Happy Monday morning, everyone, and welcome to the first full week of Lib Dem / Conservative coalition government. Let’s get down to the news …

One Big Story

Lib Dem members give overwhelming thumbs-up to coalition government agreement

The Daily Telegraph has a fair-minded report proving that extraordinary things really can happen in the new politics (and in stark contrast to the snarkiness of the Grauniad):

… members voted “over-whelmingly” in support of the deal with no more than a dozen of the 2,000 delegates opposing the deal in a show of hands at the gathering in Birmingham. Speaking after the vote, Mr Clegg said: “It is a big step. There are lots of unknowns, there will be bumps and scrapes along the way”. He said the party’s special conference had taken a “very, very important decision” to approve the coalition “which is utterly new in modern British political history”. .. It is understood the while 100 members had quit the party since the deal was signed – a further 400 had joined.

The conference even earned plaudits from an unlikely source: ConservativeHome.com offered three cheers for the Lib Dems’ commitment to party democracy:

I take my hat off to the Liberal Democrats for the attempt to involve party members – the people who work so hard without expectation of office – in the decision to form a Coalition with the Conservatives. On a number of occasions Clegg met his MPs and party officers in a bid to hear their views and explain what he was doing. Today’s ratification of the deal will help bind the party into the fascinating Cameron-Clegg experiment. What a contrast with the Conservative Party where there has been next to no consultation of the party membership. Coming on top of Team Cameron’s various attempts to dilute Tory members’ role in membership selection it is all very disappointing.

Here’s how the BBC reported the day:

2 Must-Read Blog Posts

What are other Liberal Democrat bloggers saying? Here are two posts that have caught the eye from the Liberal Democrat Blogs aggregator:

• Andy Mayer on Liberal Vision: Birmingham 1, Ross Skye & Lochaber 0

Andy is confused by Charles Kennedy’s objections to the deal:

… the general trend of his leadership, [was] promoting Orange-bookers to key positions, ending Labour collaboration, and laying the groundwork for Clegg’s ‘liberal realignment’ narrative that has been consistent through his leadership election, general election campaign and coalition agreement.

• Nich Starling (Norfolk Blogger): I’m staying put, for now.

… until my term is up as a councillor, I will remain a Lib Dem and I will continue to oppose those things I was told we should be opposing in election literature delivered just days ago. However, I cannot promise I will remain a Lib Dem after May 2011.

Spotted any other great posts in the last day from blogs that aren’t on the aggregator? Do post up a comment sharing them with us all.

Monday morning video bonus

For most of us, last week’s events were a complete surprise. But one man foresaw it all, admittedly some 29 years ago – Liberal leader, David Steel. Forget Vince, we have a new sage:

(Also available on YouTube here).