Friday, 7 May 2010
Back to Politics - Deal or No Deal for Nick Clegg?
Now the Election is over - where do we go from here? At first glance, the LibDems have not done as well as might have been expected. In fact, however, they are in a very strong position, for the obvious reason that Labour and Conservative will need to make a deal in order to govern. What should happen now? All views very welcome.
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I think it is morally right that Cameron should get first shout at trying to form a coalition. However, Clegg's best interests might lie with taking the unpopular route and going with Brown in order to get PR. Although this would cause short term unpopularity it offers the benefit of a fair share of the seats forever. The next generation of voters would not hold it against him - look at the case of many of the first time voters who supported the Tories - they have no memory of the horrors of Thatcherism and only see the pink and fluffy image that Cameron and co have tried to present.
ReplyDeleteIt is essential that we have a strong government, if not the stock market could fall, if overseas investors loose confidence in the UK, interest rates would go up, taxes would go up and we could loose our AAA Credit rating. If Thatcher had not closed mines, steelworks and shipbuilding yards we might be in a different situation today. We import our coal from Poland and Venezuala, we have ships built in South Korea and Singapore and import Electricity from France. We also import lots of gas from Qatar and Norway. Don't get me going !
ReplyDeleteIs it just me who finds it remarkable that the seemingly sole focus of the electoral campaign was upon economic management? Foreign policy did not seem to figure at all. With our troops fighting and dying in Afghanistan it seemed strange that none of the major political parties seeemed to consider it worthy of much comment.
ReplyDeleteIt's like Basil Fawlty: "Don't mention the war!"
ReplyDeleteI welcome the inter-party negotiations that are going on; far better than a triumphalist Tory party that would strut around the land as though they owned it, as they did under Mrs Thatcher.
I can't see where morality enters this at all. To me, moral issues include land mines, child soldiers, people trafficking, cash for questions, etc, not electoral pacts. Just under a third of voters supported Labour (29%), and just over a third voted Tory (36%). Because both parties had roughly two thirds of people NOT voting for them, neither has a clear cut mandate or the moral high ground.
As for electoral reform, the Tories are dead set against it, and if that's a major priority for Clegg, he's a better chance of achieving it with Labour.
To get back to your point, Geoff, I consider "New" Labour's invasion of Iraq and continued occupation of Afghanistan to be deeply immoral, but none of the three main parties advocates withdrawal, and none was prepared to discuss the war during the election. And it's not just our troops dying: innocent Afghans are being killed in far greater numbers, sometimes because they have gathered in a group and are seen by coalition troops as a threat ~ even though it's just a wedding or a funeral. If we're going to talk about morality, let's get it in perspective. Whether Clegg allies his party with the Tories or Labour, the combined grouping will have electoral validity in terms of their combined vote.
I just hope a statement is made before the markets open on Monday. As for the invasion of Iraq back in 2003, I was on holiday at the time and was disgusted at the invasion, we had no right to do that. I still have no idea why we are in Afghanistan.
ReplyDeleteThe situation remains fluid, although it seems (as of this moment) that Clegg and Cameron might come to some kind of an "arrangement". How long that would last is open to question, but I would not expect it to work well for long. I think there might be another General Election in the next 12 months.
ReplyDeleteIf Clegg does make a deal with the Tories, I just hope he has electoral reform in the bag. The situation whereby parties can get enormous majorities on less than 40% of the vote is unfair, as it effectively disenfrachises everyone who doesn't support Labour or the Tories. Overall majorities also lead to arrogance, as the government does what it likes until its final year in office when it chucks out a few sweeteners to try to woo the voters back. The current recesssion made that tactic impossible for Labour this time.
ReplyDeleteIf the Lib Dems join up with labour it could be a master stroke for the Tories in the longer term with a General Election in the Autumn. Clegg is whoring it at the moment !
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