Another unelected labour PM

[voteanythingbutBNPplease]

Gordon brown resigns.
So if LIb dems do deal with labour - ANOTHER unelected PM.

hmmm

If that's the case, I think Clegg has got it well wrong nighbynight - he is losing credibility by the minute

This is all very shambolic. Never mind 'landslide' victory at any future election. I would be surprised if anybody went out to vote in the future.

I dont think Clegg is losing credibility. These are talks, negotiations, not policy making.
It is normal for coalition govts to have this period after the elections. As Mme Lindt pointed out, it lasts for weeks in Germany.

How are small parties holding anyone else to ransom? That's a sweeping statement, not true. If the Tories cant make a deal with Libs, they can go it alone.
And if we had proper PR, there'd be loads of smaller parties, which would get their point of view implemented in part, only if they had enough support at the polls.
It would be democracy by pressure groups, voted for by people. IMO, thats a better form of democracy than the very limited one we have at the moment.

The problem is, that Brits arent used to seeing their politicians negotiating and talking! We're used to seeing a stable and strong Govt announcing that this is how it's going to be - which isnt always the same as what was on the manifesto.

If Clegg had said at the outset 'we will discuss the situation fully with both Conservative and Labour parties', everyone would have known where they stood, and what was happeneing.

Instead, he's been sneaking around holding meetings. To my mind, if you're not being open, you've got something to hide.

Oh dont be ridiculous! Nobody lays all their cards on the table right at the start of a negotiating process. Give the man a break!

There is a huge difference between laying all of your cards on the table, and saying we're talking to both parties.

I actually think he's in the middle of quite a big break!!!

Clegg is not sneaking around, he is holding meetings to find the best partner. As he has to do.

And he is not holding the country to ransom. The Labour government is still in power and will stay there until a new government is grounded and approved.

It is not like GB has packed his trunk and trundled off to Scotland, we are not leaderless.

Coalition agreements take time and it is very irresponsible of the press to suggest it is something that is done in an afternoon, imo.

Clegg is doing fine, imo, and shouldnt talk about what he's doing in the press.

MmeLindt - I agree he has to talk to all parties, but his team did meet with the Labour team without telling anyone. If he's not going to talk at all - fine - but as he started talking to the press, he needs to be open, and not pick and choose what he says imho.

Don't know where 'ransom' came from?

Was a reply to Minthumbugs post about PR

I think someone further down the thread talked about him holding the country to ransom.

Talks like this are going to be in private, without the press. They have to be. While we all want to know what is going on, we have to trust our politicians (ha!) to do the best deal possible. If the press and the electorate are party to all the details of the talks then we will never get a government.

What is the saying? Two things you don't want to know how it is made - governments and sausage.

I think you have to ask who 'anyone' means don't you? It might mean 'the media' and that's why they're so cross about it?

Has anyone mentioned that if there is a LibCon coalition, that David Cameron would be an 'unelected' PM of such a government? Nobody who voted for him voted for him to be PM of a coalition government! It'd be a democratic disgrace!

Love the saying MmeLindt.

With hindsight, maybe all three leaders should have issued a joint statement (ha ha!!) to say we will all be involved in talks over the next week, and will let you know when anything of significance is agreed.

I think that anyone criticising Clegg for being duplicitious is ridiculous - have you met politics?

He said that he would give Cameron first shot, not that he would take whatever scraps he was offered, Labour be damned. Maybe Cameron just didn't offer enough. Maybe getting in bed with the Tories was just too unpalatable. Can't imagine why

also people saying "Clegg should just decide" - it's not in his gift to just decide.

He has to get any deal through his party and the "triple lock", and then he has to make it work in practice.

There's absolutely no point in him nodding along to an arrangement that his party won't swallow, no matter how much anyone else would like him to.

The government is not formed for the "markets", it is formed for the country.

To say that we are not used to it taking weeks to form a coalition is just disingenuous.

Other countries manage to hold together for however long the parties take to form a government, why should UK be different? Just because we are not used to it? That is no argument.

This argument of "the markets" confuses me tbh. Why should a country be ruled by the markets?

Oh the markets, again! Nobody seems to really know what they're going to do though.

Everyone has been saying they're going to collapse since last Friday, and the still haven't. Everyone kept saying 'the markets won't stand for it' but the markets didn't seem remotely interested in UK election, much more in the Euro.

There seems to be a false pressure for a decision - a kind of surly impatience on behalf of the right wing press in particular and a frothing-mouthed horror about 'delay' and 'indecision' whereas actually

they're all negotiating as they should with parliament having been returned as it has.

I agree though Minty, that I can't see a solution which is going to work for anyone at the minute.

Had a look at the Markets. Seems that both BBC and Reuters reports that they have fallen slightly but that is to do with the Euro rescue plan. Nothing about the UK elections.

That is certainly the worst case scenario Minty

and as with all worst case scenarios, quite possible

but as I'm sure you know, it's by no means a certainty at all

The markets fell everywhere yesterday, in all of Eurozone. I am sure that the resignation of GB had little to do with that, even the press report that the dip had to do with the Euro rescue package.

We are of course beholden to the markets, but we cannot allow our politicians to rush coalition talks because of that. It is simply too important for the long-term stability of the country.

Why do the all the other countries who have PR not crash every 4 or 5 years after an election if it were so vital?