Novocastrian

That's my understanding too. I don't think either one is pulling a Prentice.

JamesM

I saw somewhere that Clegg's intention is to quit politics and do something else.

Shard

He already has a weekly radio slot on LBC...maybe something in the media.

ChrisBan

Yeah well his background is media/journalism so wouldn't be surprising. I imagine they'll sit this parliament out and not stand at the next election. That said, 5 years is a long time so who knows

BristolUK

Human rights on the way out then.

Novocastrian

<deep sigh>

C-51, Cameron/Gove: Where ya gonna run to?

< le Pen?>

BristolUK

The Hatchet Man returns

Shard

It's a mystery how that man sleeps at night.

A witty line from George Galloway's Twitter:

Iain Duncan Smith is back; to move around the battlefield bayoneting the wounded.

BristolUK

I liked this one. A sign at a garden centre.

ChrisBan

Yeah down in Lewes. Seems to be a lot of Tory shaming going around at the moment.

Pizzawheel

I wonder where the LibDems go from here. Without a great leader stepping forward I don't see what they stand for anymore- ten years ago they were left of Blair's Labour.

With a better electoral system (ironically PR which they push for) the third party could be made up of the greens, nationalists and UKIP- the single-issue parties- as they tend to be in other euro countries.

Shard

Yes it's a pertinent question. In one sense, their recent rise is because they managed to occupy the left of centre space vacated by New Labour (since Red Ed took Labour back to its roots). Without a doubt Labour will re-emerge more centerist at a time when the LD's are in party turmoil. They certainly lost some talent in the election so it will be hard to rebuild the party to what it had become.

Pizzawheel

My first thought was they look done-for, and a fear that we're drifting more and more to a USA style 2-party presidential democracy.

But then I started seeing how the smaller niche parties can fill that void.

The difficulty is where a a national party (SNP and probably DUP) is so aligned with one of the mainstream parties economically, there is a risk of some ugly chicken trading.

Oakvillian

I wouldn't write the Lib Dems off just yet. The Liberal Party was down to 5 MPs at one point in the mid-1950s (leading to the famous quip that the parliamentary party could hold its meetings in the back of a single taxi), yet gradually built momentum again, helped by formation and eventual amalgamation of the SDP, until they formed the junior coalition partner in government - something I suspect few liberals would have thought realistically possible a generation previously.

Bearing in mind that some of their most loyal support back then was in rural constituencies in Wales and Scotland, the dynamic between the Lib Dems and the SNP/Plaid Cymru becomes interesting. I have a suspicion that the SNP will do significantly worse in the next general election than it has done this time: it will ultimately be frustrating for Scots to realise they have effectively no say in the Westminster government, no influence in matters of foreign, defence and Treasury policy. The naval base at Faslane will be retained, the status quo will be maintained as far as oil royalties etc are concerned. If voting Tory is anathema to Scot Nats, if Labour engages in a long internal debate (again) over its ideology and the influence of the Trades Unions, and if folks realise that the SNP is a hiding to nothing in Westminster (unlike in Holyrood, where it makes much more sense to vote for a party of national interest) then the Lib Dems may become once again the natural alternative for Scottish voters, at least in the highlands and islands.

Novocastrian

.... or, if you want to speculate based on the history of the parties, the "Blairite" wing of labour could do a quick and dirty amalgamation with the LD (remember where the D came from?) leaving the left fluttering in the wind (of change) like a tattered pennant of despair.