Following David Cameron's Europe raspberry, how low can Nick Clegg go?

[T_i_B]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/dec/09/david-cameron-europe-raspberry-nick-clegg

Of one thing I can be absolutely sure, and that is that it doesn't look great for Mr Nicholas Clegg. How he and his pro-Europe party can remain in the coalition after this I do not know – and yet I feel absolutely sure that we shall discover it, in what will go down as his greatest feat of Quislingery yet. He may well be enabling the very destruction of Europe at the same time as remaining its most reedy cheerleader.

When outlining his position on Europe in days of yore – ie last year – Clegg was always wont to be super-clear. He was forever banging on about the folly of British standoffishness, when we should be there at the table. A reasonable summary of his latter-day argument is that Britain is partially in Europe, but is apparently unable to influence anything. The UK is condemned to all of the crap and none of the power. It's the worst of both worlds.

So what a radioactive irony that Clegg should make that precise dysfunctional relationship the template for the relationship between his own party and the Tories. The Lib Dems are there, but appear to have no influence. They take bucketloads of crap and wield none of the power. It's the worst of both worlds.

Of more ghoulish fascination, though, is the next Lib Dem manifesto. What could this document possibly include? There are whole areas that in any sane universe it would be literally too embarrassing to mention, and given that these include major planks of what used to be called Liberal Democrat policy, such as Europe and education, I've genuinely no idea where they'll go with this one. Blank pages? Something nice and inclusive about fish? The mere fact of something appearing as a Liberal Democrat manifesto pledge has come to symbolise that it is terminally doomed as an idea. Perhaps the best way to eradicate poverty would be to draft up a Lib Dem manifesto commitment to perpetuating it.