The Cliffhanger

The politics of temptation

Jock Gallagher

Although I've been in grassroots politics for more than 50 years, I have never experienced such fluidity. The 24-hour news cycle has compounded an already impossible dilemma not just for Nick Clegg but for the whole political class. The voters have been unbearably cruel in creating a tantalising position that might yet lead to a new style of government that is genuinely closer to the people but they have entered so many caveats that I cannot yet see a winner from where I sit.
     The media, never known for its patience or actual understanding of the situation, is baying constantly and urgently for action...almost any action. They want a headline, any headline...now.
     David Cameron has clearly been the nearest thing to a winner but even he is being hung out to dry, dependent on Liberal Democrat support if he is to have security of tenure in Number 10. However, it seems unlikely he will be allowed to make Clegg an offer he can't refuse. He will be severely constrained by the grandees, the moneybags such as Lord Ashfcroft and many of his MPs.
     As a lifelong Liberal/Liberal Democrat, I know that despite the pressures and temptations to sup with the Tories, it will be a bridge too far for many of the party faithful. My bet is that there won't be any kind of coalition and that Cameron will become PM by default and face a rocky road to the next election in the not-too-distant future.
     Under other circumstances, I could imagine being tempted by Gordon Brown's apparently generous offer of our kind of proportional representation and a positive goody bag of our priority policies. From the astonishing demonstration outside the Lib Dem HQ and several opinion polls, it's clear there is a public appetite for PR and I think we would win the proposed referendum.
     Sadly, however, Mr Brown  is a busted flush and one has to question if he could go anywhere near fulfilling his promises. I suspect the furniture vans are already circling Downing Street and when they do finally stop at Number 10, I fear they will be packing away Liberal dreams of a new dawn of fairness in politics.
     Down through the years, I have been accused, with all my party colleagues, of being woolly-minded. Ironically, when that is exactly how I currently feel, no one has thought to hurl that one at us. Is that rough justice?
     My one comfort is that, having served on the party's federal executive, for several years and knowing many of the current members, I know the party is in safe hands. These good souls and our MPs will meet as necessary over the coming hours and/or days. They will cover every angle and stare into the abyss. Only when they are ready, will they agree on what happens next.
     The media will have to wait. Try as they might, the journalists will not harry them into prematurely providing their headlines. Too much is at stake. Of course, as I said at the outset, the situation is so fluid that events may have overtaken this reflection.
     Watch this space.

Jock Gallagher is former chairman of the Liberal Democrats
Parliamentary Candidates Association