The Tory negotiating team

Commentator

Sounds as powerful as the team that the French Government sent to "negotiate" with the German High Command in the Forest of Compiegne in late June 1940.

Isn't Llewellyn also a protege of Petain? Being a Cameroon, I take it as read that he is "incredibly bright", and no doubt has a first in PPE.

Chuck Unsworth

OK, so who's on the other side?

Chris lancashire

I think it's about time that CHers along with the rest of the nation realise what an economic mess we are in and that it demands we put aside petty political squabbles and trust Cameron and Clegg to do their best for the nation. That's not a concept I expect the tribalists on all sides to understand but they are in the minority - like Labour.

lids

Hague looks and sounds like a leader.......

2trueblue

Is Clegg showing us that he is more interested in his political agenda than in the mess we are in? Time is of the essence and they have had an idea that this would happen so who is stalling?

Simon Stephenson

Chris lancashire : 6.04pm

I'm sorry, but what I want to see is the right thing being done, not just what is Cameron/Clegg's "best". Neither of these party leaders has thus far shown the remotest recognition of the necessities for dealing with the massive debt-hangover, so I'm afraid you'll have to excuse me if I appear less than enthusiastic about unreservedly supporting whatever Cameron and Clegg can cook up.

You see, I view the economic situation we are in as being fundamentally a political failure, not an act of God, and I have little confidence that the politicians who were complicit in leading us into this position are the right people to be trusted to lead us out of it.

Susan Hill

@lids. Indeed. Hague for PM as I have long said.

echo34

It's about time the tribalists in both sides realised they are in a minority.

Anyone can pick out a single policy issue to crow about and stick to their principles with. It's a lot harder to put that to one side and think about the bigger picture. I believe that is one thing that has come out of the election. The public don't care who wins what, they just want the job done properly.

It's time for a few blinkered individuals to forget about their own personal bug bears and support a coalition for the good of the country.

old fogey

It will be interesting to see how the BBC and Channel 4 treat the next government--assuming that that the Con/LibDem coalition occurs. Surely they will be a little less critical, at the least, than they would have done had it been a purely Tory administration. My memory may be in error, but didn't both Newsnight and Question Time commence soon after the 1979 election; I always assumed that it was the BBC deciding to give TV access to Conservative critics; only since Iraq have QT and Newsnight become more accessible and sympathetic to Labour opponents. By contrast after the 1997 election there were reportedly the champagne celebrations in the BBC offices; also I seem to remember the radio 4 controller (name forgotten) who instructed her staff not to question the new governments intentions too thoroughly.So I hope that the tv news programmes wil be fairer over the next few months; certainly the hope is that the dreaded David Blanchflower will not be popping up on our screens every week. Or am I being naive ?

Verity

Chris lancashire: "That's not a concept I expect the tribalists on all sides to understand."

Well, of course not! It takes a refined, advanced and sensitive soul like your good self to understand such advanced concepts!

Thank you for handing them down to us!

Ghengis

In considering the situation existing around our parliament after the judgement of the electorate upon its incumbants, words such as verdict, revenge, retribution, just deserts, self inflicted.
Personally, I am greatly amused and entertained by their antics towards whitewashing their disgusting behaviour.

Zoo keeper (Elephant House)

@Chris lancashire

I don't altogether disagree.

Many CHers realise what an economic mess we are in.
The trouble with current UK party politics is that all 3 parties are so similarly placed that any "squabbles" are bound to be "petty".

Debate about "electoral reform" at such time of potential national crisis is arguing about future party political survival, and has little to do with immediate national interest.

In an ideal world if there had been a party to the "right", a sensible electorate would have voted for it, and it would now command a solid working majority.

The "stitch-up" has been that the electorate saw little difference between policies of the big 3, and so it is the politicians who have successfully forced the "government we deserve" upon us.
Thus, just when the country is in dire need of strong government - we got what we voted for.

Being "to the right" was considered unelectable. So the policies of the right were not on offer. If politics lacks conviction, but simply chases consensus - this is what we end up with.

"Democracy" suggests choice.
The electorate was denied a choice because of some phenomenon called "electability".
This involves having no policies whatsoever in which strong beliefs are held, but telling the electorate what is thought it wants to hear or what it can tolerate hearing.

The backbone of UK politics has been surgically removed just before it was most needed.

Noa Zrk

Old Fogey

"I hope that the tv news programmes wil be fairer over the next few months..".

I would like to see rigorous and objective scrutiny of the policies of both the new government and detailed analysis of the appalling behaviour of its corrupt Labour predecessor.

In fact I expect no less.

And I want wholesale reform and reduction of the Brown Broadcasting corporation.

Verity

Susan Hill 8:27 ... me too.

He failed as Leader of the Opposition because even then, the Tory high command had become infected with the Blair virus and tried to force him to compete on an utterly absurd, made-up, Alice in Wonderland battlefield where looking "trendy" (baseball cap, which was arrantly contrary to his character and being worn against Hague's will; attending the hard lefty Notting Hill Carnival ...) to compete with Tony Blair on a fantasy battlefield.

He's a true Tory, grounded and, along with John Redwood, the cleverest senior Tory. He's probably cleverer than all the young ones, too, given how much money he's made without cheating on his expenses.

Dump Dave and put in Hague (if he'll do it) and watch the Tory approval figures crash through the roof.

Simon Stephenson

Zoo keeper (Elephant House) : 6.48pm

Yes, very well put.

Snowman

Zoo keeper @ 6.48:

sums it about right, but then this is what one gets when the election's decided by 20,000 floaters. Everyone wants them, and hence everyone as bland as humanely possible to avoid scaring them off.

The closeness of the anointed lot from whatever colour and their remoteness from the great unwashed, and the impact the cuts are going to have on them and us reminds one of an anecdote. A chicken and a pig decide to treat farmer to a breakfast. You, says the chicken,will provide the bacon, and I’ll supply the eggs. Well, says the hog, for you then it’s mere involvement, for me it’s total commitment. The great unwashed will have to furnish a lot of bacon before it’s all over.

General Zod

Verity, Hague would have nothing but contempt for you.