Cleggy and the Lords

It was clearly a sad day for Mr Clegg yesterday with House of Lords reform being ditched.  The Liberal Democrats cherish constitutional and political reform and is an important reason why some of us are Liberals and were willing to enter into a coalition with the Tories.  However, the recent episode has highlighted that the Tories will do anything to preserve privilege and vested interest.  Labour saw a political opportunity and went for it.  They knew the Liberals would probably vote against boundary reforms if Lords reform was not delivered, which will go a long way to help secure a possible victory for Mr Miliband's Labour party in 2015 (if anyone bothers to vote).  I understand why Mr Clegg will whip his MPs to vote against boundary reforms, but can he honestly say they are part of the same package of reforms?  A little tenuous in my view.  It looks like "tit for tat" politics, which will not encourage the British people to be pro-coalition in the future.  It will also alienate people even further from the political process and despise politicians still further.  However, at the same time I don't think Mr Clegg has much alternative.

Political reform presented an opportunity to give political renewal to this country to help re-engage Britain's population in the political process.  The final nail in the coffin to that project came yesterday.  "Small c conservatism" is destroying our politics and it needs urgent repair.  I think the Liberals will think twice about ever entering into a coalition again with a party that backs privilege in such an underhand way.