All you have to do is look at the Tory party policies during coalition and after to see that's not a very accurate perception. It's clear from the perspective

All you have to do is look at the Tory party policies during coalition and after to see that's not a very accurate perception. It's clear from the perspective of now that they were indeed a highly moderating influence. They made a terrible job of promoting their role and position (PR referendum, tuition fees etc) and the allowed the Tories to use them as the fall guy for a remarkable range of things. The PR referendum should have been an eeasy sell for them considering the UK is one of the least representative democracies on the planet. On tuition fees, making huge public commitments, signing oversized documents for the cameras, then rowing back because reasons can be a textbook case of how not to do it for decades.