Editor's letter: The Lib Dems may still have a hand in our political future

When the party gets together in Glasgow this week, Clegg's pitch will be an exercise in extrapolation

Broken pledge: Clegg says Tory rebels defied coalition contract (Reuters)

Morning all. To my mind, the big story of this week has been the extraordinary uprising in Hong Kong, the “fragrant harbour” given back to China by Britain not so long ago. I thought about putting the headline “Flagrant Harbour” on our editorial in Wednesday’s paper – but as our Night Editor pointed out, you’d be hard pushed to describe these protests as flagrant. Indeed, there was a remarkable dignity to them, making the comparison with Tiananmen Square 25 years ago irresistible.

This is the biggest challenge to Beijing’s rule since then, and whether it fizzles out (like the broader Occupy movement) or actually weakens the grip of the Communist Party, it will be one of the biggest geopolitical stories of this decade.

Closer to home, the Tories’ conference dominated headlines. We ran with “The Osborne Ultimatum” on Tuesday, not least because George Osborne must now be the most powerful chancellor in modern history. He came to prominence tearing up Gordon Brown’s rulebook but earned his current omnipotence by writing its postscript. The freeze in working-age benefits – which will save £3bn and is yet another example of the old being spared and the young being targeted – is a classic Brownite dividing line.

But there are also crucial differences between Osborne and Brown. First, Osborne didn’t want the job of party leader when David Cameron got it, whereas Brown did when it went to Blair. Second, Brown was constantly at war with No 10, while Osborne has No 10’s blessing for all he does. And third, whereas Brown and Blair were on opposing sides of a civil war in the Labour movement, Osborne and Cameron are on the same side in the civil war in British conservatism.

Their opponent, of course, is Ukip – a problem without a solution for modern Conservatives. The error Tories are – predictably – making is tacking to the right, when recent British elections have been won in the centre. With Ed Miliband taking Labour to the left as an authentic social democrat, this leaves space in the centre for another strain of thought in danger of neglect. This is called liberalism, and Nick Clegg embodies it.

Clegg permanently lost a lot of Lib Dem voters – and Independent readers – over tuition fees. When his party gets together in Glasgow this week, his pitch to the electorate will therefore be an exercise in extrapolation: this is our track record in government, here’s how we’ll add to it in a future coalition. What a delicious irony it would be if, thanks to an electoral system they oppose, first past the post meant that for the second election in a row the Lib Dems lost seats but still ended up as the kingmakers of British politics. Have a great weekend.