Writing in today’s Guardian, Martin Kettle has a good piece looking at the defence of the coalition made by the prime minister and deputy prime minister yesterday.

Clegg’s speech, in particular, impressed – for two reasons:

First, it was a firm defence of the coalition government against its enemies on the Tory benches. In fact it was a much firmer defence of the coalition than Cameron, stylishly ducking and weaving in his radio interview, would now dare to make. Cameron may be the more natural communicator, but it was Clegg who sounded more like a statesman.

Second, and even more interestingly, it was a robust defence of coalition and centre-ground government in general. The section in which Clegg calmly rehearsed the reasons why voters should continue to like coalitions and centrist politics – which have been under almost constant attack since 2010 – was especially effective. “Neither left nor right but forward” may be pretty vacuous, but it could be smart politics. The speech was a timely reminder that the Lib Dems are not dead yet, not least because they continue to lay claim to something important.

And he concludes that Lib Dem participation in government might continue for rather longer than people had originally anticipated:

But the British experiment with coalition has proved more resilient – which is just as well, in view of the increasingly four-party message from the opinion polls. That’s why Labour, prodded by Andrew Adonis’s recent writings and interviews, is again beginning to face up to the possibility. Whatever your view of Clegg, he is the one party leader who believes in coalitions as well as having a self-interest in them. In spite of everything that has happened since 2010, he may well find himself, two years from now, in the right place at the right time once again.

* Nick Thornsby is a day editor at Lib Dem Voice.