Infighting has broken out within the Liberal Democrats over Nick Clegg’s plans to ensure that his party’s 2015 election manifesto is coalition-proof.
Senior policymakers and grassroots members are furious about the Lib Dem leader’s plan to stake out a middle ground “equidistant” from Labour and the Tories to boost the chances of another coalition government.
David Laws, who is drawing up the election manifesto, is “stress-testing” any policies to ensure that they are compatible with either Labour or the Tories but now has a fight on his hands in the run-up to the party’s annual conference in September.
In a letter to The Times today, Prateek Buch, director of the Social Liberal Forum, says it would be an “act of folly” to ditch traditional Liberal