Britannist

The europhile Liberal Dims are lucky that Gordon Brown did not call a General Election for next month and now have the time to replace their "pointless" leader Sir Menzies Campbell, writes eurosceptic Simon Heffer in today's Telegraph (brief edited extract):

"All the excitement about an election distracted attention from the dismal standing of the Liberal Democrats in the latest poll: at 11%, they could have lost two thirds of their seats in a poll. They are the real, indeed probably the only, beneficiaries of Mr Brown's bottling out.

They now have plenty of time to abandon the pointless Sir Menzies Campbell, replace him with.....Nick Clegg. Would it be a real surprise, sometime in 2009, to be surveying the Miliband-Clegg coalition, with the present Prime Minister....with plenty of time to chew over in his mind the real legacy of his failure of nerve last Saturday...?"

arden forester

This again comes up with the idea that a hung parliament would bring about a Lab/LibDem coalition. Somehow I think that is mistaken, and I believe it more likely that a Con/LibDem coalition would materialise.

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Westcountryman

Not so sure on a Con/Lib Dem coalition. Lab/LiB Dem is far more likely. If only for the sake that the Con and Lib Dem grassroots would be absolutely livid at any such deal.

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Manus haec inimica tyrannis ense petit placidam sub libertate quietam - "This hand of mine, which is hostile to tyrants, seeks by the sword quiet peace under liberty."

Britannist

The Liberal Dims are bunch of EU-fanatical socialists to the left of many in the Labour Party. If the pro-EU wing of the Conservatives (a minority) tried to do a deal with the Dim Liberals it would cause huge tensions inside the Conservative Party and would almost certainly lead to large-scale defections to UKIP.

Apart from this, I know that nearly everyone in the Conservative Party rightly view the pro-EU and opportunistic Liberal Dims with total contempt - as do the majority in other parties in the House of Commons.

The rank-and-file membership of the Liberal Dim Party hate the Conservative Party because it is anti-proportional voting and because its membership (i.e. the membership of the Conservative Party) is mostly pro-sovereignty.

It would be better for the Conservative Party if it avoided a coalition with the LIberal Dims - let them go and try to prop up a minority Labour Government and see how far they get. A 'Lib/Lab Pact' - as we saw in the late 1970's - would 'end in tears' for both of those parties as they drag each other down (just as they did during the Labour Callaghan Government thankfully removed by Mrs. Thatcher in 1979).

arden forester

I agree with the idea that it would be better for the Conservatives to avoid a coalition, and I also think such a union would cause trouble. But I think the leadership might float the idea if it suited their purpose, such as getting into office. They have a coalition in Birmingham.

It would be easier if the Tories were the larger party (than Labour) but if Con and LibDem MPs could form a majority they just might try. After all, the Great Grocer did just that, and failed, of course. But he did try it on in the first place.

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www.westminster-whispers.blogspot.com

rjt

I think Mrs Thatcher got it right when she said of the Lab/Lib Pact of the 1970s that its only real achievement was to give Liberal spokesman the thrilling illusion that they were important.

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Mr Delors said that he wanted the European Parliament to be the democratic body of the community, The Commission to be The Executive and The Council Of Ministers The Senate. NO! NO! NO!
(Margaret Thatcher 30 Oct 1990)

Ignore List: The Prophets of ST Al the Unelectable.

Britannist

Is that what she said? Interesting quote.

The whole aim of the Liberals (as they were then called) was to keep Mrs. Thatcher out for as long as possible. It was a tactic which thankfully failed - the Liberals became tarnished with the failures of the minority Labour Government they kept in office and paid for it with losses of many of their seats at the 1979 General Election.

arden forester

By just calling it a Pact it was the subject of ridicule. If it had been a proper coalition, then OK, but it was a fudge!

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www.westminster-whispers.blogspot.com