, the party that has just ditched it's leader because of their opinion poll slump after entering coalition with the CDU.

"preferential voting which is likely to be good for progressive politics in the LONG run."

No it won't. Right wing/regressive governments are just as common under AV, PR as they are under non-PR systems. Indeed AV could lock progressive parties from government for decades if Cameron were able to bolt together a coalition of tory-liberal core vote and the 2nd prefs of UKIPpers.

Chris,
Voting systems are not there to stop certain groups getting power or representation. They are there to best reflect the wishes of the nation as a whole, ie to represent the electorate, even if you as an individual may disagree. Under the present system MPs gain seats on as little as 30% in some areas, under AV Mps will at least need to gain some support amongst the other 70%!!!! As the uk is largely (believed) supportive of more progressive politics, Av would better reflect this than the current system. If this was to change and the BNP and other right-wing parties were actually more popular than we thought, this would also be better reflected. Now we may not like it, but it is at least more democratic than the present system.

Good advice. It's a shame because I think Clegg has more integrity and principles than Ed Miliband or any of the Conservatives. If the Lib Dems obtained a majority I think we'd be seeing the greatest government we've had in a century. Alas, all we can hope for now is a Labour-Lib Dem Coalition. One can dream!

Hugh, are you on drugs?

1 Step only: Resign
His political career is ruined and he is on the cusp of ruining his country. Go, and go now!

I am afraid the problem is British voters, not the politicians. The electorate just don't grasp how coalition works. All this sort of stuff is normal on the continent (in those countries with regular coalitions) where governence is seen as legitimate horse trading between parties so each get some cherished policies through, though not all their favourites. This is seen as good government in many countries as it involves more parties and thus governments are more broadly supported. This is true democracy. It is ignorant to say Libs are now 'crypto Tories' or 'closet Tories' for example. No one in Germany (for example) calls the FDP 'closet Christian Democrats' when they are in coalition. It's just accepted as normal party teams cooperating. Our adversarial fixations prevent this. The British have been shielded from these realities by decades of dictatorial one party governments - with typically 37 or 38% support, they are the true dictatorships of the geodemocratic world. I just wish British voters had a more sophisticated grasp of how coalitions work. The media is to blame for this as they prefer the conflict element as news stories. Clegg is a hero for having made his a party of government again. Some of us have waited 65 years for this. All the pain is worth it for the AV vote alone. I don't care if they pass a 'slaughter of the firstborn' act, as long as we get a crack at preferential voting which is likely to be good for progressive politics in the LONG run... Those of us who laboured in the vineyards of Charter 88 and the like, have got our moment at last. Constitutional and votiong refore should (for once) matter more that the sodding economy. Which will never be right. It's a chimera to always prioritise the economy.

8. Ignore any advice offered by anyone working for, or associated with, the New Statesman.

It would be the greatest come back since Lazarus if Cleggy's approval ratings went positive. Even saying No to the NHS reforms would make him look hypocritical, him and the liberals have already voted for it twice.

Cleggs problem is his grating sanctimonious piety. When is was unknown he sounded honest and passionate. Now, having ratted on everyone from students to the disabled he just sounds deluded.

Clegg won't resign and won't pull the plug on the coalition, no matter what insane wheezes the Tories come up with.

Question for the LD party, both grassroots and in parliament, is whether or not they are content to see the ship go down with its captain.

David,you're talking to a corpse

Well you can't deny he has more integrity than the repugnant David Cameron, an odious little toff. And similarly, Ed Miliband's putrid opportunism shows his lack of integrity. His opposition to cutting child benefits for rich families was evidence of this reprehensible electoral pandering to the 'squeezed middle', neglecting of course, the working classes. Who has benefited the working classes? The Lib Dems with their policy of a tax free £10,000. New Labour in their 13 years failed to redress Britain's endemic inequality. Indeed, the chasm widened under Blair and Brown.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not a Lib Dem. I'm not a Labourite. I'm a Green. But I know my party won't see power for decades.

Well you can't deny he has more integrity than the repugnant David Cameron, an odious little toff. And similarly, Ed Miliband's putrid opportunism shows his lack of integrity. His opposition to cutting child benefits for rich families was evidence of this reprehensible electoral pandering to the 'squeezed middle', neglecting of course, the working classes. Who has benefited the working classes? The Lib Dems with their policy of a tax free £10,000. New Labour in their 13 years failed to redress Britain's endemic inequality. Indeed, the chasm widened under Blair and Brown.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not a Lib Dem. I'm not a Labourite. I'm a Green. But I know my party won't see power for decades.

"If the Lib Dems obtained a majority I think we'd be seeing the greatest government we've had in a century"

Agreed.