Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Politics

Flip

1 2 3

Original poster

So.... all you political pundit types...

56 replies

OrmRenewed · 10/05/2010 20:58

tell me what's happening. Because I haven't a clue.

GB is a gonner. Clegg is two-timing the tories.

Please elucidate for the hard of thinking.

OP posts:

HumphreyCobbler · 10/05/2010 21:00

You summed it up brilliantly.

claig · 10/05/2010 21:02

I think Clegg is putting the pressure on in the negotiations, trying to force Cameron's hand. But there is still a slight possibility that Labour may have had this planned and may trump the Tories on the final hand. Let's hope not.

Original poster

OrmRenewed · 10/05/2010 21:03

It's quite exciting isn't it

Almost like one of those 5-might serials BBC have been putting on recently. It will all become clear on Friday at 9pm. Half of us will be rivetted and the other half will be feeling unconvinced.

OP posts:

animula · 10/05/2010 21:06

It's sooo not like British politics. It is so exciting it has lost the patina of reality ... and become slightly incredible.

HumphreyCobbler · 10/05/2010 21:07

Yes, it has kept my interest going. Had the news on all day, I have really enjoyed it

Like a really important soap opera

HousewifeOfOrangeCounty · 10/05/2010 21:07

The Tories were playing hardball on a few issues, the most important to the LibDems being electoral reform ie. proportional representation.

Nick Clegg sat around the table with the Tories and I think he was begining to come around, but when he and his team reported back to the LibDem Mp's they were not impressed.

In the meantime Gordon's people had been making sure that Nick's people knew that Gordon would have a referendum on PR.

Nick's people let the Labour party know that they'd talk to them in a more formal way if Gordon got the boot, so Gordon has fallen on his sword.

LibDem/Tory is not a natural fit, but LibDem/Labour is still a minority AND another non elected PM.

Fwiw I think that if they LibDem's form any kind of alliance with the Tories they loose all credibility.

HumphreyCobbler · 10/05/2010 21:24

I think if they prop up a Labour admin they will lose credibility too. It is a bit of a bugger for them.

Makes him look just like the others though. I find it ironic really

ahundredtimes · 10/05/2010 21:26

I don't think he's two-timing anyone.

he's negotiating

which is what happens with hung parliaments!

Much, it seems, to everyone's astonishment. . .

HousewifeOfOrangeCounty · 10/05/2010 21:31

Agreed HumphreyC they are between a rock and a hard place, but I do think that politically there's more distance between the Tories and LibDems than Labour.

Will hold my hand up as a Labour voter though, so may be biased.

Cartoose · 10/05/2010 21:35

I'm riveted too Orm. It all seems quite surreal at the moment.

animula · 10/05/2010 21:38

Oh goodness! Latest speculation is another GE in @ 6 months.

Across the nation, houses will remain untidied, meals uncooked, and children untended. and our nerves will be frayed ... .

I think I need some sort of denouement. Or perhaps it'll be like one of those American serials, where they go off air for a few months, leaving you on a cliff-hanger.

ahundredtimes · 10/05/2010 21:42

lol animula. And when we wake up, it will all have been a dream . . .

frogetyfrog · 10/05/2010 21:42

I think there are a lot of Lib Dem voters who like the tories - I know of many. Some arent quite happy to be tory through and through so voted lib dem and a lib dem/tory alliance would be perfect. But I dont know much about politics and am only going by what friends and family have said.

amothersplaceisinthewrong · 10/05/2010 21:44

Oh Machiavell Mandelson is in the thick of this somewhere pulling the strings. Putting my money on some Lib/Lab/nationalist alliance. Can't see the Libs jumping into bed with the Tories

claig · 10/05/2010 21:45

I think this could be a golden opportunity for the LibDems. The country has spoken and shown that it prefers the Tories to Labour. If the LibDems can get into the cabinet and rule with the Tories for 5 years, they will show the public that they are a credible party who can be trusted to lead. They will have to ditch some of their policies as a compromise, but it will be worth it, because they can fight for those policies again in the future. In five years' time, the Liberals could hold the centre ground and Labour will be forced out left towards the unions. The public will then prefer the LibDems to Labour, and it will be between the LibDems and the Conservatives. The LibDems can then offer PR and many Labour voters will vote for the LibDems, as Labour's power will have declined and there will probably be power struggles within Labour that will weaken them.

HousewifeOfOrangeCounty · 10/05/2010 21:50

I think you idea is a bit optimistic. If the LibDems sacrifice some of their policies in order to get power they will lose trust.

snowlady · 10/05/2010 21:57

Anything is better than getting into bed with alex salmond and peter mandleson

claig · 10/05/2010 21:58

true they will lose some trust. But I think most people already guessed that they wouldn't be able to get their way. Memories are short and a week is a long time in politics. In five years' time, the LibDems could well be holding all the trumps, Labour could be marginalised and the Tories would be blamed for the austerity measures. The LibDems could then walk into government through an open door.

juneybean · 10/05/2010 22:01

I don't really get it, who's the prime minister now?

vesela · 10/05/2010 22:04

claig, I think the problem is that you have those Lib Dems who fear that, after backing the Tories, they'll be trounced at the next election unless PR comes in now now now.

Monty100 · 10/05/2010 22:04

Gordon Brown is. For now.

claig · 10/05/2010 22:07

although if the Tories are clever, they will let Vince Cable be Chancellor rather than Gideon. That way Vince and the LibDems will get the flak for the austerity measures.

claig · 10/05/2010 22:13

vesela, you are right they may fear that now. But if Clegg can convince them to go along with the Tiries, then I think they will lose their fears as they start to see the benefits of people like Clegg, Huhne, Cable and Teather appearing on the news every night. They will be more popular than Gideon and Gove. The public prefer the centre in politics and that is natural ground for the LibDems. Their best bet is to push Labour to the left and oblivion, and to let the right-wing Tories stamp and shout. The LibDems will then look like the natural reasonable party of choice, and will be trusted because they will have governed in partnership for five years already.

HumphreyCobbler · 10/05/2010 22:14

I think is a nightmare for the Liberal Democrats. There is no easy solution for them.

It is almost a case of be careful what you wish for. It is certainly much easier to criticise from the outside than to make such difficult decisions.

snowlady · 11/05/2010 07:56

Claig - I agree it would be refreshing to see sarah teather in the cabinet.

I think it is the voting system and length of the government that are the lib concerns and I can see why. From what Osborne said last night and Gove said this morning I imagine the tories are working towards the lib dem demands.

I will now put money on the labour party offering a better form of PR by the end of the morning!

I really hope a stable tory/lib dem coalition is formed. I hope the talks with the labour party are not serious.

Flip

1 2 3

Swipe left for the next trending thread