Doing the Right thing...

As the dust settles on the Great Experiment, and it seems that the Conservatives may have conceded too much in return for LibDem collaboration, the right end of the Conservative Party may well contemplate the  idea that it might "de-coalesce" and re-absorb the UKIP. There are probably  around 50-100 tory MPs who might now be working out how to assess how much support they could muster in the country for The Real Conservative Party.

By allowing Scotland and Wales further independence in return for them losing most of their Westminster MPs, and introducing a PR voting system, the prospects would be much more tempting for minor parties to "have a go". Any number of the factions within existing main parties might pluck up the courage to "go it alone". Five years is long enough for quite few experiments to test ideas on the voting public before the crunch reality of a general election rolled up again.

The Tory Way Forward group was pushing for a minority government that would almost certainly have exposed the LibDems as being duplicitous, irresponsible and generally unsuited to government - although at this moment, it seems likely that Dave is going to find some of his own party are going to be more awkward to manage then the "can't believe their luck" LibDems!

But there's always a chance that this is all part of a very cunning master plan to corner and then impale the LibDems on their own hubris and desperation for power. It obviously suits Cameron to park some election pledges that cost money we don't have - and write them off to the national interest. And having Vince along to properly spank the (still largely unrepentant) bankers is another well-poisoned chalice passed along.

There is little doubt that the country's immediate best interests are now being served by an arrangement representing well over half the votes cast. Can it deliver the huge spanking to public spending that the economic crisis requires - and survive? David Cameron is either the shrewdest operator in Westminster, or the daftest. There's not a lot of standing room in the middle ground.

Pandora alert

However much the truly horrible circumstances left behind by Brown's regime require extreme measures and a government of national unity, TMP remains acutely aware of the dangers to this unique experiment in collaborative politics.

All the main parties in the UK have been coalitions that have traditionally accommodated a wide spectrum of opinion. This has meant the job of leading these parties has always been the management of a "coalition" - and the result has been a relatively moderate compromise, where the absolutely unreconcilable extremists of the main parties have been obliged to depart to the fringe parties, and guaranteed obscurity.

The electoral system of "first past the post" has encouraged the existence of such internal coalitions, and thus far spared the British public the sight of the creation of an Official Pantomime Horse.

But PR makes the creation of a "fringe" party a lot more attractive, so all the main parties are likely to see their factions peeling off into new extreme alignments, and their leaders will no longer be constrained by the needs to manage their own internal coalitions.

TMP will do its best to remain constructive and hope that it all works out - and that the result is the best of all worlds in these extremely dangerous times, and if he pulls it off, Davnick will have achieved a considerable miracle.

What you wished for..?

So far so good..?

The British public has, by a series of completely uncontrollable quirks, managed to force a revolutionary - but contained - change in the system of its politics that it apparently wanted to see, but was not on offer as any sort of "official" option or choice in the world of tribal politics where 36% of the vote could deliver a working majority for Labour. They snookered Cameron (nice analogy, thanks DM) behind the Brown, and the only way to pot the blue was off the yellow. Given the angles, there was no other possible positive result - other than a re-rack.

Furthermore, the balancing compromises all appear to have been tipped by what is perceived to have been to appease public opinion. No bad thing perhaps if the first acts of this government are to be huge tax increases and savage cuts.

So then, we have a fascinating and unique majority government, and TMP must, by definition be happy to be "in power" at last. The few remaining "embarrassments" at the extremes of the Conservative and LibDem parties are mumbling as they sit bound and gagged and stuffed in their parties' respective closets, and there is much smiling for the cameras. And it is entirely healthy and to be expected that there are sceptics in both parties that have put down markers that they will be keeping an eye on the direction and leadership.

Anything less would be disconcerting and unhealthy.

There's a sense that both Clegg and Cameron are not going to be pushovers and are going to be willing to draw lines - but Cameron (rightly) has the stronger hand henceforward, and Clegg should know it. If there has to be another election, Cameron should be holding all the right cards - and as long as the Labour Party spends the traditional 5 years beating itself to death - Clegg knows he should sail back in.

But Cameron's first internal move to appease the loyal backbenchers (sans maisons des canards) must now be to fire his close advisers who let him down so comprehensively in the election campaign. Not only would that do Dave a big favour, it would appease a lot of powerful party members who must now be mumbling "told you so".

All to play for

At least this is going to have to be an open government, and not a secretive cabal of minorities. However much this contrivance may look like a pantomime horse, it represents plenty more than 50% of the votes cast, and is therefore something of a rarity for a UK government in recent times.

The idea of this coalition appears to square exactly with the tenor of Cameron's "big society", and as several of Labour's leery survivors have observed, the LibDem party is itself a rainbow coalition with an astonishing range of nutters and those of limited talent and gravitas, who could not possibly have dreamed of ever achieving office in a "proper" political party. It's a good job Cameron has had the experience of coping with "testing" family circumstances.

A key tone-setter for what lies ahead will have been the jeering mob chanting "Fuck the Tories" that so charmlessly "greeted" Dave and Sam at Downing Street. We trust Broon & Co regard that as a fine example of the sort of poisoned society that they have left behind, and an appropriate valediction for 13 years of his fellow travellers' relentless bullying and overbearing disregard for basic decency and respect. Let's hope another of Broon's many legacies to our nation - the CCTV networks of his Stasi - has clocked those responsible, and that they will find that their BACS transfers cease forthwith, to be replaced by an invitation to get a job..?

We can but hope.

The limpet PM

Brown's delusional squat has now become unseemly and undignified with his latest manoeuvres.

Lord Mandelson has once again cunningly manipulated the feeble occupants of the Westminster bubble who are no longer acting rationally, and who don't seem to care what the markets or the people are going to make of what appears to be - and is - a very squalid attempt to help Labour cling on to power at any cost, and under any circumstances.

Just what is he trying to hide? What horrors are waiting to be discovered in the government filing cabinets? Quite possibly he is trying to conceal revelations that will make the Labour Party unelectable for a generation.

Chancer-in-chief Clegg plainly believes that he can score electoral points by being the hero that forced Brown to announce his resignation, but his nativity and multi-faceted duplicity are becoming more apparent at every twist and turn, and the unsuitability of the Libdems for office has become increasingly apparent.

Or maybe Mandelson is just doing all this to ensure the markets melt down and the Tories get an even worse shambles to unpick than if they had been allowed to get on with a quick and tidy deal in the interests of the country.

The one useful aspect of Brown's parting shambles is that no objective observer watching this play out can still be thinking that PR with its promise of this sort of shambolic horse trade at every election, is a sane and effective way forward?