A quiet reminder of Lib Dem independence
By Sam Macrory - 27th April 2011
When they sit intertwined on the front bench, or file through an identical division lobby to vote in support of raising tuition fees, it can be hard to tell Conservative and Liberal Democrat politicians apart.
Every now and again, however, you get a reminder - beyond possibly synthetic pre-polling day spats over the referendum - that the coalition government is made up of two parties from two very different starting points on the political spectrum.
Yesterday afternoon, Conservative backbencher Dominic Raab attempted to introduce a bill designed to prohibit strike action in the emergency and transport services.
Not surprisingly 121 Conservative MPs filed through the Aye lobby, but after Labour's Tony Lloyd rose to respond to Raab and the "salivating rants of Tory MPs and their Lib Dem friends", any coalition friendships looked distinctly shaky.
Not one Liberal Democrat MP joined their Tory colleagues in the Aye Lobby, while 20 cast a No vote along with the Green Party's Caroline Lucas and Labour, Plaid, and SNP MPs.
Tim Farron, the party president was amongst them, as was former leader Sir Menzies Campbell, with the remainder made up of the party's non-government MPs such as Bob Russell, John Leech, and Stephen Williams, as well as 2010 intake members Tessa Munt, Stephen Gilbert, and Julian Huppert.
Raab's bill was comprehensively rejected by 171 to 121 votes, with the Lib Dem block vote in opposition playing its part. There's a few interesting questions here.
Does the vote show, despite the efforts of party leader Nick Clegg to reposition the party, that its natural habitat remains firmly on the left? And was it coordinated, and if so who by?
More confusingly, how did Conservative MP Craig Whittaker end up joining Labour and Lib Dem MPs in the No lobby? Whittaker aside, it's clear there are some issues on which Liberal Democrat MPs and their Conservative colleagues can never, ever, agree, whatever the supposed compromises of coalition government.
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