Nick Clegg joked last night that colleagues were putting bets on how high up the hit parade the spoof “I’m sorry” single might climb. “Vince Cable has his eye on Number 11,” he said, mocking claims that the Business Secretary is being lined up for Chancellor in a future Lib-Lab government.
The Liberal Democrat leader certainly needs a sense of humour to get through these mid-term blues, a misery few Lib-Dems ever dreamed they would be lucky enough to experience, since it requires being in power rather than in Opposition.
Coalition is particularly hard work. Mr Clegg and David Cameron have become worried by the hostility between many Tory and Lib-Dem MPs, but neither can control the emotions surrounding issues as fundamental as welfare cuts, jobs and education. Mr Clegg, for example, has a “dysfunctional relationship” with Michael Gove, the Education Secretary, say insiders. “It’s not an ideological problem between them, it’s a personality problem,” says a source.
There were serious, energy-sapping ructions over the summer when someone close to Gove briefed that he wanted to bring back old-fashioned O-levels. Weeks of tense negotiation were needed to resolve it. Strenuous efforts are being made to patch up the feud. David Laws, the Lib-Dem most admired by Tories, has been sent in as schools minister and peacemaker. Last week, Clegg and Gove staged a joint visit to a London school.
At a Chequers away-day, attended by the two leaders plus George Osborne, Danny Alexander, David Laws and Oliver Letwin but without civil servants, they agreed plans to project a more positive message.
There will be a Mid-Term Review after conference, a candid “audit” of Coalition achievements (and a few admissions of failure, in the spirit of Clegg’s apology). With no magic bullet, senior figures grimly accept that they must plod on and hope the economy grows.
“Dig in and stick with it,” advises a grandee, “and remember why this Coalition had to be formed, in the national interest.” Mr Clegg looks safe for now, mainly because no sane person would choose to take over at such a time. But the danger will rise as the 2015 general election gets closer. Some parliamentarians think a real attempt to unseat him could be made in 2014.
