Some in the blogosphere are getting terribly excited right now, as it seems the long and tortuous process of forming a Government is about to end. The excitement is coming mainly from the Tory and Lib Dem cheerleaderati, which suggests that the moment has caused normal caution to be blanked out temporarily.
Over here on Zelo Street, I can’t wait: for those of us who regard politics as a spectator sport, a new era mining a rich seam of ridicule is about to begin. The new arrangement between Young Dave’s jolly good chaps and Corporal Clegg’s motley platoon may have much goodwill behind it right now, but given a few months of what Harold Macmillan memorably called “events”, together with frustration and disappointment from the assembled hackery that cheered for the deal, and what could be a fired up Labour Party under a new leader, it could be getting fractious.
Actually, I’m being unduly pessimistic: make that will be getting fractious. The last Tory and Liberal coalition was ruled over by David Lloyd George, and both Cameron and Clegg aren’t in that league. It fell apart because LG and his MPs were far more radical and centre-left than the Tories – a bit like now, whatever the pretence and the spin.
And, as Lib Dems will know, the end of the Lloyd George coalition was where the Tories screwed the Liberals over and the decline of the party set in – so they will be constantly looking over their shoulders, knowing that the Tory Party is the one with the most ruthless survival instinct and will come out of this arrangement stronger than them.
Meanwhile, in the blogosphere, as things get difficult for the new Government – as they always do – I await the fracturing of the current clique of Tory and Libertarian bloggers with relish. It won’t be happy, it won’t be pretty, but it will produce excellent sport.
So stay tuned while I sharpen my pen and load up both barrels.
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