Sorry, but I think it’s a bit late in the day for all those who leapt so readily on the Nick Clegg bandwagon to now be tweeting and wailing and gnashing their teeth crying #dontdoitnick. ‘Cos to be quite frank, the notion that Clegg might be happy to jump into bed with the Tories really isn’t the bolt-out-of-the-blue-fuck-we-never-saw-that-one-coming shocker some of them appear to think it is.
In fact three days before the election Clegg was quoted in the Financial Times saying that a commitment to electoral reform wasn’t a precondition to any deal, and making it clear that he was prepared to go into talks with David Cameron in the event of a hung parliament.
And yet guess what? Despite the fact that he made no secret of his willingness to sup with the devil if it meant he could have a share of the power, all those claiming him to be the new Messiah continued under their delusion. And not only that, they continued to encourage others to go along with it too.
I have to say all that “vote Lib Dem if you want a truly progressive government” shtick was some of the most naïve bollocks I’ve ever had the misfortune to listen to during an election campaign. I mean what did people seriously think was going to happen here? Did they honestly believe that the two privileged, privately educated white boys wouldn’t look to each other first?
If so, what arrant fucking nonsense.
Well I’ve got a message for Gordon Brown: and that’s #dontdoitgordon!
If the Lib/Con coalition talks come to nothing, and Clegg comes hawking his wares to Labour’s door and demanding a seat at the table, just tell him to do one. Tell Clegg to fuck off.
He nailed his colours to the Tory mast the minute he defied convention and declared Cameron the rightful heir to the throne. And he made clear his true allegiance when he ignored the fact that in the event of a hung parliament the existing Prime Minister has first dibs on forming a coalititon government.
Clegg talked the other day about how Cameron thought it was “his birthright, his entitlement, to take his turn running the country”. And yet here’s Clegg now thinking exactly the same about himself. Here’s the leader of the party that came third, suddenly thinking that polling fewer votes than his rivals still entitles him to a share in the power.
Well it doesn’t. In fact coming third entitles him to Jack shit. And it certainly doesn’t entitle him to be the fucking Prime Minister as per Sunny Hundal’s ridiculous suggestion on Lib Con this morning.
So yes, if the Lib/Con talks fall apart #dontdoitgordon. Give it up and let the Tories have their prize. Let them have their minority government.
Then sit back and just see how long they last.
Too Much To Say For Myself 
Agreed. Thank you for this post of sanity!
Totally and utterly agree Cath. This misguided and deluded belief in Clegg along with tactical voting has backfired big time. And indeed why the whinging and whining when it was bleeding obvious in a hung parliament situation that Clegg would want to be part of Dave’s gang, also Clegg is from the right of the LibDems. To have a taster of a LibDem/Tory alliance you only have to look at councils were that is happening and it’s usually cuts galore! And a Lab/LibDem alliance is bad news as well cos the LibDems will be ready to stab Labour in the back (and NL is so bloody spineless).
“So yes, if the Lib/Con talks fall apart #dontdoitgordon. Give it up and let the Tories have their prize. Let them have their minority government.Then sit back and just see how long they last.”
Abso-bloody-lutely!! In the meantime while the bourgeoise rip the shit out of each other (though we will be collateral damage) the Left needs the space to build an opposition and a resistance, put Left pressure on the Labour Party by making it ditched the NL agenda and neoliberalism. As we saw from the GE Left MPs majorities increased …. people like and are attracted to left-wing/progressive ideas.
I think you’ve overlooked the fact that Brown is doomed anyway, Cath, like the corpse of a beached whale waiting to be carted away…
Plus the fact that the electorate have obviously had enough of Labour’s unelected PMs.
Surely the only point at issue is the extent to which the Lib Dems can ally with the Conservatives, from a tacit agreement not to precipitate a premature general election at one end of the scale to a full-blown coalition on the other.
And Dr Evan Harris is a Liberal Democrat too, you know…
Let’s see if Cath Elliott has any integrity – and resigns from contributing to the LibDem Guardian. Doitcath. Dontbeaselloutcath.
“Brown did not negotiate but just bellowed at a stunned Clegg like a barrack room martinet threatening his troops when the Lib Dem leader phoned to talk about forming a coalition.”
BBC’s Jon Sopel suggests that Brown is just too much of a wanker to work with.
His supporters are just as bad. Clegg “nailed his colours to the Tory mast the minute he defied convention.” Where does announcing “I will speak initially to the party who comes first” weeks before the election become nailing colours to the mast?
The devastated Labour vote decided that, not Nick Clegg. Solipsistic Gordo failing to recognise his own liability decided that. No-one having the guts (apart from NC) to try to lift a grumpy old warmonger off his throne decided that.
Clegg is being genuinely progressive. Another win off the back of the electorate hating the last guy is not enough. Little England tribalism is not enough either. Holding everyone to account, and ensuring that all the parties leaders can never leave their grass roots, is getting there.
Absolutely on target Cath.
If another would be politico moans to me once more about an unelected PM – without mentioning either John Major or that the UK doesn’t have a presidential form of government I’m going to have to staple my own eyelids to the floor.
Boy Cameron, the one leader of a major party who sets his face against electoral reform and fair votes – because, in the teeth of all the evidence, he claims it doesn’t produce stable and decisive government – horse trades to attain his birthright from a minority position – yes, a minority position.
And hardly a peep about the contradiction or hypocrisy.
Call me tribal by all means – but at least I picked mine with care and chose the right one.
spot on cath lib dems just tories in disguise always have been always will be
Always knew the bloke was a turncoat and a muppet ….( Sunny … : )
Problem the left has are people like Sunny …putting Clegg forward as though he was somehow “left” ..hes not ..hes an Orange Book Lib …and we shouldnt trust him to do anything other than force savage cuts / economic hardship on the working class …. Im with Cath on this one … but i dont expect Labour to do much different from Cam/Clegg either …push comes to shove they will all make US pay for the failures of British capitalism … We need to fight back against that … Sunny can stay in his little dreamworld…the mans a fool.
@A Real Progressive: Yes! Glad there’s someone with a bit of sense!
@MickyD
“Problem the left has are people like Sunny …putting Clegg forward as though he was somehow “left” ..hes not”
The left-right scale isn’t really appropriate; it’s a gross simplification of things. By most definitions though, yes, he is “left”. The LD is generally in favour of progressive policies, so in that respect Clegg is left-wing. Economically, no he isn’t. He (and the Liberal Democrats generally) don’t buy into the top-down, statist worldview that Labour stands for. But you have to understand that this doesn’t mean “economic hardship on the working class”. It means a different (in my view more empowering) approach to solving the problem of fairness. They stand for the same good things (more in fact – they dont hate civil liberties like Labour do), but in an altogether more pragmatic way, which can actually work in the 21st century.
Also people don’t seem to realise that Clegg can’t just go into partnership with anyone. Before he makes a decision like this, he needs to get a majority of the party to agree with it. I think that means even grassroots members, and I’d be genuinely shocked if they accepted a deal with anyone without guarantees on electoral reform.
Can I just be pedantic and point out that we don’t have a written constitution, so whatever ‘law’ there is in fact only a matter of such precedent as there is. Theoretically it’s up to the queen. But in practice she should endorse whoever can form a coalition that has enough seats to pass legislation, so it’s just not true that Brown gets first bash. He’s still prime minister until he resigns. But the Tories don’t have a mandate, or anything like it. On their own, they couldn’t govern because they could be removed at any time by a motion of no confidence.
Personally I wouldn’t mind seeing some sort of PR system in place though, and I think more people may become engaged by the political system if there was one. It doesn’t have to be straight PR, we could have a similar system to the Euro elections. So you still get a selection of MPs – in a group of say 8, like the euro elections, and still have someone to represent you. It would certainly help people like me who currently have an MP who has some very reactionary views in a safe seat….
Gulfstream 5, John Major was an “unelected” PM in his first term, so the recent score is Tories 1, Labour 1. We don’t vote for who we want as Prime Minister, but for the MP we want to represent us in Parliament.
Yes, agreed, Polly, that’s the system. But at least Major had the good fortune to win the following election, whereas Brown has just lost this one.
Clegg has already said that he won’t prop up the defeated Brown, so I don’t doubt that the only reason he’s talking to Brown at all is to increase his bargaining power with the Conservatives. He knows what he’s doing all right.
Remember that immortal line in Desiderata – “No doubt the universe is unfolding as it should”…
A real progressive
If they ever start trying to force me toe some editorial party line I will. But while the Gruniad continues to welcome a diversity of opinion and continues to allow people like me to express our views then, erm, no.
It raises an interesting point though, one I was planning to write something on later this week. Which is that I think one thing this election has shown is how the media (print media in particular) is significantly less influential than it likes to think it is. Murdoch for instance didn’t get the result he wanted, and the Guardian’s last-minute decision to back the Lib Dems didn’t really have any impact at all.
S ; ( Sunny? ) ..Clegg has called for savage cuts …if that isnt advocating hardship for ordinary working class voters then what is??
Micky D:
The economic reality in Britain is that cuts are needed, in part thanks to the gleeful overspend by the Labour government in the early part of the 2000s before the downturn. The Liberal Democrat cuts are hardly “savage”, no more so than the Labour ones (or indeed the Tory ones. The difference between the parties on this is insignificant). But the Lib Dem plans also factor in significant tax breaks which will make the poorer members of society much better off. Quite the opposite of “hardship for ordinary working class”, these plans are beneficial to people on low to middle incomes, and sting people on large incomes. I suggest that is fair.
Not Sunny by the way…
So, recognising that the reason we have a hung Parliament is that no single party and no single leader was able to win the full support of the country, Gordon Brown accepts that the election result was a judgement on him and announces his intention to stand down as Labour Party leader.
I wonder when we can expect Messrs Cameron and Clegg to accept their respective failures to win the full support of the country and their responsibility for this.
Much as I look forward to their decisions to stand down as party leaders, I won’t be holding my breath.
Is it simply that they like to operate as if we have a presidential system of government only when this suits them?
It is of interest to note that actually the vast majority of Liberal Democrats are the ones crying out “Don’t do it, Nick”…. but, please, do not let that interfere with your diatribe.
“Also people don’t seem to realise that Clegg can’t just go into partnership with anyone. ”
Yes, S must be Sunny – that level of political illiteracy could emanate from no other source.
“that level of political illiteracy could emanate from no other source.”
1) Have the last few days passed you by? Did you not hear about the Lib Dem leadership having to get votes from the parliamentary party and the Federal Executive, to accept the deal? That’s exactly what I was referring to, so baffled as to how that is “political illiteracy”.
2) If I were Sunny, why would I not put my name? And also, in the previous comments I’ve clearly criticised Labour and supported the Liberal Democrats. Does that sound like Sunny to you?
When Sunny posts here he always posts under his name.