Have the Lib Dems got a real voice in government?

The key lies in the jobs that they hold.

In the course of conversations for a piece on the coalition in this week's New Statesman, one observer made the claim that the Lib Dems lack influence on the coalition because of the nature of the jobs that they are in.

The theory is that Nick Clegg's decision not to hold a ministerial brief could backfire. Clegg was compared to William Gladstone when he outlined a range of constitutional reform proposals last month. Yet the exact nature of those...