Why this coalition is the best of all possible outcomes
IN 1981, at the peak of public euphoria over the creation of the SDP/Liberal Alliance, David Steel triumphantly told his party members: “Go back to your constituencies and prepare for government.” It became one of the most derided lines in modern British politics. Far from gaining power the Liberals experienced only a series of crushing disappointments over the next three decades.
But now Steel’s presumptuous vision has become reality. For the first time since the end of the Second World War there are Liberal ministers at the heart of the Cabinet. A remark able coalition has taken office, forged by the expansive boldness of David Cameron and the cool realism of nick Clegg.
Only a few days ago such a government would have seemed unthinkable given the vast differences in outlook
between the Tories and Lib Dems. Indeed many party activists on both sides are dismayed at the powersharing agreement. A significant number of Leftwing Lib Dems have an almost visceral loathing for the Tories and would have felt much more comfortable with a Labourled coalition.
Similarly there has been noisy grumbling from the Tory Right, which would have preferred a minority Cameron administration.
The critics are short sighted. The new coalition is by far the best outcome. Cameron and Clegg have decided to put the national interest before narrow party advantage. Precisely because it is founded on this
spirit of patriotism the new Government will be much stronger than its detractors suggest.
Paradoxically a coalition is a better result for Conservatives than a government with a slim majority. Without a secure base in the Commons Cameron could have been continually held to ransom by self
indulgent rebels in his party, just as John Major was. More over if Cameron had scraped into a majority position with
just 38 per cent of the national vote by winning a few more marginal seats he would have had no mandate to take tough economic decisions.
In contrast the combination of Liberalism and Conser vatism represents a formidable force in British politics. no less than 59.2 per cent of the electorate backed the two parties, by far the largest share of the vote for any government since the war. none of the landslides achieved by Clem Attlee, Margaret Thatcher or Tony Blair had anything like this support.
In the entire history of British democracy only one government surpasses the Cameron/ Clegg axis in terms of electoral share: the Ramsay Macdonald national coalition of 1931, which won 60.6 per cent of the vote.
And the new coalition’s support is geographically spread right across the country, something that would not have applied to a Cameron government on its own. Scotland, for instance, now has 12 coalition MPs, whereas the Tories just have one.
Thanks to Labour’s epic mis management of the economy urgent action is needed to cut the debt. This is where the new coalition is so vital. A Tory government acting alone with a narrow majority would have had an almost impossible job pushing through cuts in public spending, restrictions on publicsector pensions and
reform of the welfare system.
Old prejudices about cruel Tories would have been reinforced. But now Conservative ministers can use their Lib Dems as a human shield. Clegg and Cable will be just as answerable for tough policies as Cameron and Osborne.
At a stroke the Tories have vastly diluted the potency of attacks from Labour and trade unions.
There is another huge benefit to the Conservatives. By its audacious generosity towards the Lib Dems, the party has transformed its image over night. Suddenly the Tories look open, patriotic and com passionate, something all the careful imagebuilding by Cameron with huskies and hoodies could not achieve. As Blair’s former aide Peter hayman said, with illdisguised regret: “The Liberal Democrats have just handed the Tories 10 years of modernisation.”
Despite being Britain’s youngest PM for 200 years Cameron has dramatically enhanced his stature, emerging as a truly national leader.
LABOuR’S response to the coalition has been typically complacent.
Senior party figures believe that the new Government will soon fall apart because of its inherent strains and the inevitable unpopularity of the decisions it will have to take.
According to this logic, once Labour has regrouped under a new leader it will be quickly swept back to power with the Lib Dems destroyed for ever by their association with the “nasty” Tories. But this is just wishful thinking.