In the end I suspect that most commentators will say that this was the only practical solution. Still difficult to reconcile the ‘progressive’ left of centre ideals that the Lib Dems hold so dear with the compromise coalition which the party has now engineered.
What’s also amusing (and maybe instructive) is that if you were to compare party manifestos in their entirety you might find a certain amount of synergy between Labour and Tory – after all, many of the Lib Dem commitments that they now appear to consider a mere trivial sideshow were more radical than the Labour vision. If this is truly the dawn of new politics then, in the interests of national unity, why not a coalition of “all the talents” and a Labour / Tory administration. Clearly, never on the cards but no more a stretch of credulity than what we got, and certainly more representative of the popular vote – except of course, that Cameron and Clegg can ‘do business together’ and apparently have a close personal rapport. Intellectual rigour and real insight into the issues of the day take a significant back seat to personality and malleability.
Let’s hope we do get substantial change to the electoral system; and that Lib Dem decision to share power with the Tory vote doesn’t decimate the party’s share of the vote at the next election, whenever that may be. After all, how many would like to bet that under an AV system, a Lib Dem voter’s second preference would be for a Conservative candidate!