Liberal Democrat Conference

Yes it's that time of year again. Party Conference Season. And first up is the Liberal Democract conference in Birmingham.

It's been quite a year for the Lib Dems. They've gone from being the third (and smallest) of the major parties in the HoC to a partner in the Coalition Government. The LibCon Government if you will. This is their chance. Their chance to influence government and put some of their policies into action. A chance to make a real change.

Except it hasn't worked out like that has it? As the junior partner in the Coalition the Lib Dems don't have that much influence. There are in fact only three senior Lib Dems in the Cabinet (Nick Clegg, Vince Cable and Danny Alexander if you're interested) and nearly every time the Lib Dems have tried to force something they have either backed off or been defeated. Nick Clegg even regenged on his promise to vote against a rise in tution fees, though whether that was at the urging of the Tories we will never know.

Of course there are those who say that the Lib Dems actually hold quite a lot of power. If they were to pull out of the Coalition then the government would collapse. But I doubt that will ever happen. For one thing I suspect that the Conservatives would limp along with a minority for a while before scoring big at the next election. I also believe that the Lib Dems will never pull out of the Coalition because this is there one shot at power. I strongly suspect that they know that if they don't buck their ideas up then come the next election they will be hammered by the electorate. We don't like Yes Men. And we expect better from the Lib Dems.

But over the last few days both the leader Nick Clegg and Party President Tim Farron have attempted to change this view. They have argued that while they were "respectful in the beginning" they were now beginning to articulate their differences from the Conservatives and will now aim to "punch above their weight." They also argued that the Lib Dems have "nerves of steel" and will survive.

Whether this is the truth or simple Conference rhetoric I don't know.  But it will be fascinating to see what happens in the next few months.