PITY the Liberal Democrats as they kick off the party conference season today.

They are at their strongest in parliament since the war yet they are still under a cloud.

That is because, despite more than doubling the number of their MPs to 46 on May 1, they have an identity crisis.

For Labour now commands the centre ground.

How difficult it is, then, for the Lib Dems to appear a distinct force in British politics.

And worse, how hard it is for them to present an alternative when so many Lib Dem views are represented by Labour and when the government's huge Commons majority already renders the Opposition an insignificance.

Hence, then, the turmoil among senior Lib Dem figures today over the extent to which the party should co-operate with Labour.

Paddy Ashdown finds himself going down a difficult path. Quite rightly, seeking to exploit to the full what power his party has at Westminster, he is determined to maximise the Lib Dems' influence with the government.

Yet that would only compound the vexing paradox that overshadows the Lib Dems today: that they are more influential, but less distinct - to the extent that the party's separate appeal to the electorate risks being seriously diminished.

Mr Ashdown accepts there are risks in getting further into bed with Labour, so he must tread carefully.

But what alternative have the Lib Dems?

If they go further leftwards they become like old Labour - more distinct but unelectable.

The clear rejection of their honest, but unpopular, "tax and spend" election pledges to put up income tax to spend more on health and education, is a lesson that leftist radicalism may be riskier still.

This week at Eastbourne the Lib Dems must look for ways of avoiding being boxed in.

But it is no easy task when they are so overshadowed by Labour, in terms of numbers and prominence on the crucial centre ground, and when lurching leftwards is full of pitfalls.

It may be that the party may only escape death by obscurity at the hands of proportional representation that would give them the numbers to both raise their profile and more safely present radical views.

But they may have to wait a while yet for that lifebelt.

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