UK General Elections 2010

Brown actually looked relieved.

Well, there we go. :/

Personally, I'm not hating the Con-Lib coalition. Before the election, maybe, but it was obvious that Cameron was going to get in with or without the LDs backing him, we didn't even know the decision until after he was sworn in. I'd prefer this over a pure Conservative government, that's for sure.

Awwww Gordon. ;-; I actually got teary at his speech.

Sorry your country's going to be in the shitter for a while, guys.

I'm a little unsure about something... as far as I know, with Clegg or without Clegg, Cameron could have become Prime Minister? Doesn't the Queen go to the person "most likely to be able to form a government"? Sure, it would be a minority government, but I've seen tons of people starting to hate Clegg because he "let Cameron become Prime Minister"?

Could someone with a better understanding of the situation clear this up for me? I want to still be able to support Clegg, it depresses me that the entirety of Facebook seem to be claiming him as the devil. Surely a Con-Lib coalition is better than what would have happened anyway (the Queen going to Cameron), because this way there are some LDs in government? If Clegg really does become Deputy PM then surely that will stop Cameron mucking up as much as he might do...

Clegg could have gone with Labour to form a LibLab minority government, as well as working with the smaller parties. THAT'S why he 'let Cameron in'.

ALSO TOTAL CONDEMNATION GOING ON HERE >:(

lol deputy pm. idk I'm in two minds, but I guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens. Maybe the Lib Dems on the Cabinet will be able to moderate the Conservatives.

Ah, right. But then again Labour said that they didn't want to do electoral reform, which was pretty much the LDs' biggest objective. And if Cameron's compromised on that... it's really no surprise.

And haha, I love the idea of Clegg being "deputy PM". I can just imagine Cameron making a public appearance and Clegg just in the shadows looking absolutely livid.

The LibDems are trying to make it sound as if the LibCon deal was Labour's fault.

Cirrus said:

Ah, right. But then again Labour said that they didn't want to do electoral reform, which was pretty much the LDs' biggest objective. And if Cameron's compromised on that... it's really no surprise.

And haha, I love the idea of Clegg being "deputy PM". I can just imagine Cameron making a public appearance and Clegg just in the shadows looking absolutely livid.

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Rumour has it Labour was offering a bill on alternative vote ASAP and a referendum on full PR at a later date.

William Hague is foreign secretary, fml.

I'd like to think Clegg would be the guy silently thwarting things in the background but tbh right now I can't imagine that Cameron and Clegg won't just perpetually suck each other off.

Cirrus said:

I'm a little unsure about something... as far as I know, with Clegg or without Clegg, Cameron could have become Prime Minister? Doesn't the Queen go to the person "most likely to be able to form a government"? Sure, it would be a minority government, but I've seen tons of people starting to hate Clegg because he "let Cameron become Prime Minister"?

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Right, what I'm about to say could be complete crap, so plese correct me if that's the case.

Cameron could've gone ahead and formed a minority government without Nick's support, but the huge problem with that is that, without the support of any other parties, they'd never get things passed, because they always need a majority of PMs to vote on it. So a minority government is a fairly weak, ineffective government.

Add this to the fact that the Conservative part is, as far as I'm aware, a fairly internally divided party anyway. I've probably said this earlier in the thread, but while most LibDems and Labour MPs genuinely belive in the core principles of their party, I don't think anyone even knows that the core principles of the Tory party are anymore. Cameron tried to get the gay vote and proposed giving tax breaks to those in civil partnerships, while at the same time having a woman who belived that homosexuality was a disease that could be prayed away as one of the "rising stars" within his own party. He tried to put all his eggs in one basket during the election, and now he's actually large and in charge, I for one have absolutely no idea what he's going to do.

Anyway, the Tories as a minority government wouldn't have lasted long at all, because they'd be blocked at every turn, especially by Labour. So after a short, ineffective period of government, either a re-election would be forced (which the Tories would probably lose because they've just been a horrible, fail-y government for the last six months or whatever), or the other parties would join forces, become a majority and get something done.

...Possibly.

Thanks for clearing it up, Danni. :D A minority government would have been pretty crap imo even with a party other than the Tories, because I'd imagine nothing would actually ever get done. I thought before that you absolutely had to get a majority to ever get into power and that a coalition was necessary.

And... I realise that I'm definitely in the minority within Lib Dem supporters, but you know what? I like this coalition. I don't like the Tories, but it felt clear from the start that they were going to get in because of how unpopular Brown is. In my opinion, this is the lesser evil to a pure but minority Conservative government (and maybe even an traffic light/rainbow coalition because it would have been unstable, plus the nationalist parties are obviously going to be less inclined to try and help the entirety of the UK over their own country).

Cameron's a slightly tame Tory, he seems to change his mind on things a lot, and this is the only way the Lib Dems were ever going to have a chance of getting into power. I don't see Clegg as power-seeking and a sell-out or whatever, because this way they'll stop sucky Conservative stuff happening. Plus it means that some things I really liked in the Lib Dem manifesto, like some sort of electoral reform (I know it's only AV but it's something), the pupil premium thing etc. will happen... or that's what they've been saying, anyway.

Well, anyway, I'm just going to see what's going to happen. But for now I like the coalition and think less bad things will happen, and more good thingd will happen.

Tories are going to be moderated anyway. If the Tories want to enact hardline policies, they will get blocked by the LibDems. You guys know how coalitions work right? Usually when two parties form a ruling coalition, they form an agreement, formal or informal, that will contain their goals for that election period. If either of them backs out of that agreement, then the other party will step out of the coalition and force new elections. (while having a demissionary govt until those elections).

The Tories can't do SHIT without the LibDems, so it's good they're moderating the Tory influence. The LibDems will let the Tories enact *some* of their ideas. But definitely not all of them and the Tories will have to bend over here and there, or they lose their majority before you can say "Thatcher'.

I am used to coalition govts - they are common in the Netherlands where all the parties are splintered.

Same in Ireland, we have PR voting, so no one has had an outright majority in decades. Even though the Greens are a tiny minority within the government, they have enough members to topple the government by pulling out and they were able to reign in Fianna Fáil on more than one occasion. If only they'd stopped NAMA...

Cirrus said:

And... I realise that I'm definitely in the minority within Lib Dem supporters, but you know what? I like this coalition. I don't like the Tories, but it felt clear from the start that they were going to get in because of how unpopular Brown is. In my opinion, this is the lesser evil to a pure but minority Conservative government (and maybe even an traffic light/rainbow coalition because it would have been unstable, plus the nationalist parties are obviously going to be less inclined to try and help the entirety of the UK over their own country).

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What!! 2003 Scottish Parliament was freakin' awesome. 7 Greens, 6 SSP and 4 Independents! Rainbow Parliaments are sparkly, mmkay. Labour/LibDem coalitions here work absolutely fine. It's hardly 'unstable', it just provides a variety of opinion instead of an elected dictatorship. Besides, it moderates all the planks.
We have a minority government right now, actually! It's kinda cool, except the other parties are like >8( NO at an independence referendum because... fuck knows. They're dumb.