Lib Dems: not dead yet

In the light of the previous post, I thought these poll findings in the Times yesterday might be illustrative of something (full story behind the Hugh Grant-stalking paywall here). The five point bump for the Lib Dems is just as likely to be statistical noise as anything else, especially when their poll ratings are comparable to the number of people who believe the Loch Ness Monster exists.

But let’s use it as a jumping off point for a mindless bit of speculation. What if, with the initial shock of the early cuts dissipating, the Lib Dems are actually starting to benefit electorally from being in Government (or at least beginning to claw their way back to where they started)? Not because what they are doing is wildly popular or even because they have forged a particularly attractive identity in government, but because the very fact of being in Government gives them a degree of credibility.

I would not be surprised if with a bit of laying low and a not-exactly-fair-but-not-actively-destructive wind, absent  them being hoodwinked into taking the rap for another Coalition wet job like student fees, the Lib Dems came out of the coalition looking to the general punter for all the world like a party who can cut it with the big boys. And once you have a bit of credibility, the sins of the past can easily be forgotten. Every party has been there.