A Shotgun Wedding?

So we have a coalition government of the Tories and the Lib Dems. But how long will it last? They think it will last for five years and that is clearly why they have set an actual date for the next election. I’m not at all convinced that it will last for the five years they want it to. They are hardly natural allies after all, and coalition government and cooperation are not the norm for British politics. That’s thanks to the first past the post voting system and the belligerent, confrontational nature of British politics.

Cameron promised that the union would be a “full and proper” coalition between the two parties. But how can it be when one party is so much larger than the other and hitherto their agendas where so different. They were also up till now political enemies with David Cameron once saying that Nick Clegg was his favourite joke.

The sceptics are already saying that the left of the Lib Dems and the right of the Tories are unhappy with this shotgun marriage and that it won’t last for long. I think it will but not for the entire five years that they would like us to think it will. It is after all an un-natural alliance but I think they will all work hard at it to keep the wheels on. But come mid-term when the euphoria has worn off and the respective leaders have bedded into their limos and got their feet under the cabinet table, then the problems will start to boil to the surface. The Lib Dem conference for example should be a hoot. The Lib Dems normally get a bit of a bump in the polls come conference time. I just wonder if, now they are in government, the bump will be the other way. It might be expedient for the Lib Dems to do what they did in Scotland and sit back and let Labour take the blame for all the unpopular decisions while they claim the credit for the good stuff. This time round the nasty party’s horrible decisions are going to hurt.