Lib Dems swallow some hard governmental pills

At the Lib Dem gathering of MPs and the Federal Exec last night virtually everyone spoke, as is Lib Dem tradition.

So the meeting went on for two hours. In the MPs’ vote 50 votes were counted in favour, no-one against. Were some absent (odd meeting to skip!)? Or abstaining?

One dissenter on the Fed Exec – David Rendel, who fought and lost in Newbury last week.

They were allowed to read the 11-page agreement document, which will be published for the rest of us today.

The hardest pills to swallow were immigration caps, Europe policy and Trident. “But we would get that anyway with a minority Tory government,” one MP said. “At least this way we moderate it.”

The Lib Dems are hoping that Nick Clegg and his team make sure the jobs in government don’t all go to “Orange Book” followers.

They see Chris Huhne as just to the left of that particular grouping but want some more recognition, now they’ve got behind the coalition, that the party is a sort of coalition too.