Cutting deals

Tiberius

I don't think Vince Cable is a traitor. So no deal.

"Labour Man" had better start learning to clean graffiti off bridges if he wants his jobseeker's allowance ;)

TrevorsDen

I am quaking in my seat.

So the dope Martin, instead of laughing in the face of Labour propagandist simply reports it, and Speccy follows suit.

PR? Which brand of PR? Will labour MPs vote to lose their seats?

This is a good example of why we should end subsidised bars in Westminster

2010 Emigré

If we ever get PR in this country it will be the end of democracy, you will never be able to vote the government out as the next one will be indecernable from the current one; social democratic politics for ever and a political class sneering ever more confidently at the poor saps they tax and ignore.

Colin

Tiberius @ 4:08pm said: "I don't think Vince Cable is a traitor."

Maybe not, but he does have more flip flops than Gandhi's cobbler, so who knows what he'll be saying/thinking/doing, come the spring...

mac

'LabourMan' wasn't Michael Dobbs overheard outlining his next book's synopsis in 'the Two Chairmen', was he?

Tiberius - Why "traitor" Cable? The quotation does say that Cable becomes 'Lib Dem leader', therefore what he's portrayed as doing would have his party's support, surely?

Paul B

There maybe a lot of confidence in labour ranks around Westminster may, but let me tell you, they have all been imbibing in to many central London boozers. They aint got a cat in hells in chance to win the next election. Everyone I know agrees with the German finance minister, and knows Brown is a debt junkie seriously in need of a detox.

Incidentally why hasn`t the Speccie picked up on the remarks of the aforementioned German minister, or have I missed something.

Mike, Brighton

Like Ian Martin I can quote a "LibDem man" to whom I put the point that Vince needs to choose between being a politician or a quotable pundit. My "LibDem man" in reply thinks Vince is "semi-detached" from his leadership and is "doing his own thing". He also laughably thinks Vince is "quite mad". You heard it here first.

The thought that the LibDems would back a minority Labour government that had been decisively rejected by the electorate presumably on a lower vote % and actual vote that the Tories defies belief. Plus backing them in return for PR! Utterly disgusting..to the barricades!

CROWN

Or Tories are the largest party form alliance with Clegg, introduce PR and ban donations above £50,000 from unions. Labour declared bankrupt within 6 months, 2 party system restored.

Tom Pride

Too clever by half! Law of Unintended Consequences says this will bounce back in their faces. Smacks of desperation.

Maggie

Alternatively, the Tories win the next election, address the West Lothian question by restricting Scottish MP's voting rights and they set a 50k limit on political donations.

Goodbye Labour.

richard bailey

Isn't it precisely this sort of complete breakdown in identity that will cause the Lib Dem's to be annihilated at the next election? No Lib Dem's, no deal, no susnset scenario.
These Labour types are beyond delusional.

Tiberius

mac: any alliance with Labour under Brown is treachery against the country. I would hope Cable and the Lib Dems as a party would agree with that.

CROWN's and Maggie's outcomes are more likely.

pregethwr

The type of PR would be AV, and since Labour and Lib Dems would between them have probably received over 50% of the vote I'm not sure why it would be undemocratic.

Patrick

Tories win and create an English Parliament. Bye Bye Labour forever on NHS, schools, police, prisons, council tax, etc.

stepney

Tories win - leadership election within a year - Cameron deposed - Sottish independence - Labour can never again win a England majority.

All about as likely as the delusional Labourite who really needs to understand what seven types of sh*te his party are going to have kicked out of them in the next election.

As time ticks away so does the facade of competent economic government. Every day a little more woe. Every day another lost labour voter.

William Blake's Ghost

Far too simplistic a view (which is the main problem for Labour - they are partisan simpletons underneath it all). Lib-dems will never join a coalition because of their position over civil-liberties.

Going into one and seeing it crumble would cause more damage than just losing the next election outright.

mitch

Ok Cameron wins by a landslide,gordon has a nervous breakdown and is sectioned all government hiring is suspended for 2yrs the gruniad folds and polly spends her last days changing his nappy and telling him stories about how they saved the world from the evil tories.

Nicholas

Tories and LibDems are the natural opponents in a British/English parliament where reason, pragmatism and a respect for individual freedom needs to once again prevail.

Labour or "New" Labour are just johnny come lately "reformed" marxists (or closet communists) pretending to be Tories or Libdems as suits to conceal their extreme national socialist agenda. Weird.

strapworld

Labour lose the general election. Ukip and the British National Party agreed to form a Government under Prime Minister Griffin the Conservatives are the third party. the Liberal Democrats have ten MP's
The Conservatives 64. They formed a new coalition called Liberal Conservatism!

It transpired that Brown admits it was a great mistake holding the EU election/local elections and the General Election on the same day.

The BNP and UKIP united in a Anti EU campaign highlighting that all westminster parties supported the EU so it was a general clear out.

Like Mr Hoskin's story of Mr Martin's story of a Labour 'insiders story. This is just total bullsh..

Anan

TrevorsDen: Why would you expect these right-wingers to laugh at Labour or not bother posting enemy propaganda? They hate Cameron (jealousy of his youth and position mostly) even more than Brown and Labour.

Labour's palpable "confidence" indeed. Let's have that election then please!

Steven

Remember Clegg has already promied to back Cameron in the event of a hung Parliament and he has moved the Lib dems a lot further to the right with his tax/spending cuts message. However, never underestimate the opportunism of the Lib Dems. He could backtrack.

JohnAnt

What does it profit a man if he saves the whole world, but suffers the loss of his own seat? As he well may.

Ian C

If he is to hold an elction it must be before the PSBR figures reveal massive overshoot in the run up to the budget. He has a very small window.

David Smith

Iain Martin - Labour man? He's not exactly a hack known for having any Labour contacts at all, let alone anyone senior or serious in the party!
Has only ever been seen talking to Liam Fox. Says it all really

Bill VIncent

Before the '97 massacre, there was no shortage of Tories who would state confidently that they believed they could win the election. They were wrong. There are also people who believe in fairies, global warming, that one race is intrinsically better / worse than another, socialism, fascism, astrology, that Crash Gordon has a grip on reality and that the UK is well placed to ride the recession. They are wrong, too. The "Labour man" quoted by Dale falls into exactly this category. Wrong. Labour is irredeemably doomed. It's all over bar the gloating.

TGF UKIP

Ian C, here we agree. If it is to be an 09 election as seems increasingly likely then it would seem that it would have to be an early one Feb/March, before the Budget has to reveal just how much additional borrowing will be required and how grossly over-optimistic were the growth forecasts.

In previous posts both yourself and other Coffeee Housers have queried whether Bottler has the courage to go in 09. My reading, though, is that it is now going to require him to have more courage to try to tough it out till 2010.

What he will still need though is to find the issue large enough to pick a fight with the Tories to use as a pretext to go to the country.

TGF UKIP

Strapworld, while I am neither UKIP member nor activist but simply grateful to them for providing a repository for my conservative vote, I must as always object to their being twinned with the BNP in any way.

Visit the respective websites and you will see that contrary to BBC and Labour propaganda the BNP are not a right wing but very much a left wing party just as Hitler and his National Socialists were left and not right wing.

On the other hand if you look at the 20 headline UKIP policies you will see that they are a decidedly right of centre conservative party.