Getting tantalisingly close

After an energetic and quite breathtaking few hours, we now have the possibility of real progress towards electoral reform. This is a historic moment which the LibDems must not let slip from their grasp. Nick Clegg and his team have been masterful. They have been tight together as a team, and steadfast in working towards what they believe to be in the nation’s best interest. Don’t let a reform of the voting system be not to be thought to be in the national interest. It will be bumpy for most of the commentators in the short-term as they will have to unlearn the confrontational politics of the past and have to learn what consensus and compromise means. What a joy.

The LibDems don’t have that much to lose, whatever the commentators say! When you have little to nothing, what is there to lose! I’m afraid I’m an old enough Liberal supporter to remember parliaments with 5, 6 and 13 Liberal MPs. Those days will NEVER return under PR – so there’s so much less to lose if there was a temporary reversal in their fortunes. What they will have achieved will be a fundamental change in the way the UK is governed.

It doesn’t stop at PR. There’s the House of Lords. The LibDems can provide the backbone to a new government to finish the job that Tony Blair should have completed back in 1997.

Whatever the electoral outcome of any decision to go for PR (and I mean PR, not the Alternative Vote) this is the moment that they hopefully will grasp.

What future for a Lab-LibDem Coalition now?

In my earlier post, before all the results had been announced I expressed the view that there was very little in the parliamentary arithmetic to prevent the LibDems going into coalition with Labour. Nothing has happened in the past 48 hours to change my view.

What I am impressed at is how well the various parties are conducting themselves. I expressed the view that openness should have been the mantra. I was wrong. The openness comes later when the “deal” is sold to the public.

I think we can take it for granted that no party will get good press from the “rabid blue-tops”. They are really so discredited now that one wonders how they can pretend to be serious newspapers at all; so let’s not bother with them and the audiences they sell their papers to. Their readership will not easily change their minds anyway in the short-term. However, the story for everyone else has to be explained and be believable.

I think we can see now that a fixed-term parliament is a pre-condition for any deal with the Conservatives – particularly if they are not going to give anything on electoral reform. However, “in the national interests” is a strong message and the temptation to do “the right thing” may be just too strong – particularly if the commitment to a fixed-term parliament, a review of the electoral system and some cabinet posts are offered. An even more strong incentive might be that the LibDems could be instrumental in moderating Conservative economic policy; it will be interesting to see how this one is painted should a deal with the Conservatives be sealed.

However, I still see the possibility of a firm, strong coalition with Labour as the best outcome for both the country and for the two parties. We’ll just have to wait and see!