Nice one Gordy.
An object lesson, that only you could conjure up, in how to leave office with complete ignominy.
And to the roll of dishonour we can now add every Labour MP who endorsed their Party's manifesto pledge for a referendum on electoral reform but who vaildate senior Labour backbencher Stuart Bell's view that they will now overwhelmingly oppose electoral reform.
The cynicism and hypocrisy of New Labour really has plumbed new depths.
[cite]Posted By: allez les addicks[/cite]have the Lib Dems got 6 MPs with the profile for cabinet? somehow I doubt it, especially after Evan Harris and Lembit Opik (who btw was very good on Have I Got News For You btw) have lost.
I voted Lib Dem to stop Osbourne being Chancellor. As long as Cable is put in over him I'll be happy, somehow I think Cameron will protect his chum though
I hear a rumour it's Cable and Clarke in the Treasury (in whichever order), with Osborne moving to Business and Skills.
If that's true its frankly the best thing that has come out of all this. Osbourne would have been awful at the Treasury, had no idea about what was required and can't present at all (which is an important skill when it comes to the EU etc) and at times Cable has been the only one out of the 3 prospective Chancellors to speak any sense. Least if it's Clarke and Cable, there should be enough experience!
[cite]Posted By: allez les addicks[/cite]have the Lib Dems got 6 MPs with the profile for cabinet? somehow I doubt it, especially after Evan Harris and Lembit Opik (who btw was very good on Have I Got News For You btw) have lost.
I voted Lib Dem to stop Osbourne being Chancellor. As long as Cable is put in over him I'll be happy, somehow I think Cameron will protect his chum though
I hear a rumour it's Cable and Clarke in the Treasury (in whichever order), with Osborne moving to Business and Skills.
Evan Harris and Lembit Opik were very much on the party fringes of late, even before election results.
This is a short term government that will last, at best, for 12-18 months.
Labour realised that the Lab-Lib-Nats deal was too fragile and it would be better for them to walk away and have a spell in opposition - the right choice in all probability.
I just don't see how the Tories and Lib Dems can work together on the crucial issues when their policies are so far apart in so many areas.
Clegg is walking on a knife edge, no doubt about that, a lot of Lib Dems are seriously pissed off that he has put Cameron into office (some would have been pissed off if he'd put Brown in) and they'll be watching him like a hawk.
If the Tories don't deliver AV/PR then Clegg will be toast and if this new government passes anything that the centre-left Lib Dems in the party don't like (and split the party) then there will be a new election quite soon - dare Cameron push the envelope with any tough legislation?
Interesting times and a great example of peaceful democracy in action.
Good move if, as reported, Conservatives have agreed to abandon (as they should have before the election) raising inheritance tax threshold in order to adopt (at least in part) Lib Dem policy of making first 10k of earnings free of income tax. That should have been a Conservative policy in the first place.
Good move also to give hospital pass of a job of Home Secretary to Huhn, if true.
[cite]Posted By: PeanutsMolloy[/cite]Good move if, as reported, Conservatives have agreed to abandon (as they should have before the election) raising inheritance tax threshold in order to adopt (at least in part) Lib Dem policy of making first 10k of earnings free of income tax. That should have been a Conservative policy in the first place.
Good move also to give hospital pass of a job of Home Secretary to Huhn, if true.
True, but for how long will the likes of Davis, Howard and all the right-wing nutters allow Dave to keep selling the family silver?
Not long until the knife gets plunged in the back.
[cite]Posted By: PeanutsMolloy[/cite]Good move if, as reported, Conservatives have agreed to abandon (as they should have before the election) raising inheritance tax threshold in order to adopt (at least in part) Lib Dem policy of making first 10k of earnings free of income tax. That should have been a Conservative policy in the first place.
Good move also to give hospital pass of a job of Home Secretary to Huhn, if true.
True, but for how long will the likes of Davis, Howard and all the right-wing nutters allow Dave to keep selling the family silver?
Not long until the knife gets plunged in the back.
Must admit the coalition deal (assuming the Lib Dems agree it and the terms are broadly as reported) has surprised me, not least because the Tories have been able to secure the deal seemingly for 4-5 years with, in respect of voting reform, only a referendum on AV (which the Tories are free to campaign against, seemingly now alongside the "progressive" Labour Party) and having red-lined European policy and the deficit reduction plan.
Maybe it’s because the Labour negotiators made such a half hearted attempt to find common ground yesterday (and thereby undermined Clegg's bargaining position when the talks failed – nice one Ed Balls-Up) but also Cameron has been surprisingly astute in finding the areas where acceptable but worthwhile concessions could be made to the Lib Dems.
I don't think the right wing of the Conservative Party will undermine him at least for 2-3 years, because:
1. Being back in power after 13 years buys Cameron a lot of time, even if he's underperformed some expectations in terms of election strategy and result. Conservative voters would not reward Tory dissidents for upsetting the applecart (and the markets).
2. There's been a lot of turnover in Tory MPs. Not quite so many pompous old farts on the Tory backbenches as before.
3. They've got the key areas red-lined (the media and Tory leadership overestimated [in my view] the importance to most Tories of raising IHT threshold) without any material risk of PR (AV is an irritation, not a threat as PR would be)
4. There is a rumour that David Davies is to be offered a cabinet post (to assuage right wingers)
Who knows? I wouldn't have thought it possible for this deal to be pulled off without a referendum on full blown PR but if it is achieved without that there may indeed be a stable govt forming that may hold for the full term............but of course "events"....
[cite]Posted By: PeanutsMolloy[/cite]Good move if, as reported, Conservatives have agreed to abandon (as they should have before the election) raising inheritance tax threshold in order to adopt (at least in part) Lib Dem policy of making first 10k of earnings free of income tax. That should have been a Conservative policy in the first place.
Good move also to give hospital pass of a job of Home Secretary to Huhn, if true.
True, but for how long will the likes of Davis, Howard and all the right-wing nutters allow Dave to keep selling the family silver?
The one good thing to come out of this coalition is there are 3 or 4 million people who voted Lib Dem who will never vote for them again. There is now only one centre/left progressive party in the UK.
[cite]Posted By: PeanutsMolloy[/cite]Good move if, as reported, Conservatives have agreed to abandon (as they should have before the election) raising inheritance tax threshold in order to adopt (at least in part) Lib Dem policy of making first 10k of earnings free of income tax. That should have been a Conservative policy in the first place.
Good move also to give hospital pass of a job of Home Secretary to Huhn, if true.
True, but for how long will the likes of Davis, Howard and all the right-wing nutters allow Dave to keep selling the family silver?
Not long until the knife gets plunged in the back.
Must admit the coalition deal (assuming the Lib Dems agree it and the terms are broadly as reported) has surprised me, not least because the Tories have been able to secure the deal seemingly for 4-5 years with, in respect of voting reform, only a referendum on AV (which the Tories are free to campaign against, seemingly now alongside the "progressive" Labour Party) and having red-lined European policy and the deficit reduction plan.
Maybe it’s because the Labour negotiators made such a half hearted attempt to find common ground yesterday (and thereby undermined Clegg's bargaining position when the talks failed – nice one Ed Balls-Up) but also Cameron has been surprisingly astute in finding the areas where acceptable but worthwhile concessions could be made to the Lib Dems.
I don't think the right wing of the Conservative Party will undermine him at least for 2-3 years, because:
1. Being back in power after 13 years buys Cameron a lot of time, even if he's underperformed some expectations in terms of election strategy and result. Conservative voters would not reward Tory dissidents for upsetting the applecart (and the markets).
2. There's been a lot of turnover in Tory MPs. Not quite so many pompous old farts on the Tory backbenches as before.
3. They've got the key areas red-lined (the media and Tory leadership overestimated [in my view] the importance to most Tories of raising IHT threshold) without any material risk of PR (AV is an irritation, not a threat as PR would be)
4. There is a rumour that David Davies is to be offered a cabinet post (to assuage right wingers)
Who knows? I wouldn't have thought it possible for this deal to be pulled off without a referendum on full blown PR but if it is achieved without that there may indeed be a stable govt forming that may hold for the full term............but of course "events"....
Good point Peanuts but this new government needs the Lib Dems or they don't have the numbers.
So, how on earth can Cameron handle the following issues: Europe, Immigration, Political Reform, Taxation - when the Tories and Lib Dems are diametrically opposed on these and most other issues.
Take Europe, Hague wanted to go to Brussels and, basically, tell them to get fecked - how can he do that now his party needs the support of the most Europhile party in the UK?
Clegg is now totally fecked in many urban consituencies because people voted LD to keep the Tories out and he has put them in, that's why people like Simon Hughes (Bermondsey & Southwark) are so nervous about going into bat with the Tories.
Clegg will also be well and truly fecked over in the PR referendum, which the Tory press will campaign against and which they will defeat, and at that point will almost surely be dumped by the LD's.
Clegg's best move would have been to allow the Tories to form a minority government with no formal coalition, it now looks like he has put them in power to further his own career, ie going from a 3rd party leader to being Deputy PM.
The Tory right-wingers simply will not be able to handle not having total power and having to accept a yellow tinge across everything they do, they will be aching for a huge row so they can get another election and try to win a new majority.
Ironically, the Labour people have probably ended up in the best position that they could have realistically hoped for pre-election.
[cite]Posted By: Red_in_SE8[/cite]The one good thing to come out of this coalition is there are 3 or 4 million people who voted Lib Dem who will never vote for them again. There is now only one centre/left progressive party in the UK.
Exactly, Labour can probably not believe their luck at this outcome, a whole bunch of urban seats just came back into play.
[cite]Posted By: RedZed333[/cite]How can the LibDem voters be pissed off about working with the Tories...?
If they had their precious PR then that's exactly what they'd be expecting to do right now anyway....
If they want cake they have to eat it...
1] Because the Tories are the last party on earth who would want to abandon FTPT and will campaign like crazy against it.
2] Because the Tories and Lib Dems are poles apart on almost every major policy issue.
But if we are to have PR that's what is going to happen...
The majority won't like it and the different policies will still exist...
Now the LibDems have been given a chance to share power surely there won't be a better time to show the British electorate that they can perform on the big political stage...
[cite]Posted By: RedZed333[/cite]How can the LibDem voters be pissed off about working with the Tories...?
If they had their precious PR then that's exactly what they'd be expecting to do right now anyway....
If they want cake they have to eat it...
1] Because the Tories are the last party on earth who would want to abandon FTPT and will campaign like crazy against it.
2] Because the Tories and Lib Dems are poles apart on almost every major policy issue.
But if we are to have PR that's what is going to happen...
The majority won't like it and the different policies will still exist...
Now the LibDems have been given a chance to share power surely there won't be a better time to show the British electorate that they can perform on the big political stage...
That's the whole point, even if the Lib Dems perform "well" in this current government then under the current FTPT system they could easily get 30% of the popular vote and still end up with well under 100 seats in parliament.
The only way for the Lib Dems to become a major player in their own right will be under full PR (not just AV) and the Tories will NEVER EVER allow that to happen.
What's more, by choosing the Tories over Labour, Clegg has given the Labor people a perfect excuse to maintain the current FTPT system (under which Labour only needs to win 35 seats from the Tories/LD's to win back power in its own right).
As a result, when the PR referendum comes, the Tories and their mates in the press will campaign hard against it, the Labour Party will sit on the fence and it will only be the Lib Dems out there campaigning for it and it will lose handsomely.
The only chance Clegg had for voting reform was a Lab-Lib pact and he just chose the Tories, that might have been the right call for the country's interests but will kill him politically within a couple of years.
He will be known as the man who could have delivered PR for the Lib Dems and instead chose to become deputy PM and consign his party to being a minor player forever.
[cite]Posted By: Ormiston Addick[/cite] Good point Peanuts but this new government needs the Lib Dems or they don't have the numbers.
So, how on earth can Cameron handle the following issues: Europe, Immigration, Political Reform, Taxation - when the Tories and Lib Dems are diametrically opposed on these and most other issues.
Take Europe, Hague wanted to go to Brussels and, basically, tell them to get fecked - how can he do that now his party needs the support of the most Europhile party in the UK?
Clegg is now totally fecked in many urban consituencies because people voted LD to keep the Tories out and he has put them in, that's why people like Simon Hughes (Bermondsey & Southwark) are so nervous about going into bat with the Tories.
Clegg will also be well and truly fecked over in the PR referendum, which the Tory press will campaign against and which they will defeat, and at that point will almost surely be dumped by the LD's.
Clegg's best move would have been to allow the Tories to form a minority government with no formal coalition, it now looks like he has put them in power to further his own career, ie going from a 3rd party leader to being Deputy PM.
The Tory right-wingers simply will not be able to handle not having total power and having to accept a yellow tinge across everything they do, they will be aching for a huge row so they can get another election and try to win a new majority.
Ironically, the Labour people have probably ended up in the best position that they could have realistically hoped for pre-election.
I was just commenting on the likely reaction of the Tory traditionalists.
Seemingly the Lib Dem MPs (including the lefties like Hughes and Foster) and the LD Fed Exec were unanimous in their support for the coalition. Hughes even referred to it as a "progressive coalition" because so much common ground on policy has apparently been found - many of the loony elements form both party's manifestos having been sacrificed.
I am certain there will be lots of disgruntled LD voters and activists but Labour has played its hand unbelievably badly - they're non-attempt to get the "rainbow" coalition going has left even Hughes and Ashdown vociferously pissed off with them and large numbers of Labour MPs are now apparently likely to oppose electoral reform. Why should any voter on the left be impressed with that?
I'm naturally a "glass half empty" person but there are times when you have to give credit where credit's due and, given the result of the election, Cameron and Clegg seem to me to deserve a lot of it for:
1. Being astute enough to find the common ground, of course accepting that there have to be compromises on both manifestos
2. Putting first the national interest of getting the deficit down (and they have to outline a shed load more in the way of cuts in the budget of course)
The proof of the pudding will of course be in the eating but I am not convinced that they will certainly be punished by voters at the next election (depends on all kind of variables that we can't predict at the moment) and I am even less convinced that Labour will certainly come out of this as the shining champion of "progressives". Mandy and Balls have a lot of questions to answer and Labour would be best served by going with Cruddas as new leader (if he stands) or another genuine left winger and burying the New Labour abomination once and for all.
Jim Callaghan said during the 1979 election campaign:"...there are times, perhaps once every thirty years, when there is a sea-change in politics. It then does not matter what you say or what you do. There is a shift in what the public wants and what it approves of." Of course, this coalition is not what the electorate expressly voted but in terms of compromise between politicians of different persuasions in the national interest, it is an example what seemingly a lot of people wanted to see and, if it holds for anything like the full term, it may infact re-draw the politcal map. We shall see.
Never seen anything like this in my lifetime. I've got absolutely no idea what's going to happen now. I can only see massive discontent inside all three parties and a bewildered electorate. I can't see this lasting but with a war going on, British soldiers lives at stake and a massive budget deficit, I truly hope that this unlikely coalition can govern effectively and prove me wrong.
upper house to be elected, and by PR. Huge change in the constitution
Fact is Clegg talked all the time on TV and elsewhere about wanting to work with other parties and now he is.
Fixed term parliament as well. Hooray for the chartists.
In fighting parties interssts activists. For most people if the coalition delivers then that will be a good reason to vote foe same two parties and for PR
Labour are far from the progressive left at present (yes great work done in a number of areas, but at the expense of civil liberties and a huge reining in of power back to the state).
I went to Fabian meeting in Birmingham last night and the feeling there was one of annoyance with the Labour old guard that even if the numbers had added up the 'anti PR and anti Mandelson brigade' of Hoey, Abbot, Reid, Blunkett, Harris et al who put individual interest ahead of any chance of a progressive alliance.
[cite]Posted By: Red_in_SE8[/cite]The one good thing to come out of this coalition is there are 3 or 4 million people who voted Lib Dem who will never vote for them again. There is now only one centre/left progressive party in the UK.
I don't agree, I know many people that voted Lib-Dem and have been supporters for years and they are over the moon that at long last there are some Lib-dems in government. For the first time ever there are Libs on the cabinet and for the first time ever the lib-dems votes have counted for something.
It has been agreed by Cameron and Clegg that they are to work together on all key issues to deliver the best possible outcome for the country the main one being the deficit. Cameron has also said throughout the negotiations that he will give NO ground on his views on Europe, Immigration or our countries defences, which is where the biggest differences are, these terms were unanimously agreed by the Lib-Dems, so I can see this working and fingers crossed it may actually be what this country needs.
Comments
Gordon's gone to the Queen. There'll be no PM for a while, because the deal between the Cons and the Libs isn't done yet. This is strange.
And to the roll of dishonour we can now add every Labour MP who endorsed their Party's manifesto pledge for a referendum on electoral reform but who vaildate senior Labour backbencher Stuart Bell's view that they will now overwhelmingly oppose electoral reform.
The cynicism and hypocrisy of New Labour really has plumbed new depths.
If that's true its frankly the best thing that has come out of all this. Osbourne would have been awful at the Treasury, had no idea about what was required and can't present at all (which is an important skill when it comes to the EU etc) and at times Cable has been the only one out of the 3 prospective Chancellors to speak any sense. Least if it's Clarke and Cable, there should be enough experience!
Evan Harris and Lembit Opik were very much on the party fringes of late, even before election results.
Poss cabinet ministers
Clegg, Huhne, Laws, Cable, Alexander, Davey, Lamb
Labour realised that the Lab-Lib-Nats deal was too fragile and it would be better for them to walk away and have a spell in opposition - the right choice in all probability.
I just don't see how the Tories and Lib Dems can work together on the crucial issues when their policies are so far apart in so many areas.
Clegg is walking on a knife edge, no doubt about that, a lot of Lib Dems are seriously pissed off that he has put Cameron into office (some would have been pissed off if he'd put Brown in) and they'll be watching him like a hawk.
If the Tories don't deliver AV/PR then Clegg will be toast and if this new government passes anything that the centre-left Lib Dems in the party don't like (and split the party) then there will be a new election quite soon - dare Cameron push the envelope with any tough legislation?
Interesting times and a great example of peaceful democracy in action.
I still hate that posh twat Cameron though.
Good move also to give hospital pass of a job of Home Secretary to Huhn, if true.
Edited for swearing.
True, but for how long will the likes of Davis, Howard and all the right-wing nutters allow Dave to keep selling the family silver?
Not long until the knife gets plunged in the back.
Must admit the coalition deal (assuming the Lib Dems agree it and the terms are broadly as reported) has surprised me, not least because the Tories have been able to secure the deal seemingly for 4-5 years with, in respect of voting reform, only a referendum on AV (which the Tories are free to campaign against, seemingly now alongside the "progressive" Labour Party) and having red-lined European policy and the deficit reduction plan.
Maybe it’s because the Labour negotiators made such a half hearted attempt to find common ground yesterday (and thereby undermined Clegg's bargaining position when the talks failed – nice one Ed Balls-Up) but also Cameron has been surprisingly astute in finding the areas where acceptable but worthwhile concessions could be made to the Lib Dems.
I don't think the right wing of the Conservative Party will undermine him at least for 2-3 years, because:
1. Being back in power after 13 years buys Cameron a lot of time, even if he's underperformed some expectations in terms of election strategy and result. Conservative voters would not reward Tory dissidents for upsetting the applecart (and the markets).
2. There's been a lot of turnover in Tory MPs. Not quite so many pompous old farts on the Tory backbenches as before.
3. They've got the key areas red-lined (the media and Tory leadership overestimated [in my view] the importance to most Tories of raising IHT threshold) without any material risk of PR (AV is an irritation, not a threat as PR would be)
4. There is a rumour that David Davies is to be offered a cabinet post (to assuage right wingers)
Who knows? I wouldn't have thought it possible for this deal to be pulled off without a referendum on full blown PR but if it is achieved without that there may indeed be a stable govt forming that may hold for the full term............but of course "events"....
Good point Peanuts but this new government needs the Lib Dems or they don't have the numbers.
So, how on earth can Cameron handle the following issues: Europe, Immigration, Political Reform, Taxation - when the Tories and Lib Dems are diametrically opposed on these and most other issues.
Take Europe, Hague wanted to go to Brussels and, basically, tell them to get fecked - how can he do that now his party needs the support of the most Europhile party in the UK?
Clegg is now totally fecked in many urban consituencies because people voted LD to keep the Tories out and he has put them in, that's why people like Simon Hughes (Bermondsey & Southwark) are so nervous about going into bat with the Tories.
Clegg will also be well and truly fecked over in the PR referendum, which the Tory press will campaign against and which they will defeat, and at that point will almost surely be dumped by the LD's.
Clegg's best move would have been to allow the Tories to form a minority government with no formal coalition, it now looks like he has put them in power to further his own career, ie going from a 3rd party leader to being Deputy PM.
The Tory right-wingers simply will not be able to handle not having total power and having to accept a yellow tinge across everything they do, they will be aching for a huge row so they can get another election and try to win a new majority.
Ironically, the Labour people have probably ended up in the best position that they could have realistically hoped for pre-election.
Exactly, Labour can probably not believe their luck at this outcome, a whole bunch of urban seats just came back into play.
If they had their precious PR then that's exactly what they'd be expecting to do right now anyway....
If they want cake they have to eat it...
1] Because the Tories are the last party on earth who would want to abandon FTPT and will campaign like crazy against it.
2] Because the Tories and Lib Dems are poles apart on almost every major policy issue.
The majority won't like it and the different policies will still exist...
Now the LibDems have been given a chance to share power surely there won't be a better time to show the British electorate that they can perform on the big political stage...
That's the whole point, even if the Lib Dems perform "well" in this current government then under the current FTPT system they could easily get 30% of the popular vote and still end up with well under 100 seats in parliament.
The only way for the Lib Dems to become a major player in their own right will be under full PR (not just AV) and the Tories will NEVER EVER allow that to happen.
What's more, by choosing the Tories over Labour, Clegg has given the Labor people a perfect excuse to maintain the current FTPT system (under which Labour only needs to win 35 seats from the Tories/LD's to win back power in its own right).
As a result, when the PR referendum comes, the Tories and their mates in the press will campaign hard against it, the Labour Party will sit on the fence and it will only be the Lib Dems out there campaigning for it and it will lose handsomely.
The only chance Clegg had for voting reform was a Lab-Lib pact and he just chose the Tories, that might have been the right call for the country's interests but will kill him politically within a couple of years.
He will be known as the man who could have delivered PR for the Lib Dems and instead chose to become deputy PM and consign his party to being a minor player forever.
I was just commenting on the likely reaction of the Tory traditionalists.
Seemingly the Lib Dem MPs (including the lefties like Hughes and Foster) and the LD Fed Exec were unanimous in their support for the coalition. Hughes even referred to it as a "progressive coalition" because so much common ground on policy has apparently been found - many of the loony elements form both party's manifestos having been sacrificed.
I am certain there will be lots of disgruntled LD voters and activists but Labour has played its hand unbelievably badly - they're non-attempt to get the "rainbow" coalition going has left even Hughes and Ashdown vociferously pissed off with them and large numbers of Labour MPs are now apparently likely to oppose electoral reform. Why should any voter on the left be impressed with that?
I'm naturally a "glass half empty" person but there are times when you have to give credit where credit's due and, given the result of the election, Cameron and Clegg seem to me to deserve a lot of it for:
1. Being astute enough to find the common ground, of course accepting that there have to be compromises on both manifestos
2. Putting first the national interest of getting the deficit down (and they have to outline a shed load more in the way of cuts in the budget of course)
The proof of the pudding will of course be in the eating but I am not convinced that they will certainly be punished by voters at the next election (depends on all kind of variables that we can't predict at the moment) and I am even less convinced that Labour will certainly come out of this as the shining champion of "progressives". Mandy and Balls have a lot of questions to answer and Labour would be best served by going with Cruddas as new leader (if he stands) or another genuine left winger and burying the New Labour abomination once and for all.
Jim Callaghan said during the 1979 election campaign:"...there are times, perhaps once every thirty years, when there is a sea-change in politics. It then does not matter what you say or what you do. There is a shift in what the public wants and what it approves of." Of course, this coalition is not what the electorate expressly voted but in terms of compromise between politicians of different persuasions in the national interest, it is an example what seemingly a lot of people wanted to see and, if it holds for anything like the full term, it may infact re-draw the politcal map. We shall see.
Fact is Clegg talked all the time on TV and elsewhere about wanting to work with other parties and now he is.
Fixed term parliament as well. Hooray for the chartists.
In fighting parties interssts activists. For most people if the coalition delivers then that will be a good reason to vote foe same two parties and for PR
Even if that's just AV Henry?
PS When are we having our curry?
I went to Fabian meeting in Birmingham last night and the feeling there was one of annoyance with the Labour old guard that even if the numbers had added up the 'anti PR and anti Mandelson brigade' of Hoey, Abbot, Reid, Blunkett, Harris et al who put individual interest ahead of any chance of a progressive alliance.
I don't agree, I know many people that voted Lib-Dem and have been supporters for years and they are over the moon that at long last there are some Lib-dems in government. For the first time ever there are Libs on the cabinet and for the first time ever the lib-dems votes have counted for something.
It has been agreed by Cameron and Clegg that they are to work together on all key issues to deliver the best possible outcome for the country the main one being the deficit. Cameron has also said throughout the negotiations that he will give NO ground on his views on Europe, Immigration or our countries defences, which is where the biggest differences are, these terms were unanimously agreed by the Lib-Dems, so I can see this working and fingers crossed it may actually be what this country needs.