When I wrote last week that Lib Dem MPs who had supported party policy by voting against an increase in university tuition fees were likely to receive some sort of credit for this from the electorate in 2015, a senior political journalist asked me if I hadn’t got that the wrong way round – that surely the rebels had voted against party policy?
But in fact this wasn’t the case. Lib Dems who trooped through the lobby supporting the government were in fact the actual rebels, whereas those who voted against the government were – in party terms – bowing to the will of conference and towing the line. Indeed, party policy is to review the system after next year’s election with a view to abolishing tuition fees altogether. A fact that I suspect eludes most people.
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