Norman Baker’s resignation and the future of the coalition

Emma Sanderson-Nash, Lecturer in Politics at Queen Mary University of London, argues that Norman Baker's resignation tells us more about the man that it does about the health of the coalition. Norman Baker's resignation from the Home Office can tell us a lot about Norman Baker, the maverick's maverick, the hippy at the Iron Maiden concert. It can tell us something about Theresa May, and show us in unusually revealing detail what it's like behind the scenes in one of the great offices of state. What it probably can't do is tell us a great deal about the state of the coalition - however much commentators wish it would. Critics of the Liberal Democrats accuse Baker of trying to save his skin ahead of next year's election by distancing himself from May and her policies. But that's not why he resigned. In Baker's Lewes constituency , the Conservatives are the main threat.