It's all about "constructive opposition", the Liberal Democrat leader, Mr Paddy Ashdown, pledged at the start of the party's conference in Eastbourne yesterday. Several delegates ignored his rallying cry and criticised his plans to cosy up to the Labour government.
With some senior party activists and rank-and-file members warning they are unhappy with his seat on the joint cabinet committee, Mr Ashdown was forced to defend his "agreement" with Labour once again. "Be absolutely clear: constructive opposition is about putting things into effect with the government where we agree. It is monstrous to have a situation where you agree about something but still refuse to work together in order to put it into effect."
After a parade of the party's 46 MPs, Mr Ashdown insisted: "Where we disagree, and we disagree with the government over its health and education policy, we have a mandate for that and we will fight for it." And he told Channel 4 news last night that working with the government on areas of policy where they both agreed, such as constitutional reform, would rid British politics of party tribalism.
At a fringe meeting delegates were divided over what has become an annual debate about the party's relationship with Labour. The Liberal Democrat peer, Lord Rodgers, who was once a Labour minister, urged the party to seek a pact with Labour "in a broad, inclusive, progressive alliance of the centre-left". Others forecast that members would be sat upon if they disagreed with Labour policy.
Although Mr Ashdown's first day at the seaside began on a somewhat defensive note, the delegates were soon attacking Labour over the budget, which one branded a "deceitful, hypocritical measure. Labour's pension tax is the biggest smash-and-grab raid in financial history. It makes the Brink's Mat raid look like shoplifting at Woolies."
One of the central issues of the conference, Mr Ashdown said, was proportional representation and his party's plan to introduce the system in time for the next election. Seen by commentators as frankly optimistic, Mr Ashdown defended his position, saying he believed Labour would deliver on its promise to set up a commission and then hold a referendum on the issue in its first term.
The leader of the Liberal Democrats in Scotland, Mr Jim Wallace, told delegates that one of the first Bills to be put to a Scottish parliament should be to introduce PR for council elections. He said there was agreement between the Liberal Democrats and the Scottish National Party for the proposaland he challenged the government to give its support. "If we got PR in Westminster a coalition would almost certainly be the likely outcome there as well," Mr Wallace added.