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DANIEL FINKELSTEIN

Is all that Lib Dem success for nothing?

Ed Davey has ruled out co-operation with Tories, but in doing so he has deprived his party of influence over Labour

The Times

The Liberal Democrats did impressively well in the local elections. As the results came in, Friday became one of the party’s best days in a decade. Over the weekend that followed, their opinion poll rating surged. There is every chance that the next general election will see a similar surge in the size of their parliamentary party.

And nothing demonstrates their pointlessness more than all of this success.

On the morning of Saturday March 2, 1974 Jeremy Thorpe, leader of the Liberal Party, left his Devon cottage by the back door, so as not to be spotted, and crossed a muddy field to a lane where a car waited to start him on a journey to London. He was off to meet Ted Heath,