The coalition agreement between the newly minted PM David Cameron and Deputy PM Nick Clegg does not give Clegg responsibility over particular matters (although it promises legislation on election reform, an issue near and dear to the Lib Dems). Alex Massie of The Spectator sees this as an advantage, in that it doesn't pigeonhole Clegg and, instead, makes the success of the coalition dependent on the working relationship between Cameron and Clegg. I'm not so sanguine. If much of the policy agenda "will be agreed by the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister," as the coalition agreement puts it, it really gives Clegg little clout at all, beyond that which Cameron is willing to suffer. Frankly, I think this tends to undermine the stability of the coalition, rather than buttress it. Massie says:
Yes, he'll be like some Vice-Presidents but, since that job has grown in recent times, that's not, as the Americans say, chopped liver.
It is true that the job has grown in recent times (think Gore and Cheney). But increased vice presidential authority has always come at the pleasure of the president himself, and some presidents have preferred to keep their vice presidents on a shorter leash (think Quayle and, probably, Biden). In other words, the terms of the coalition agreement seem to give Clegg as much authority as Cameron wants him to have. Ironically, those Lib Dem members with concrete portfolios may end up with more clout than Clegg himself.
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