Vince Cable must be doing somthing right!

He's been getting up the noses of some Tories. Apparently he's their "Yellow B**tard of the Year" over at Conservative Home.

It's pretty overwhelming: Vince Cable has dominated the stakes this year to be voted the Yellow B**tard of the Year, with a stonking 56 per cent of the vote. That's a staggering rise on last year, when he seized the crown from Nick Clegg with 31 per cent.

The Lib Dem leader may be disappointed to learn that his share of the vote among Conservative party members fell to a mere 18 per cent. Meanwhile, Norman Baker's flounce out and denunciation of the Tories only secured him 14 per cent of your votes.

Tim Farron (9 per cent) and Simon Hughes (a meagre 3.5 per cent) brought up the rear, and both will no doubt be hoping that 2015 offers them a greater opportunity to be a thorn in the Conservatives' collective side.

They even did a bar chart:- It's a one horse race.

No doubt Tim Farron will be disappointed to see that he is actually more liked by Tories this year than he was last year. Only 9% of them were prepared to name him as their scourge.

I'm more surprised that Ed Davey, with all the Tory unfriendly "green crap" he's introduced, doesn't feature more highly.

This comes in the same week that the Conservative Home survey found a rise in support for a second coalition with us. Does this mean that some Tories hate us less than they do their own right wing?

What's particularly interesting is that Tory members want a say in any future coalition.

What may be happening is that while a majority are still against a second Coalition, the approach of the election is concentrating minds a bit. For all the quarrels between the partners - real and staged - a substantial bloc of party members would presently be willing to give a deal with Nick Clegg's party another go.

ConservativeHome believes that the party as a whole should vote on any second Coalition - just as Liberal Democrat members did on this current one. I think these findings help to buttress my view that party members would vote for any deal with the Liberal Democrats that Conservative MPs had themselves endorsed by secret ballot.

Such an outcome would give any such arrangement a legitimacy and authority within the Party that the current one has always lacked.

This internal democracy thing is infectious.

* Newshound in training. I'm sweet and full of mischief, just like my stories.