Gordon Brown announced his resignation late this afternoon and dropped a spanner in the works of the Tories' coalition talks with the LibDems. I haven't stopped laughing since. I know it's hardly a fitting response to what the right wing press is undoubtedly going to call The End of Democracy and Gordon Brown Spitting In The Face Of The British People but I can't help it.
I would be laughing less if the likes of Adam Boulton were handling the situation better. The video of the good bit is here. There is nothing quite so amusing as watching someone lose it when really they shouldn't especially when it's live on air. Okay, Alistair Campbell can be a bit of a shitbag but I'm going to forgive him quite a lot for creating that. Thanks, Al. You've really cheered me up.
Now that Gordon has announced his intention to go, it has cleared the way for more substantive talks between the Labour party and the LibDems on forming an administration. The trouble is that Nick's people and Dave's people are still talking. Or at least they were. William Hague said that it was possible to create a workable agreement with the LibDems on most subjects. Gordon's resignation has even managed to get the Tories to offer a referendum on electoral form, the Holy Grail of the Liberal Democrats. I don't think there's much chance of any Conservative campaigning on behalf of electoral reform. It's a bit like telling a child you'll get them a puppy knowing all the while that you can't because Mummy has an allergy to dog hair. What's more, the child knows that Mummy has the allergy and gets Daddy to promise them a puppy anyway. There will be tears before bedtime.
It's likely that any government formed by a coalition of the LibDems and Labour would be constantly undermined by media which loathes everything they - the media in question - say they stand for. Get ready for all the usual nonsense about immigration, the deficit, crime, defence from the usual suspects. I can't wait. If you think the last 13 years have been hyperbolic, if the LibDems and Labour party pull off this one then you'll see them at their foam-at-the-mouth, rabid funniest.
There is also the slight problem that LibDems and Labour politicians don't get on. You have all the usual party political arguments compounded by personal rivalries which will not have arisen until now. A further problem is that the LibDems are the Millwall of local politics: nobody likes them. I have a friend who served on Hull City Council a few years ago. He was a Labour councillor. He had few problems with the Tory members of the council but lots with the LibDems. He said that they fought the dirtiest campaigns. I've heard similar things from other parts of the country but I have no personal evidence.
One of the criticisms which would be levelled at a Labour LibDem coalition is that it would lack a mandate. If you take the share of the national vote as your reference, then you'll see that Labour and the Liberal Democrats together got 52% of the vote to the Conservatives' 39%. I'd call that a mandate.
All this is idle and barely-informed speculation on my part. I have nothing better to do tonight. I still think that the Tories will get some kind of deal done with the LibDems which will allow David Cameron to command a majority in the Commons. If he blows it, his party will never forgive him. It would be the last chance the Tories have of ever forming a government. It would also give me something to laugh about for years and years to come.
I would be laughing less if the likes of Adam Boulton were handling the situation better. The video of the good bit is here. There is nothing quite so amusing as watching someone lose it when really they shouldn't especially when it's live on air. Okay, Alistair Campbell can be a bit of a shitbag but I'm going to forgive him quite a lot for creating that. Thanks, Al. You've really cheered me up.
Now that Gordon has announced his intention to go, it has cleared the way for more substantive talks between the Labour party and the LibDems on forming an administration. The trouble is that Nick's people and Dave's people are still talking. Or at least they were. William Hague said that it was possible to create a workable agreement with the LibDems on most subjects. Gordon's resignation has even managed to get the Tories to offer a referendum on electoral form, the Holy Grail of the Liberal Democrats. I don't think there's much chance of any Conservative campaigning on behalf of electoral reform. It's a bit like telling a child you'll get them a puppy knowing all the while that you can't because Mummy has an allergy to dog hair. What's more, the child knows that Mummy has the allergy and gets Daddy to promise them a puppy anyway. There will be tears before bedtime.
It's likely that any government formed by a coalition of the LibDems and Labour would be constantly undermined by media which loathes everything they - the media in question - say they stand for. Get ready for all the usual nonsense about immigration, the deficit, crime, defence from the usual suspects. I can't wait. If you think the last 13 years have been hyperbolic, if the LibDems and Labour party pull off this one then you'll see them at their foam-at-the-mouth, rabid funniest.
There is also the slight problem that LibDems and Labour politicians don't get on. You have all the usual party political arguments compounded by personal rivalries which will not have arisen until now. A further problem is that the LibDems are the Millwall of local politics: nobody likes them. I have a friend who served on Hull City Council a few years ago. He was a Labour councillor. He had few problems with the Tory members of the council but lots with the LibDems. He said that they fought the dirtiest campaigns. I've heard similar things from other parts of the country but I have no personal evidence.
One of the criticisms which would be levelled at a Labour LibDem coalition is that it would lack a mandate. If you take the share of the national vote as your reference, then you'll see that Labour and the Liberal Democrats together got 52% of the vote to the Conservatives' 39%. I'd call that a mandate.
All this is idle and barely-informed speculation on my part. I have nothing better to do tonight. I still think that the Tories will get some kind of deal done with the LibDems which will allow David Cameron to command a majority in the Commons. If he blows it, his party will never forgive him. It would be the last chance the Tories have of ever forming a government. It would also give me something to laugh about for years and years to come.
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