The Lib Dems have not had a great week - and Graeme Archer posted a great piece about the party here earlier which is well worth reading.
But now my attention has been drawn to a piece of analysis by Tony Travers of the LSE for the IPPR which suggests that under elections held under more proportional systems, the Liberal Democrats actually come off worst of all the three main parties (and they are, of course, the only one of the three parties committed to PR as a party policy).
It doesn't actually come as the greatest surprise. In countries with PR systems, you often see a larger number of mainstream parties, which in turn each represent a less broad church of opinion. So if a PR system were ever introduced for Westminster elections, I could see the Lib Dems, with their different - and often competing - traditions of social democracy and liberalism ending their marriage of electoral convenience and completely fragmenting.
