Today caps even yesterday for sustained political drama. Talks on and off again with Labour then back to deal with the Tories. Before anything is finally concluded Gordon Brown resigns as PM. David Cameron heads for the Palace to kiss hands. At the time of writing Nick Clegg is finishing off his meeting with MP's, Peers and the Federal Executive with a view to forming a full term coalition with the Tories.
My understanding is that Labour were utterly uncompromising in the negotiations while the Tories had moved significantly. Labour seem to have made the same mistake that they made when negotiating the council deal in Edinburgh. They sat down and demanded all the most powerful portfolios and we were expected to accept all their policies. We went elsewhere.
It sounds like Danny Alexander and co have negotiated a very good deal in the circumstances. I did fear that a weak coalition with Labour would be formed. Never mind who my preferences would have been the numbers would have made it virtually impossible to get anything through. We would have been back at the Polls in a few weeks. Now it sounds like we will have fixed term parliaments and a referendum on electoral reform. Much more importantly we will have strong coalition government which should put to bed once and for all the negative perceptions of PR. For all their protestations about being progressive Labour were not.
For the first time since 1945 we will have Liberal values articulated round the cabinet table. Today we will go some way the breaking down some of the tribal barriers in Britain.
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