I do not know what last weeks elections did for you but after a minor scare in the early hours of Friday morning when I thought we may have lost Tilehurst, it all came good when the votes were counted at lunchtime on Friday and yet again we had beaten off the the Tories in Tilehurst with a 257 vote majority. It all sounds so simple afterwards but behind that result was a lot of hard work from a small army of helpers, deliverers, tellers and canvassers who were truly magnificent. So thanks to you and thanks also to the electors of Tilehurst for giving me another term of office as councillor. For my part I will try and continue the record of service of local Lib Dems to the good folk of Tilehurst.

Nationally we also pushed our vote up and Daisy took over 20% of the votes in Reading West, our best result here in many years. Even more pleasing is the number of new members and helpers we have aquired during the campaign.

Tomorrow we are off to a Special Conference in Birmingham where the Lib Dems will discuss the coalition with the Tories. Almost all the members I have spoken to agree that this coalition is right for the country and  although we will need to hold our noses, the actual agreement contains an awful lot of our Lib Dem manifesto  policies. Coalition politics in Parliament is new to us all but is clearly not uncommon in other countries that seem to have prospered, notably Germany.

I shall listen to the debates and what Nick Clegg has to say with interest.