The coalition and Europe

The recent vote to leave the European Union has reenergised Liberal Democrat commitment to the EU. In promising to challenge the decision to leave, the party has found itself an issue that has helped it stand apart, appeal to large numbers of British voters, and uphold a core party commitment to liberal internationalism. The turmoil that now defines UK–EU relations (the settling of which will likely dominate the rest of this parliament) led to justifiable quips that David Cameron was only able to last a year without Nick Clegg and the Liberal Democrats. Europe, however, has not always been an easy issue for the party, either internally or externally, especially when in coalition with a Eurosceptical Conservative Party. How then did the party succeed in managing the issue in government? Did it balance or constrain Conservative Euroscepticism? Or were the demands of government such that the party was overwhelmed by events and inadvertently helped pave the way for the 2016 referendum?