The words ‘hung parliament’ remind MPs that their own parties are coalitions

13 March 2010

James Forsyth reviews the week in politics

Tories, in particular, are fantasising about this last point. The infantry have started to compete with each other on their snub stories. One candidate for a marginal seat recently drove Mr Cameron around his constituency all day on a recent trip, and was shocked that when he dropped Mr Cameron off, the Tory leader got out of the car without so much as a word of thanks. Some MPs are planning to take elaborate revenge on Mr Cameron if he ends up being reliant on their vote.

The faction-counting has had one major effect: MPs have been reminded about the extent to which their own parties are coalitions. Labour MPs, in particular, are being reminded that some dividing lines cut across party boundaries. An example of this is that a pamphlet published this week, ‘After the Crash — reinventing the left in Britain’, contains essays from Labour, Lib Dem, Green and nationalist politicians as they attempt to thrash out a left-wing response to the country’s current predicament.

The Lib Dem MP who has contributed to this work is Steve Webb. Remember that name. If there is a hung parliament, Webb will, believe it or not, become a key political player. He is on the left of the Liberal Democrats, served on the Social Justice Commission with David Miliband in the 1990s and is now the figure that many in the Labour party are relying on to prevent any Lib-Con coalition.

Webb has, to put it politely, a strained relationship with his party leader. A while back Nick Clegg was overheard by a journalist saying on a plane, ‘Webb must go... He’s a problem. I can’t stand the man. We need a new spokesman. We have to move him. We need someone with good ideas.’ Webb has already had a modicum of revenge, heavily criticising the leadership at the last Lib Dem conference (this being the Lib Dems he has been able to do this while remaining a frontbench spokesman). But this is nothing compared to the trouble he could cause if Clegg made any deal with the Tories.