A Tory/Lib Dem Coalition? Why now?

It was interesting to read last week that Nick Clegg would be willing to enter in to a coalition government with the Tories if there was a hung parliament at the next election. This is a fairly dramatic shift from the position that the Lib Dems have held for some time. They have claimed that they would not do a deal with anyone, but we all knew that if push came to shove they would align themselves with Labour. So why the change and why say all this now, two years before we go to the polls?

What is the small print?

Firstly, Clegg has not really defined what the deal would be. Would he go ahead with the Tories in a hung parliament, even if Labour were the largest party? Would he demand a commitment to electoral reform? What role would he seek for himself and his senior MPs? You would expect that the Tories would have to offer something in exchange for Lib Dem support, but you cannot imagine that they would actually capitulate on electoral reform, could you? If you look at the detail of this revelation, the practicalities of what would be done are largely irrelevant – as though this isn’t even a serious suggestion.

Surely a wasted Lib Dem vote

Secondly, why now? There is a long, long time before any election and the conventional wisdom has always been, if you say you will be the lesser part of a coalition, no one will vote for you. It stands to reason; if you are going to get Cameron anyway, why bother voting for Clegg? The perceived wasted Lib Dem vote becomes even more pointless. There simple was not any need for Clegg to suggest any of this right now – he is trying to form an identity of his own, not one that will act as a crutch to a Tory party in the event of a hung parliament. Is there something more at play here?

Maybe this is more cunning than meets the eye…

The old saying goes – keep your friends close and your enemies even closer. I suspect Clegg has seen that his best chance for boosting his party’s share of the vote is not to go after disaffected Labour voters, but to grab the far more volatile Tory voters. By looking more like a Tory than a Labour man, he is (and I hate this term) “love-bombing” the Tories with the message that they can trust him. He is one of them, but significantly: without the baggage. “Even if you vote for the Lib Dems, you’ll get the Tories, so don’t worry.”

You see, if you were voting for the Lib Dems that would go in to a Labour coalition your vote probably would be wasted. It is those people who are the core “anyone but the Tories” – and the best way to have anyone but the Tories is to sure up the Labour vote. But those who are not so against the Tories or want to see Labour out, don’t necessarily have to vote Tory because they can vote Lib Dem and still have an election result that can be pleased with. They don’t have an agenda to keep the Tories out so will not be so worried if the Tories do get in to power and they can be sure if they do get in to power there is a good chance it will be through a hung parliament… enter the Lib Dems.

Take from the Tories, not Labour is the strategy

By keeping the Tories very close, Clegg is trying to court the left of the Tory party and it is a strategy that may just work. OK, the Lib Dems are not going to win a majority government, but success for the Lib Dems is 60 plus seats in parliament. This keeps Clegg save in the job and looks like progress – if he can break the 80 plus mark, it will be far more positive for the Lib Dems than even being the lesser part of a coalition government. Clegg knows to do this his best hope is to steal the Tory vote, not Labour.

Chambers a cheat who has served his time

Dwain Chambers will find out today if he is to be a part of the Great Britain Athletic team. For those who don’t know, Chambers was Britain’s most successful sprinter since Linford Christie as was pushing to break in to the absolute elite of world 100m runners – a real Olympic gold medal hope. Then it turned out that he was at the centre of probably the biggest doping scandal to hit Athletics. He was found out to be a cheat and banned for two years. Now he is back having served his ban and has just set the fastest time for the 60m sprint which automatically qualifies him for GB squad at the World Indoor championships. Having been found out to be a cheat, should Chambers ever be allowed to run for his country again though?

No

My heart says that he should not. I was a massive fan of Chambers before his ban, but there cannot be any tolerance of cheats in the sports while clean athletes are dedicating their lives towards toil and hard work to be the best. It just is not fair of some steroid bulk of muscle rocks up one day and takes the glory.

Yes

However Chambers, to his credit, has been incredibly open about his drug taking – something that most other athletes deny for years to try and get back in the game. He has served as harsh a punishment as possibly as a result of his honesty. Also, the rules are the rules. He was banned for two years, served his time and is now eligible for the team. Because of that, I think it would be a scandal if he was not chosen for the team.

By all means boo him if you like, but unless there is a rule change that bans cheats for life – which I believe there should be - Chambers has every right to be in the GB team for the indoor world championships and should be picked for the team today.

Garbo - http://thepoliblogs.blogspot.com/