Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

The government takes shape

Here are some details of the LibCon deal, and my brief comments:

1. Clegg as Deputy PM. It’s a non-job, but a senior one – it means Clegg will take PMQs in Cameron’s absence, and will defend all those nasty cuts (sharing the blame for these cuts is the main rationale for coalition). This follows the 1999 Lib-Lab deal in Scotland, where Jim Wallace was made Deputy First Minister to everyone’s surprise.

2. Laws replaces Gove in education. This has not been confirmed yet, and I will not believe it until I see it. Of all of tonight’s moves this is potentially the most concerning – especially for all those (including myself) who had said that the Gove schools policy was the best single reason to vote Tory. The Lib Dems agree with the principle, but propose a local authority veto: a move which would kill the policy. The Lib Dems have reiterated tonight that they are committed to the principle of free schools – but this policy lives or dies in the its detail. Gove is the guarantor of that detail. When Adonis left, City Academies went into reverse. When John Reid left health, its reform agenda halted. There is this risk with free schools. Those who voted Tory for Gove’s schools agenda would instead get Laws’ schools agenda. And we can by no means be assured that they are identical.

3. Fixed term government of five years. Good luck to them with that. No hung parliament in British peacetime history has lasted more than two years. The risk is that Labour calls a confidence motion at the most opportune time (“when the cuts are hurting most” a Labour MP told me this evening) and that the Lib Dems join them, in mock protest at the cuts.

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