Paddy Ashdown writing in the Telegraph has a few wise words on the last few days and his surprise at how the coalition has come into being.
He notes very early on that:
For many of us in the Liberal Democrats, this is a rather unexpected moment. And a somewhat nerve-racking one, too.
For decades, our party worked towards a realignment of the Left; an alliance with Labour that would reshape politics and bring in a new and more modern form of government. Now we find ourselves in coalition not with the centre-Left, but with the centre-Right. What happened? And can it work?
It certainly is a surprise to both us in the Conservative party as well. An alignment that before May 6th would have seemed very doubtful.
Paddy explains what happened when the Lib Dems spoke to Labour:
I’ll admit that I was sceptical, too. A deal with the Labour Party would have been easier, more comfortable and far more consistent with our strategy of realignment – and it was this which I worked for over the past few days. But some of the old Neanderthals in Labour wrecked that opportunity, and have now turned their party back towards tribalism.
It seems that Labour has decided that it can’t work in an era of “New” politics. How unsurprising when you have the likes of Mandy, Bad Ali Campbell, Charlie Whelan, Mcbride associated with you as unelected princes and Gordon Brown and Ed Balls as the elected side of the party.
Paddy then has this to say about the whole negotiations and the deal that has come out of this.
The Tories, under David Cameron, seemed to understand the demand from the electorate for a new kind of politics better than many in Old Labour, and responded to it with speed, understanding and a good deal of statesmanship. Those of us who learnt our politics in opposition to the Tory party of the Thatcher era found this surprising, and in some cases even quite hard to deal with.
But our negotiators, and those from the Tory party, showed that these were different times, by producing a remarkable coalition document which contained commitments to political modernisation, voting reform, fair taxes, such as the £10,000 threshold for income tax, a clean environment and civil liberties, all of which any Lib Dem can be proud.
I take from this that the deal has utterly surprised the Lib Dems with the amount of common ground. I think this is where the Lib Dems show their naivety about the Conservatives under David Cameron. The beast has changed, hard lessons have been learned over the past 13 years. In addition they may have been surprised at the amount of thought the Conservatives had already put into this sort of possible coalition. This is how prepared the Conservative Party is now for government, it has thought through the possibilities and has already devised a strategy. This is why I expect the first few weeks of the Government to be interesting as the Tories hit the road running , whilst the Lib Dems, who probably never thought of themselves being in government, will be slow starters. It may be n education for them.
Anyway back to Paddy he doesn’t see this as a “New Dawn” but he is “Blinking with Surprise” and more hopeful than is rational. A sentiment which I think needs to be carried on and remembered when the times are tough ahead. As he says:
But bankable goodwill has been created in these past few days; a remarkable coalition document has been produced, of which both sides can feel proud; and real statesmanship and vision have been shown by two young leaders. These ingredients give us about the best start we could have for the hard journey ahead.
I refuse to use the tired old clichés about “new dawns”. But I have to confess that I find myself still blinking with surprise at where we have got to, and how it has come about. And perhaps a little more hopeful than is rational about what is now possible, if we can continue as we have started.
Perhaps the best way of looking at this is to contrast this article with Polly Toynbee in the Guardian who has this to say:
These parties are cultural enemies. Try running this three-legged race in the wicked world of 24-hour news, blogging and tweeting. Keeping the peace will be a hundred times harder. Offence will be given and taken, division deliberately exaggerated, gossip, rumour and malice stirred to hurt the pride of the junior partner. Lib Dems will be easily huffed and miffed, bounced, forgotten and ignored. The Tory partner, five times the size, will trample the other like a rhino without noticing.
The problem is that Toynbee is still consumed by her “Champagne” Socialist outlook that can’t embrace any thought of Labour not being the only party that does “New” Politics. Sadly for her “New” Labour has just turned back into the old unreconstructed Labour. It does not like what it sees and is going back to it’s old Class Warfare roots. These times are over and until Labour works this out they are doomed to the back benches.
What this also show is that we now have aspiration in Government rather than Dogma. With aspiration comes hope and the belief that problems can be faced and overcome. There will be hard times but with a good start and an understanding that issues should be faced up-front the coalition should be able to work in government.
Paddy needs to stop blinking and open his eyes to all the opportunities there are now to grow the Lib Dems, to grow the country and to secure a good future. The Conservatives will back his party all the way if this is the way they approach government. It’s in all our interests to stop the blinking and get on with Business.
via The coalition between David Cameron and Nick Clegg will be difficult – but it is the best start – Telegraph.
