An Alliance

It is 01.45 am on Saturday 8th May. With all the General Election results in the Tories have got 306 seats and it is clear that the only way of getting a government with an overall majority is via a full coalition government of Tories and Lib-Dems as I suggested earlier. In the middle of the afternoon David Cameron made a very clear proposal that the Lib-Dems should join them in a coalition to tackle Britain's problems. This was an encouraging announcement and was public supported by a number of prominent Tories like Sir John Major and Michael Portillo. While discussions were still going on this evening Ken Clarke and Lord Harris were interviewed by an overwrought Kirsty Wark on Newsnight who hammered away at the idea that no coalition was possible because the Lib-Dems could never accept the Tories ideas on electoral reform. She banged on and on and on about it until I was convinced that she was drunk, mad, insane or infected by aliens. What was the bloody woman on about. Had she been programmed or instructed by a dictatorial BBC megalomaniac to wreck any compromise deals? The two interviewees reacted with admirable courtesy and restraint as the demented woman screamed her manic rantings at them. She needs to be taken away for treatment.

Meanwhile, Gordon Brown remains in Downing Street - as he should - until The Tories and Lib-Dems succeed in making a deal or failing to make a deal. In the first case, Gordon Brown must immediately go to Buckingham Palace to resign and advise the Queen to invite David Cameron to form a new government. It is the right thing to do yet many people are suggesting that the PM should get out of Downing Street at once because he has lost. He may have lost but if Cameron cannot put together a government then Gordon Brown has to try.

I hope we do get a Tory-Lib-Dem government. It is the right solution and reflects what the voters have demanded because together they carry 60% of the votes cast. What the people have said via the polls is that they do not like Labour but do not want to go the whole hog and give the Tories a massive majority. They want to see a government of co-operation and compromise. After all compromise can be the corner-stone of diplomacy.

In spite of their losses in the General Election, Labour are having success in the local elections picking up seats from all other parties. So in spite of all the difficulties and the abuse by the press, Gordon Brown has bounced back - when we consider the situation one year ago. The party may have taken a battering in the General Election but they have survived intact with the loss of only a couple of the big guns. The gains in the local elections should help soak up the tears.

I wonder who will be in charge of finances in the new government. Brown and Darling are much the most experienced in dealing with the financial problems but if Ken Clarke and Vince Cable can join with George Osborne in the coalition, they should be able to get to grips with the finances and the Greek tragedy.

And Gordon Brown can make a dignified exit.

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