News has broken that Nick Clegg announced that his party would be voting against any calls for a referendum on the new constitution/treaty for the EU. This is leading to some calling him on it and accusing him of hypocrisy and of "selling out" the UK to Europe. They largely ignore that what the Lib Dem's do or don't do will be largely irrelevant while the Labour party whip continues to dictate a hard line on this, as the Lib Dem votes couldn't possibly swing the matter in favour of the Tory line anyway, and they don't seem to look too deeply in to what it is the Lib Dem's actually want a referendum for...

We would vote against a referendum on the treaty and vote that the real referendum that needs to be had is whether we stay in the EU or not

So is this a case of the Lib Dem's selling out? I think it's pretty close to the line. Politically it would seem that the Lib Dem's can ask for their higher referendum but would never get one if the vote on a referendum for a treaty/constitution can't get through. In effect they have to be accepting that what they say is different from what will ever happen. So do they say what they do because it won't happen or in spite of it? I personally think the Tories are right that this is the biggest, and perhaps last, chance the UK has of truly stating their opinion on Europe and the Lib Dem's are standing in the way of that, if only figuratively speaking. Could there be deeper motives here about inter-party politics perhaps, or is it just a change of tune on principle?