Nick Clegg officially has no balls

The head of Great Britain's Liberal Democrats, in coalition with David Cameron's Conservatives, has given official proof of that.

The vote (on tuition hikes) put Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and his Liberal Democrat party in an awkward spot. Liberal Democrats signed a pre-election pledge to oppose any such tuition hike, and reserved the right to abstain in the vote even though they are part of the governing coalition proposing the change.

Those protesting in central London were particularly incensed by the broken pledge from Clegg's party.

"I'm here because the Liberal Democrats broke their promise," said 19-year-old Kings College student Shivan David from London's Trafalgar Square. "I don't think education should be free but I do think that tripling fees doesn't make any sense. We are paying more for less."

Inside the House of Commons and to the jeers from the opposition lawmakers, Liberal Democrat Business Secretary Vince Cable insisted that the new tuition plans were "progressive" as a heated debate over the proposal began.

This in no way surprises me. And, it shows that while joining the coalition seemed like a good move in terms of political tactics, in terms of longer-term strategy, it will turn out to be horrible. Don't forget Clegg also signed a pledge to stick with the coalition through thick and thin.

Finally, Prime Minister David Cameron agreed to push forward electoral reform. Yes, it's still early, but, things move faster in parliamentary governments, especially ones that don't have a filibuster-empowered upper house, than they do in the U.S. And, we've seen nothing on this yet.

And, add this, courtesy WikiLeaks:

In March 2009, U.S. officials in England attended the spring political conference of the Liberal Democrats. The event was widely covered in the British media, but the U.S. Embassy's summary, a combination of speech excerpts and hallway chatter, was labeled classified.

Among the revelations: Liberal Democratic leader Nick Clegg and Conservative David Cameron "don't get along." Besides being politically obvious, this tidbit was available at any newsstand in England.

The British press has reported that Clegg dubbed Cameron "the con man of British politics." Cameron dismissed Clegg as a "joke" and privately called him "Calamity Clegg."