You are right, but being an internal coalition isn't a uniquely Lib Dem thing - cf the Tories re Europe or new vs old Labour. I think it's an inevitable consequence of being a party that's big enough to be a national party.
The key thing is carrying your supporters with you when you make the transition from opposition to government. Clegg spectacularly failed to do that. And I think he did so because he valued getting stuff done more than maintaining the appearance of consistent political values.
Being the junior party in a coalition makes that transition MUCH harder, and he also failed to make allowances for that. Remember the Lib Dems had the upper hand in the coalition agreement to a ridiculously disproportionate extent. They got what they wanted on electoral reform (at that point) and fixed term governments etc. but failed to realise they also needed to change the cabinet to make coalition visibly different from single party government, in the way that policy is discussed in public.
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Date: 2016-09-06 17:03 (UTC)The key thing is carrying your supporters with you when you make the transition from opposition to government. Clegg spectacularly failed to do that. And I think he did so because he valued getting stuff done more than maintaining the appearance of consistent political values.
Being the junior party in a coalition makes that transition MUCH harder, and he also failed to make allowances for that. Remember the Lib Dems had the upper hand in the coalition agreement to a ridiculously disproportionate extent. They got what they wanted on electoral reform (at that point) and fixed term governments etc. but failed to realise they also needed to change the cabinet to make coalition visibly different from single party government, in the way that policy is discussed in public.