Strange Days

Before the news this morning, we heard that it was the coldest May morning for many years and then on the news that David Cameron had moved into no. 10. Last night provided compulsive viewing with both Channel 4 and BBC excelling themselves, the latter maybe partly due to the absence of Paxman whose trenchant style would have been unsuited to the occasion. It was a time for reaching across political allegiances, acknowledging the contribution of Brown and the efforts of Cameron to put together a coalition government and wish them both well. Most commentators and the majority of politicians rose to the occasion, although John Prescott remained true to his tribal roots and John Redmond was thankfully locked away for the night.

Nick Clegg had finally decided to enter a civil partnership with the Tories instead of living in sin with them or the old rascals in the Labour Party. The sense was that the Labour Party had run out of steam and almost wanted this outcome but Mandelson, Alistair Campbell and Gordon Brown, scheming until the last dance, set up a second front to box the Tories into making a less regressive deal with the Lib Dems than they were initially prepared to offer.

The concessions from the Lib Dems were significant on spending cuts, nuclear power, proportional representation, Europe and probably many social issues not yet revealed. More surprising was the extent that Cameron went to secure the deal. Allowing Vince Cable into the cabinet along with 4 other Lib Dems, raising the tax threshold and giving up inheritance tax changes.  If only George Osborne could have been sacrificed instead. The free vote on a referendum on Alternative Voting amounts to little more than political candy. Making Nick Clegg the depute PM is no big deal either, it simply provides a headlock on the partnership. It would appear from the snippets we hear that the deal could have been a whole lot more extreme but the real test will come with the emergency budget by which time the honeymoon will be over and the new politics will be gathering experience and breathing heavily.

Strange days indeed, the Tories have agreed to lower taxes for the least well-off, the Lib Dems have agreed to invest in nuclear power, and Labour have admitted that they lost.  Labour are taking what they seem to think will be a sabbatical to regroup and revitalise their progressive credentials. In these last few days of game playing the only thing that hasn't changed is the elixir of power.