Nick to Cameron "Help".

Nick.s Clegg, threat to Block the cut the in numbers of MPs if Tories MPs in turn vote against his Party's half hearted attempt at Reform of the House of Lords, is based on claims that the Conservatives had in their Manifesto

The LibDems Manifesto had promise to 

Introduce single transferrable vote system, cut number of MPs by 150 and introduce fixed-term parliaments
Replace House of Lords with smaller, fully-elected upper house. Introduce written constitution

So the LibDems,linked the introduction of STV with a cut in the number of Commons seats . However the issue of proportional referendum was defeated in the subsquent referendum . Though it was not STV but the much inferior AV that was put to the public.So Nick had alreadt been wrong footed by Cameron's Tories.

However  the cut in the number of MPs was linked but not reliant on the proportional representation being introduced.and therefore did not fall.

The plan for a fully elected House of Lords has ben dropped to a for a piss poor half way measure . I tried to make sense of it here.

Nevertheless it is clear Nick Clegg and the LibDems were forced to accept second or even third best each instance when it came to political reform (one of which has already fallen) and now face a revolt from "Lat Ditch"Conservative MPs over Nick's already compromise over Lords reform.

The claim is that the Tories also had Lords reform in their 2010 Manifesto.

Not quite.

This what the Tory Manifesto stated ''

"We will work to build a consensus for a mainly-elected second chamber to replace the current House of Lords, recognising that an efficient and effective second chamber should play an important role in our democracy and requires both legitimacy and public confidence."

So it claims that it they will work  "to build a consensus"  and you could argue that Nick's plan is such a consensus. However with Labour opposed to his Plans (but not really coming up with any real alternative ) and  "Last Ditch" Tories also planning to do so. Cameron may just claim that there is still no consensus

Even the Coalition Agreement was vague .

"We will establish a committee to bring forward proposals for a wholly or mainly elected second chamber on the basis of proportional representation. The committee will come forward with a draft motion by December 2010. It is likely that this will advocate single long term of office. It is also likely that there will be a grandfathering system for current Peers. In the interim, Lords appointments will be made with the objective of creating a second chamber that is reflective of the share of the vote secured by the political parties in the last general election."

So with words such as " likely"  it was not a total commitment to House of Lords reform.

With his plans for PR already gone House of Lords reform is Nick Clegg last chance to be in the history books as a political reformer..

What then are his options now when being faced with a defeat by a unholy alliance of Labour and "last Ditch Tories".  Will he bring down the Government with political oblivion facing him and his Party in the hope that the Public will reward him for doing the right thing.

Or will he in the manner of a football manager whose team as just lost 2 -0 . Claim that his team had played brilliantly,  and were the better side but lost due to poor refereeing decisions.

Clegg has been wrong footed by the Tories by signing an agreement that it reality only offered to consider his Party's Manifesto commitments. He may well find that he will soon have nowhere to turn to .