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After a week in which Lib Dem ministers' private thoughts were made public, commentators assess where the coalition government goes next.

[subscription required] that the coalition will survive into the new year:

"Until he [Vince Cable] is reshuffled, he will be like one of the old Soviet leaders, dead long ago but propped up and wheeled out in public to show he's still there. Meanwhile, the coalition is still there...
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"We haven't learnt much this week that we didn't already know. And, though this is a big moment for Dr Cable, it's not that big a deal for the coalition.
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"The only thing getting buried this week is the distinction between the public and the private. Private talk is one thing and public deeds are another."

that this week's events may help the Liberal Democrats:

"Over time, this week may actually help to bolster the Lib Dem case that they are securing progressive dividends from an inescapably difficult coalition. It is also a reminder to sensible Tories that there are limits beyond which the Lib Dems cannot be pushed without threatening the government. The Telegraph may want this to happen. Others, right and left, most certainly do not.
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"These are useful opportunities for the beleaguered Clegg. But they are even more useful for Cameron and Osborne, as well as to the voters. Maybe the Telegraph erred not only by using unacceptable and unprofessional deception. It may also have blundered by assuming that these reminders of the party's distinctive identity would inevitably damage the Lib Dems. They may have the reverse effect."

, saying the Lib Dems' weaknesses have been highlighted:

"What the treatment of Mr Cable does expose is how little room for manoeuvre the Lib Dems have. One consideration in keeping him in position was surely the lack of credible candidates to replace him.
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"Take away Mr Cable (even, arguably, if he is replaced with Mr Laws) and the coalition really is the Dave and Nick show - not a very palatable option for the wider Liberal Democrat party. The coalition isn't about to collapse, but the wire-tap affair has underlined what most already knew - surviving until 2015 is going to be difficult, particularly if there are more Lib Dem gaffes between now and then."

that he is impressed with David Cameron's inaction:

"Just imagine what would have happened had the Cable affair broken during the Blair years. There would have been all the shouting and panic which Alastair Campbell's diaries describe so graphically. But last week, David Cameron did not even break sweat. He refused to be intimidated by looming news deadlines. He made a calm decision, and stuck to it. The 19th-century journalist Walter Bagehot wrote that it was essential that a prime minister should not get too concerned with day-to-day affairs because he needed what Bagehot termed 'mind in reserve' for a real crisis. Cameron appears to understand this profoundly."

for the coalition:

"In a season of goodwill, perhaps we British, instead of sending our Irish neighbours emergency loans, should offer the services of Cable. With his capacity for double-dealing, upsetting colleagues and brazen blarney, he'd fit in well among the less scrupulous Dail elements. And he is, after all, a business expert, isn't he?"

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