Forming A Coalition

Well, today at 5.00 pm Gordon Brown announced that since the Lib-Dems had so far failed to reach an agreement with the Tories, he would also put in hand negotiations with the Lib-Dems to try to form a working government. He would stay on as PM to see that process come to fruition but he would ask the Labour Party to find a new leader by the autumn and the Party Conference. I think he has been forced into this position by the dark forces of Mandelson and Campbell in order, they think, to improve the chances of a deal with the Lib-Dems that will keep them in office. It is political manoeuvring of the worst kind. Labour has quite clearly been rejected by the electorate and we should have a government which is lead by the Tories as the biggest party. The stumbling block seems to be the fact that Tories and Lib-Dems are diametrically opposed on the matter of electoral reform. I can understand that but the parties need to compromise. The Lib-Dems cannot talk about PR and yet not be prepared to go into coalition unless they get everything they want. They are after all the minority party. But it is madness to think that this rainbow alliance of Labour, Lib-Dems, a collection of celtic parties and a green will be allowed to gather together to run England and yet demand that we [England] continually give them money to finance their pet projects in their own countries - each of which has a devolved parliament elected by PR - which we in England cannot have because it "produces unstable government." It is a monstrosity completely unacceptable to England. Someone should get Mandelson and Co to look at a post election map that shows almost the whole of England blue. The people of England want and expect that we will have a government that has the Tories as the major partner and that the prime minister is someone who has been elected. To have all this business of election debates of three party leaders and then see Labour heading a government with yet another Labour leader who becomes prime minister without an election is an absurdity and a corruption of the democratic process.

The Tories have now offered Nick Clegg a referendum on voting reform via the AV system. At the same time, to keep the right wing of the Tory Party on board, David Cameron will offer cabinet posts to the likes of Michael Howard, Ian Duncan-Smith and David Davies. I have no problem with any of these in principle but Michael Howard is no longer an MP so presumably he will be moved to the House of Lords. I suppose he could be Lord Chancellor - or its New Labour equivalent. At least they are adding some experience.

The Lib-Dems now have negotiating teams wandering from one meeting to another and we must wonder when this will stop and they will take a decision to join in government or cut and run. It can't be that difficult.. I hope they will soon stop messing about and form the right government of Tories and Lib-Dems and tell the ragged edges of their party - who, perhaps, fundamentally don't want to be involved in running anything - that this is the best chance in nearly 100 years for the Lib-Dems to be part of a government and if they do a good job, they really could be on the rise. Get this wrong and chicken out of responsibility and they will not get PR and they will sink back into oblivion.

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