So, we’ve had the Alternative Vote referendum – and it wasn’t a close one. 70:30 against.

You’d have to say – in hindsight – it was a hideous miscalculation to hold it at the same time as the local elections – the debate was drowned out by local canvassing, and the cause was probably unfairly tarred with the infamous Nick Clegg Mark of Death (TM). Maybe a year on, with more groundwork, things might have been closer – but as we stand today, electoral reform is off the agenda for many years, probably a generation.

The Liberal Democrats appear to have shot their bolt now – no AV for the next election, and they’ve been acting as a punch bag for public anger against the coalition. The Conservatives are supposed to be a bunch of hard bastards, the Liberal Democrats are not. Of the two component parts of the Government, it’s the Liberal Democrats who are so off axis from their “advertised” position that the public are naturally going to beat them with a stick.

Where this will leave things in four years (or earlier) is unknown. They may ride the gauntlet of the public spending cuts, and achieve respectability in the eyes of the public – a “proper” political party, capable in Government. That’s the only thing left to play for. Or they may completely implode – a bunch of woolly idealists, thrown into the sharp end and ultimately incapable of justifying the their political party when it matters.

It’s frankly easy to be in opposition. Being made accountable for your actions is demonstrably harder.