Much of the debate on the deal between the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats to form a coalition government has focused on how "strange" it was for the two parties to enter a partnership. In The Liberal Democrat Journey, published by Compass, Dr Richard Grayson details the transformation of the Liberal Democrats over the past decade and shows why the coalition is not all that alien.

The party has this morning issued the following briefing note on the achievements of the Lib Dems within the Coalition Government … In just 10 weeks since the start of the Coalition Government, the Liberal Democrats have exerted a huge influence over its agenda. Going into the election the Liberal Democrats made clear that they

In the Guardian last week, Timothy Garton-Ash argued that the Liberal Democrats’ distinctive identity is being lost both by coalition with the Conservatives and by other parties’ appropriation of the “liberal” label: The Liberal Democrats should change their name to the Liberals. Here’s why. First of all, Liberal Democrats is a pretty meaningless name. That’s

I notice that Jackie Ashley has been calling for a coalition in the Guardian yesterday, in echos of Marquand. The Liberal Democrats are a party with no social obligations (or indeed philosophical ones, it so often seems), and as such, at least under First Past the Post, there should be no coalition, even if that means we have to lose. That said, I still think that they're a lot better than To...

You can rely on a big story during the Liberal Democrats conference - although not often from the Liberal Democrats themselves. From Black Wednesday to 9/11 to this week'ss simultaneous meltdowns in the economy and Brown Government, the Salads (Social and Liberal Democrats) have often found media focus on their week at the seaside swept away by a tidal wave from elsewhere. So the fact that th...

The Liberal Democrats have clearly taken an electoral hit as a result of their decision to enter into a coalition with the Conservatives, writes John Curtice.

For years the Liberal Party, which became the Liberal Democrats, hankered for coalition government. This was perfectly sensible. There was no way they were going to be the maj

Labour ministers have been making overtures to the Liberal Democrats about a possible coalition in an apparent bid to cling to power.

The approach that the Liberal Democrats take to social care over the next few weeks and months will be the best guide we have to how they now view the future of the coalition. If, in the coming all party talks, they effectively ally with Labour and try to score points off the Tories by suggesting that their coalition partners are ‘too mean’ to fund a solution to the problem then it wil...

As a visitor to LibDemVoice you may or may not be aware of the work of Compass - the influential pressure group that campaigns for a more democratic, equal and sustainable world. Compass is about building a broadly based Liberal Left politics and as a Liberal Democrat activist we wanted to introduce you to our