They may have lost the election, but you can’t say that the party is in a worse position to regroup and restructure after the New Labour project has finally come to its natural end. After all, another leader change and a restructuring programme would cause electoral unease. They had enough problems with Brown taking over, letalone what Brown did (or didn’t) get up to.

• They have lost Gordon Brown as leader - I bet many people behind the scenes breathed a sigh of relief when he finally decided to go

• They won’t have to make the politically unpleasant cuts - and for added bonus, the Lib Dems will also be implicated in any unpopular act

• The Lib Dems will be forever linked to the Tories - effectively they can not campaign in the next election based on what the Tories have done

I still feel that Labour deliberately lost the election in order to force, or allow, internal changes that being in power would just not allow.

It's a gamble, but they need to regroup quickly, just in case the coalition comes tumbling down. The worst thing that can happen is that we go back to the polls and the tories end up with a majority.

Who said it was Labour's idea and that those were the sole motivations?

You're assuming that the coalition will go Pete Tong, which is no guarantee. In fact, if the coalition is a success then both the Tories and the Lib Dems can really claim to brought in an era of "new politics", which if Labour campaign against it will only make them look bitter and twisted.

Plus the coalition already has a solid record - scrapping many unpopular measures of the Labour government, including the third runway at Heathrow, ID cards & the NIR, the ContactPoint database, retention of DNA profiles of innocent people etc etc.

Its a shame heather k didnt become a sister of the eastern star cult and then become prime minister etc

I don’t think people were truly expecting a hung parliament - I was expecting a Tory majority. I agree - the current parliament is probably doomed to last a little over a year. The Tories may struggle on with a minority, but I think the next general election will be with us far sooner than the optimistic 5 year span Cameron has.

Until the Lib Tories tell the public how much hidden spending there was with Labour.

The Libs were more linked to Labour, for me.

That said, why must they be "linked" with either? Here in Germany, we have had coalition governments for over 30 years. No party has ever managed to get enough of a majority to form a government on their own. The last couple of times, the coalition has been between 3 or more parties, to make the government. The right and left generally don't want to work together, but the half a dozen parties with no left or right leaning get enough support to get some seats and get some say in the government - the Green party usually gets enough seats to be a strong voice in the government; which is probably why Germany leads the way, in many areas, when it comes to environmental policy and investment.

Quite right and I haven't seen Germans in the streets in panic or their markets threatening to collapse while waiting more than a week for coalitions to hammer out a deal.

I saw a German Journalist on the BBC and he said the main difference between what happens there and here is that in Britain the press fuel a confrontational atmosphere. T'was funny.

I'm not sure why the press, in particular, can't understand the concept of people with differing views working together and actually having some things in common.

my thoughts …

if you wish PR, that's PR in any form, then the coalition must stand at any cost
if the coalition fails, for any reason, then PR in any form dies with it

this coalition is different, in the sense of being a very equal partnership, but within a year they will be very disliked because of the decisions that they will have to make in regard to the economy, which would lead to political suicide for each party, if running for re-election within the 5 year time table

so like it or not they will have to make this coalition work for its full term
so regardless of each party's differences they will have to live with it as there is far more at stake here then you can ever imagine …

Labour got what it wanted, in my opinion.

Mark

from a fully paid up labour party member but now a fully paid up LibDem member
labour got what it deserved …

PS
as a side note the LIBOR has already been raised for PIIGS
Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece and Spain

credit crunch two is underway …

It may be one and the same.

Mark

whatever …

They will at least be able to claim that the economy was in a state and tough medicine had to be administered. Though they need to narrow the inequalities if they are to have any chance of re-election.