defeat of the left by Blair replaced Militant Tendency entrism with middle class entryism.

Yet Blairism was not Liberalism. It was centralising and authoritarian. It was based on the certainties of a cult - and their heroic determination to stay "on message" was politics as monologue. It is a lesson that David Cameron has learned well.

A swing to the Conservatives has histroically damaged Liberals. Yet the past 12 years has tripled the Liberal Democrats' representation in the House of Commons. Even a substantial setback will probably not take the Liberal Democrats down the the levels of the 1980s. The party will retain many of its seats even against the head.

Relative to the Labour losses, the Liberal Democrats will probably be more resilient. In that sense, as the political pendulumCaroline Spelman, another political toady. David Laws, head currency trader at Barclays- millionaire before he was thirty with Nick Herbert, yet another political toady.

The Conservstive front bench is just as much a part of the political class as Labour's- and will continue the same failed approach to government.

The Liberal Democrats actually benefit from the fact that it is so difficult for them to get elected: that is why most of them have had full and successful lives away from politics too.

.Yes these are all texts that were used by the Conservative Party but chiefly only as a weapon against socialism in the 20th century when they confronted the Liberal Party as well as the Labour Party both committed to collectivist solutions. You will recall that the Liberal Party