It still seems strange to think of the Liberal Democrat party being part of the Government with Liberal Democrats sitting in the Cabinet. The announcement of the coalition with the Conservative party was a bitter sweet moment – at last, we were entering Government, but we were doing so with a party we have long

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

Over the few days since the coalition government was announced I’ve been dismayed to hear several Liberal Democrat members say they will rip up their membership cards in protest.  Whilst many are understandably disappointed that we now have a Conservative Prime Minister, or that we don’t have a Liberal Democrat Prime Minister, a coalition government

What would a minority Conservative government look like? It is now widely accepted, by Jack Straw among many others, that a coalition between Labour and the Liberal Democrats would, sadly, have been unworkable. The numbers didn’t add up, we suffered real difficulty – whichever account you believe – negotiating with Labour, and there was the

At our party Conference in Birmingham I described accelerated fiscal consolidation as pure poison: “Poison for the party, poison for the Coalition and, most important, poison for the country.” I know that Liberal Democrats in ministerial office cannot be heard to say such things in public. But Liberal Democrats who do not have to labour

I am shocked and surprised tonight. I never thought a formal coalition deal between Conservatives and Liberal Democrats would take place. I was wrong, and now we wait for details of the new government. On face value it seems the Tories have given far too much away, and it will have probably finished the LibDems off in local elections next year. Let’s see how long this government is going to ...

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

The Conservatives and Liberal Democrats might be getting on well in the new coalition Government but the two parties are fighting a bitter election battle in a small corner of Yorkshire which is yet to elect an MP.

Liberal Democrats have declared their support for the views of the party's ministers who said that they could not trust their Conservative Coalition partners.