Clegg’s Political Dilemma: Involvement or Commitment | Ham and Eggs

Great cartoon from Steve Bell as usual. The question now is, what should Clegg do? Having seen support for the Liberal Democrats deflate at the polling stations more quickly than a balloon in a pin factory, he now faces the most important political decision of his life. Does he trust the Tories enough to believe that they are serious about their offer on voting reform? Or does he feel that he’s been there before with Blair and that nothing every came of it. In which case, does he risk a more deeply involved coalition with Labour, which will see voting reform far more likely, but will require far more careful long term work?

I’m reminded of a quote from, bizarrely, Martina Navratilova:

“Do you know the difference between commitment and involvement? Think of ham and eggs. The chicken is involved; the pig is committed.”

Clegg’s question has to be this: how committed he is to his party’s ideas and ideals, and how much is he simply tempted to be involved in getting into power? Indeed, given the nature of the numbers, this is precisely the question all party leaders need to be asking themselves now that the electorate have pretty much said no to all of them in different ways.