Skipper

The title of my post is self evident but I'm especially interested in the state of the Lib Dems. When the coalition was set up Ming Campbell hesitated for a while and Charles Kennedy was decidedly ambivalent before declaring his support. Vince Cable, moreover has long oozed discomfort, despite his ministerial car and red boxes. The university tuition issue has brought Ming out as a declared rebel and there are other MPs who will join him in the 'no' lobby. Meanwhile, on the bigger picture, I wonder how many Lib Demmers will jump ship after Wednesday?

There is a clear rift opening between the 'executive' LDs and the 'legislative' ones. Today we read in a very informative Guardian article that Danny Alexander is seen by some senior Lib Dems as having deserted the party fold:

But Liberal Democrat grandees are growing increasingly upset with their party's youngest cabinet minister, as he plays a leading role in the most brutal public spending cuts in a generation. Danny has gone completely native," one senior figure says, voicing concern raised in private with Nick Clegg about the chief secretary to the Treasury. "He should be the Lib Dem man in the Treasury. But he has turned into the Treasury man in the Lib Dems.

These are still rumblings beneath the surface but I wonder if Osborne's anticipated coup de theatre on Wednesday will coax such divisions out into the open. For a longer analysis of the coalition read here.