WWYD if you were Nick Clegg?

[FrakkinTheReturningOfficer]

Seeing as Cleggy is likely to be the chap practically deciding the outcome of this, WWYD in his position?

I would probably align with Labour on the condition we had a referendum on election reform and push to dissolve Parliament for a new election as soon as that passed....

Con-theLibs coalition has a nice ring to it?

At least 30% of LD are v left-wing

That may be ladylush but would also be expected within a centre party as people's individual views are not often centre but one or the other so you would expect the party to be a mix of views rather than a party of people with 100% centrist views.

Edgar - according to a poll in the Telegraph today, 48% of people back PR and 39% FPTP. (I thought I'd seen 62% in favour of PR in a poll somewhere last week, but don't know where).

one wonders why they didn't vote Liberal then. Or perhaps, it's just not that important...

also, i think many people on't understand what PR is, so i wonder how the question was put.

As you suggest tghere are many other priorities for people other than PR at a general election.

As you suggest tghere are many other priorities for people other than PR at a general election.

Let the tories be the govt in that no agreement is made - the condition being that there is electoral reform & general election in 1 or 2 yrs. Then there would be a fairer elected govt representation voted by everyone.

Guess you're all wrong, he's with the conservatives afterall, shame really, I was rather hoping Cameron would get in alone :/

As long as GB is on his way out, I'm a happy bunny.

So long, Gordon, and shut the door on your way out.

From GB's point of view, this is probably one of the better exit routes, though.

pmsl at pothead clegg making out with the gorgeous miriam!

Prefer SamCam myself- the attraction of the enemy i think

Very, very true flatpack - I am both concerned and angry that Darling looks like going it alone when he has no real right to do so. Obviously he keeps his job until GB resigns but he's having to play an active part in governance when he shouldn't be. At the very least he should be consulting with whoever may possibly become Chancellor. Would also set a good precedent for coalition.

Hi Flatpack and friends,
Yes, I'd be a bit worried about the BNP thing with proportional rep as well. Imagine if they told you your M.P was going to be the B.N.P candidate as more popular in your constituency than anywhere else in the country.
Can anyone reassure me about proportional rep.
How does it all work in practice ?
What safeguards could there be against extreme and dangerous parties ?
I'd like to see more greens in too, but not if we have to have the B.N.P !
How do others feel ?

% bar to ensure you need more than, say 5% of the vote, but this locks out smaller parties like the Greens.

Changing the Oath of Alleigance so the BNP, like Sinn Fein, wouldn't take it and therefore wouldn't sit.

Accepting that the BNP are a legitimate political party and that this is democracy.

It also all depends on the type of proportional representation you have and the way candidates are voted for....

I really must go to work now!

I'm not saying that there wouldn't be horse trading - after all, that's identifying the mandate for the parliament ahead - but I don't think it'd be this type of horse trading.

At the moment, a lot of the discussion relates to the ground rules and are conducted by parties that are not set up to negotiate.

The conservative base don't apear to be willing to compromise at all, and the lib dem's have a very restrictive system of approving any coalitions - it's completely impractical that a coalition may ultimately be sent back to the Lib Dem party members to approve. Finally, the labour party's lead by a man I respect but who doesn't seem to play and share well with others.

Under PR, some negotiation is inevitable but this kind of horse trading wouldn't be the norm. All the parties appear to be learning hard lessons this time around.

If I was Nick Clegg today I'd be waking up about now with a hangover as I support Chelsea. "Yo Mizza you iz well fit ya get me? Any chance of a beejay?" And she'd say "shut up you fat moron someone's got to earn some money, i'm going to work - look after the fcking baby and get your mate Vince off the sofa, i can see his bare arse." Then Vince would come upstairs in just his vest and say "That Dave rung 14 times, he said blah blah blah" and I'd say "look, you do it all bruh, Dave he chattin' shit, stick the kettle on son."

Then I'd look in the mirror. "gotta get mi hair cut, i look like Herman Munster wi' mi square head n all, tsk..."

Collaboration works elsewhere (good article in the Observer yesterday by Anthony King pointing out that in countries such as the Netherlands, which are seen as among the most democratic in the world, coalition is the norm). But our problem is likely to be that we need to sort something out fairly quickly to keep the market vultures at bay, and of course these countries where it works have had a more grown up attitude to running the country than we have for years.

PMQs might be great entertainment if your man is doing well, but it's got bugger all to do with making measured decisions to tackle problems for the long term.

Coolfonz

MrJustabout - You have no idea what form the Tories' compromise will take. I wouldn't bet against them conceding to a referendum on electoral reform.

Electoral reform referendum to include whether or not we change our voting system to PR or something other than FPTP.

Anyway, we are about to get a statement I beleive.

I also wouldn't bet against the Conservatives conceding a referendum. It's not against Conservative principles to ask - it's against them to actively seek change.

And I agree the 'horse-trading' would be different. I don't think the Conservatives are speaking from a position of power - they desperately need the Lib Dems to come on board but they can't say that in public, so Cameron did the next best thing; he ring-fenced some areas, made one concession on electoral reform (which means he is willing to concede) and pointed out several shared policy points.

To flatpack and others concerned re Darling doing deals without a mandate; my udnerstanding (from the beeb) is that he did keep both Cable and Osborne very much in the loop on the negotiations yesterday. saw him in a husting years ago, not the most normal eyebrows in the world or the most exciting guy but doing decent consitutional thing