You can’t trust a word Nick Clegg says

Normally, the Liberal Democrats sit in Westminster, on the benches alongside David Cameron, to endorse his failing policies.  But this week they went all the way to Glasgow to line up behind the Tories. They might as well not have bothered.

It did seem early in the week that there might be some genuine excitement.  Vince Cable was going to miss the Nick Clegg’s economy vote.  He was going to defy Clegg.  He was going to undermine his leadership.  He was going to take a stand against this government’s failed economic policy.

But then all of sudden he changed his mind.  He showed up and he voted to back the government’s economic policy.  An economic policy that’s seen one million young people out of work, the slowest recovery for one hundred years, and a living standards crisis for ordinary families.

You could say this is a microcosm of how Vince Cable has behaved in government.  He likes to talk about how he would do things differently, but when it comes to the crunch, he bites his tongue and lines up behind Cameron and Clegg.

We did of course find out later in the week that Vince Cable has policy ‘red lines’.  These red lines, if crossed, would force him to leave the Government.  What they are remains a mystery.  But if he won’t tell us what they are, at least we know what they are not.  We know one million young people unemployed isn’t a red line for Vince.  Neither is a living standards crisis that’s seen wages down £1,500 a year since the general election.  A £3 billion top down reorganisation of the NHS didn’t force him to rethink his seat at the cabinet table.  And we know a tax cut for millionaires wasn’t enough to get him to give up the keys to his ministerial car.

It wasn’t just Vince Cable that was a disappointment this week.  Ahead of the conference, it was suggested that the members were lining up against the leadership.  They were ready to take Nick Clegg on, to give him a bloody nose on the Government’s failed economic policy, on a crisis of living standards, on a tax cut for millionaires.

Of course, what actually happened was that the members voted for the Tories’ failed economic policy – the one they campaigned against at the last election.  They backed a tax cut for millionaires.  Like their Leader, they fell in line behind David Cameron and helped to prop up a government that is making things harder, not easier for ordinary people.

Admittedly, they weren’t doing it in great numbers.  In 2007, the closest vote at Liberal Democrat Conference was 454 to 414.  This year’s closest vote was 224 to 220, reflecting the party’s rapidly declining membership.

You can’t really blame those who have left the party.  Or even those who just didn’t bother to go to annual conference.  They didn’t miss much.  In reality, all that happened in Glasgow this week was that the Liberal Democrats turned up, endorsed the Tories’ failed economic policies, had a sing-along at Glee Club, and then went home.

Nick Clegg says his party are a restraining influence in this Tory-led Government.  But this week, once again, we’ve seen them back David Cameron all the way.  The only real message to come out of Liberal Democrat conference is the one everyone’s known since 2010: you can’t trust a word Nick Clegg says.