The disappointing result for the Liberal Democrats is only one of several confounded predictions about this extraordinary election – of which we are all guilty. But unless Nick Clegg holds his nerve, it is the one which threatens to be the most immediately relevant in the days ahead, since Mr Clegg would hardly be human if he did not feel somewhat deflated by the outcome. And that may not be the best mood in which to negotiate.
There will be plenty of time to analyse the reasons why his sudden surge to stardom did not translate consistently enough into seats to strengthen his party's parliamentary presence. Rather than mourn, the Liberal Democrats' leader would do well for now to remind himself, as so many of his predecessors have done before, of the woeful unfairness of a system which has given him well under a tenth of the seats with well over a fifth of the national vote.
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