Call My Bluff

So there I was taking in the news just after watching the Daily Show over on More4. Pa Broon had resigned: that suggested that Young Dave and Corporal Clegg had finalised their agreement to work together. But they hadn’t. Brown had concluded he couldn’t put together an alliance with the Lib Dems and so had moved first.

That the other parties’ bluff had been called became clear when Cameron arrived in Downing Street. The details have still not been finalised as I type: right now the Beeb is reporting only the confirmation of Clegg as “Deputy Prime Minister”, William ‘Ague at the Foreign Office, The Rt Hon Gideon George Oliver Osborne (heir to the Seventeenth Baronet) at the Treasury, along with Liam Fox at the FO, Andrew Lansley at Health, and Vince Cable perhaps in a “Business and Banking” role.

The thought that a Lib Dem – presumably Chris Huhne – might secure the last great office of state, the Home Office remains unconfirmed. There might just be competition for that one within the Tory ranks. Another name to feature is David Laws, who might get Education in preference to “Oiky” Gove. But as the dust settles, it’s clear that Cameron has put his jolly good chaps in the seats that matter.

So is it a coalition? And what happens to all the talk of a fixed five year Parliament if the whole thing falls apart? What of all those Lib Dem party members who campaigned tirelessly to keep out the Tories? All will no doubt be revealed, but one news item I can break right now is that the Tory cheerleaderati will not be alluding to David Low’s caricature of Lloyd George and that two-headed donkey.

Full stop. At all.

[And Chris Huhne has only got Environment. Not even Justice]