An agreement has been reached according to sky news.

[JustBlameSue]

Between Tories and Lib Dems. No real details as yet.

It's all just a little game to Nick Clegg.

Brogan I was hoping for that if we had to have a re-election in October. We'd all stand proud of what we really want!

Classic politician bollocks (re PR): IDS on Radio 4 today said that the electorate clearly doesn't give a monkey's about PR. His evidence? The lack of overwhelming vote in favour of LibDem. Huh? So all that should matter to the voting public is electoral reform, not immaterial matters such as education, health, the economy, international policy, etc etc?

He then tried to claim that he really wasn't all that fussed about whether or not he got a post in a new Cabinet under DC. Riiiight. He'd rather remain a local MP in east London to having a cushty, well-paid Cabinet job with huge career potential.

So you see, all you people who are slating NC for flirting with the Tories are forgetting one thing: he's a politician. Whether left, right or centre(ish), all politicians have a huge capacity for talking/ acting in an utterly bollocky way. And then once in a while they'll do something worthwhile before descending into the Land of Bollocks again. So don't expect too much from Cleggy. He ain't no saint.

speedy - I voted for the policies I liked best and it had nothing to do with whether they were progressive or not. As it happens I live in a safe tory seat so voting reform would be handy!

Tories and new lab support keeping trident as is - you could say they have more in common than lib dems/cons or labour/cons. It all depends what your viewpoint is and what policy you are looking at.

You could look at the results and say over 50% of people wanted new labour out of govt. Or you could say over 50% of people didn't want the tories..lies, damn lies and statistics!

If you asked everyone who voted lib dem whether they felt closer to the tories or new lab you would probably get a 50/50 split so I think it is very hard for Nick Clegg to please everyone.

vesela - not sure what you mean; are you referring to my para about preferring a pact between lib and lab? I certainly don't pretend to understand these matters in depth

Speedy

Have noticed mistake in my message above it should have read "lib dem/cons or labour/lib dem"

snowlady - yes, policy is everything (could you go and tell that to IDS? Blimmin' pillock ). But on the whole I would say that Lib and Lab are currently more progressive than Tory.

Apparently NC is more right wing than many others in his party, though. But do you vote for a leader or a party? In any case I agree with you that NC cannot please everyone. And so even though he is flirting with the Tories, who I would gladly have flung into the heart of the raging hellfire of British politics never to resurge again (mild-mannered, me ), I can totally understand why he's doing so and so am not going to lambast him for it.

expat, I DID vote SNP

No worries, snow, I understood you perfectly!

[sobs next to doggie.]

And I meant 'resurface', not 'resurge'!

cornsilk: "It's all just a little game to Nick Clegg." - I'm sure it's not all just a game...but also I agree with you to the extent that so much of politics is game-playing. Which utterly pisses me off. And makes me want to slap them all very hard.

speedy - I think what you say about the parties and leaders is true for all three parties

Clegg is to the right of Vince/simon huges
Gordon is to the left of the blairite lot
Cameron is to the left of most of his party.

However I was surprised at how left wing clegg was in the debates. Eg. saying the banker bonuses should be reduced to 2k some chance!

I think whichever party/parties end up in govt there will be some nasty surprises as no one wanted to give the bad news for fear of people not voting for them. The lib dems made more attempt than the others to say what their policies were which was one reason I voted for them.

FFS I voted for the LDs to keep the tories out. I will never never never tactically vote ever again.

Poor poor DS, now he's going to have to grow up under a tory govt, just like I did.

Come back Gordy! All is forgiven! Opps. he's not gone yet.

Can anyone else hear the Indiana Jones theme tune as GB comes tearing down Whitehall in his blacked out Landrover to save the nation from the grubby little Plastic Boys??

They are making GB 'look' good.

snow! There I was thinking you'd voted Tory! High-five to a fellow LD voter!

Did Cleggy really say that? £2k?? Rofl rofl rofl!

I agree about him being clearer on policy than the others.

And yes, Gordy is more left than the Blairites .

Is Cameron really more left than his party? Flippin' heck! He is, I have to say, extraordinarily vague. It's a rare talent. Which should be kept well under a bushel.

expat and doggie - what happened in Scotland, then? Apols for being out of loop - my very excellent excuse is that DD is less than a week old

Scotland went mostly Labour. Some LibDem and SNP seats.

One Tory seat in the Borders.

No surprises there.

I watched, 'Why Didn't Scots Vote Tory?' on BBC last night and it was very interesting.

Don't see it changing anytime soon, it's mostly red.

Congrats on teh baby!

Do you think there will be a newsflash on Cbeebies when GB makes his statement? I don't want to interupt DD's enjoyment of dirt girl for nothing

I think what vesela meant was that you can't say Lib+Lab = more than Con so they should form a coalition, because it is equally true that Lib + Con = more than Lab. And people didn't just vote Lib Dem to keep Tories out. Some voted Lib Dem to keep Labour out. Some shockingly voted Lib Dem because they wanted Lib Dem!

You want them to prioritise Labour but why? Because you prefer Labour?

speedy - I just meant that some people tend to think there's an unwritten rule that the Lib Dems must side with Labour, that you can add up LD & Lab votes and consider them the same thing etc. when the parties have very different philosophies.