Coalition may not be inflicted on us again any time soon
JACKIE Ashley. Wasn’t she one of the commentators who agitated for Tony Blair’s replacement by Gordon Brown, who she saw as the saviour of the party? And who, shortly after GB took over, was calling for him to be replaced? Clearly someone whose judgment and consistency can be relied upon, then…
Today she’s castigating Labour for being mean to the LibDems. We might need them in future, she warns. And if we call them names in the playground today, they might not let us play with their ball tomorrow.
Except that her argument – and the argument of far too many in Labour’s ranks – is founded on the (wrong) assumption that the LibDems will be significant players after the next general election. The polls could change, of course, but if the current trend in LibDem support continues on its satisfactory downwards course, they’re likely to take a drubbing at the next election. And the less support for third parties, the less likelihood there is of a hung parliament. And without a hung parliament, the LibDems are back playing their traditional role: stuck on the sidelines, having their two goes at PMQs and winning the occasional spectacular by-election victory, only to see it reversed at the subsequent election.
If we do end up with another hung parliament, then I guess we’ll just have to make the best of it and consider a deal – if we must – with a LibDem party led by Clegg’s replacement. But we waited nearly 40 years for this hung parliament after the last one. It could be a lot longer than five years before the next one comes along.