The Party, the Cabinet, the Tories. Do they want the same thing? The words of Belinda Carlisle might provide inspiration here.
Overall, I must agree with much of Mary-Ann Sieghart’s article, however I do not believe as strongly as she does that a Labour-Liberal coalition would be unworkable. As it happens, I believe it would be unworkable, for different reasons. There were in fact similarities on the rate of cuts and their attitudes to human rights legislation, compared to the Tories. This is relevant as Sieghart and Clegg wish to re-emphasise the ‘liberal values’ of the Liberal Democrats. There are massive practical issues why such a coalition would never work. Firstly, it might mean that Gordon Brown staggered on, and many within Labour would like Labour to make a fresh ideological break from the temper tantrums (sic) of Blair and Brown. Secondly, the Unions would never have accepted Clegg; however, it is likely that the ‘Autumn of Discontent’ would not happen under a Lib-Lab coalition, but strikes may be more likely to happen under a Cons-Lib coalition.
Nick Clegg is right to play Labour at their own game, in claiming that he wishes pluralism like some in Labour. Compass, the well-respected Labour think tank, managed to fit ‘pluralism’ into every sentence in the run-up to the UK general election, and Nick Clegg, deputy PM, will now be able to put up a reasonable defence of coalition on that basis. However, the main sticking point is that the Tories and the Liberal Democrats don’t want the same thing do they? This is conventiently glossed over in Mary-Ann Sieghart’s article, with some particularly noteworthy dissents on free schools and Trident. And it seems that the LibDem activists and senior management within the Liberal Democrat party may not want the same thing, either. However, I must say that the quality of debate at the Conference has been superb so far, including their discussion of strategy. The LibDems agreed to disagree on their definition of ‘brand identity’, which is a major flaw in their discussion, but hey-ho, they are the LibDems.
