Elections in the UK

[FSTargetDrone]

BBC:

Page last updated at 20:44 GMT, Tuesday, 11 May 2010 21:44 UK

Cameron is new UK prime minister

Conservative leader David Cameron is the new UK prime minister after the resignation of Gordon Brown.

Mr Cameron, 43, entered 10 Downing Street after travelling to Buckingham Palace to formally accept the Queen's request to form the next government.

He said he aimed to form a "proper and full coalition" with the Lib Dems to provide "strong, stable government".

His party won the most seats in the UK general election last week, but not an overall majority.

In a speech outside his new Downing Street home, Mr Cameron said he and Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg would "put aside party differences and work hard for the common good and the national interest".

He paid tribute to outgoing PM Gordon Brown for his long years of public service and said he would tackle Britain's "pressing problems" - the deficit, social problems and to "rebuild trust in our political system".

Mr Cameron stressed there would be "difficult decisions" but said he wanted to take people through them to reach "better times ahead".

He said he aimed to "help build a more responsible society here in Britain... Those who can should and those who can't, we will always help. I want to make sure that my government always looks after the elderly, the frail, the poorest in our country.

"We must take everyone through with us on some of the difficult decisions we have ahead."

"I came into politics because I love this country, I think it's best days still lie ahead and I believe deeply in public service.

"I think the service our country needs right now is to face up to our big challenges, to confront our problems, take difficult decisions, lead people through those decisions, so that together we can reach better times ahead."

Lib Dem agreement

The Conservatives have been in days of negotiations with the Lib Dems - who were also negotiating with Labour - after the UK election resulted in a hung parliament.

Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg must get the support of a majority of his MPs and his party's ruling body, the federal executive, before he can enter into a coalition.

Earlier the Lib Dems said talks with Labour failed because "the Labour Party never took seriously the prospects of forming a progressive, reforming government".

A spokesman said key members of the Labour team "gave every impression of wanting the process to fail" and the party had made "no attempt at all" to agree a common approach on issues like schools funding and tax reform.

"Certain key Labour cabinet ministers were determined to undermine any agreement by holding out on policy issues and suggesting that Labour would not deliver on proportional representation and might not marshal the votes to secure even the most modest form of electoral reform," he said. However Labour's Lord Mandelson told the BBC they had been "up for" a deal with the Lib Dems, but they had "created so many barriers and obstacles that perhaps they thought their interests lay on the Tory side, on the Conservative side, rather than the progressive side".

'My fault'

After it became clear the talks had failed, Mr Brown tendered his resignation and said he wished the next prime minister well.

In an emotional resignation statement outside Number Ten, Mr Brown thanked his staff, his wife Sarah and their children, who joined the couple as they left for Buckingham Palace.

Mr Brown said it had been "a privilege to serve" adding: "I loved the job not for its prestige, its titles and its ceremony - which I do not love at all. No, I loved the job for its potential to make this country I love fairer, more tolerant, more green, more democratic, more prosperous and more just - truly a greater Britain."

He also paid tribute to the courage of the armed forces, adding: "I will never forget all those who have died in honour and whose families today live in grief."

Later he thanked Labour activists and MPs for all their efforts and told them Labour's general election performance was "my fault, and my fault alone".

The Lib Dem and Conservative teams met for hours of negotiations at the Cabinet Office on Tuesday - four days after the UK general election resulted in a hung parliament.

The talks resumed after Lib Dem negotiators met a Labour team, which followed Mr Brown's announcement on Monday that he would step down as Labour leader by September.

But there were signs throughout the afternoon that the two parties - who together would still not command an overall majority in the House of Commons - would not reach a deal.

[TC27]

Well for half an hour no-one was in charge - lucky no-one nuked us as I dont think anyone had the Trident suitcase!

In theory a liberal/conservative alliance can work well - I sincerly hope that people in both parties in government can put tribal politics behind them and rule for benefit of the entire country - we will we need to keep borrowing lots of money for a few years and we need to keep our lenders convinced our bonds are still AAA rated.

[Keevan_Colton]

Well for half an hour no-one was in charge

Nonsense, Sir Humphrey was in charge as always

[Patrick Degan]

The cynical view of this development:

A BBC analyst who appeared on the Diane Rehm Show on NPR, I believe, opined that the party which would win this election would actually be the losers politically. They're the ones who are going to have to impose severe austerity measures to cut down Britain's deficits, which will mean deep cuts in the public services sector and the whole range of social welfare and defence spending which will not go down well with the public. The Lib-Dems are partnering with the Conservatives in the hopes of getting ballot reform passed, but the Conservatives will fight that to the death. They like the system as it is now and see no reason to change it. Neither do Labour; for all their talk of reform, it is probably the one thing they and the Conservatives can be guaranteed to agree upon if nothing else and for the same reason; that it effectively maintains a two major-party lock on parliamentary power and keeps all the minor parties more or less permanently marginalised. Why would any sane Labour or Tory leader want to give that up?

From Labour's perspective, yielding the ground to a Conservative/Lib-Dem coalition government is the best outcome they could have asked for: they get to take the full brunt of the public firestorm over the coming cuts that will have to be imposed. The Lib-Dems also get tarred with being in bed with the Tories and if they don't get ballot reform out of all this, then they made their Faustian bargain for nothing and will be politically destroyed. If the coalition falls apart, the Lib-Dems have shot their credibility for nothing to show for it, and again they are politically destroyed, while the Conservatives come off as ineffectual to deal with Britain's financial problems. And in the worst case scenario, if a Greek-style crash hits Britain with the Conservative/Lib-Dem coalition in power, they're going to get sucked into the resulting abyss and wind up unelectable for a generation or longer, and once again, the Lib-Dems are destroyed. I am guessing about much of this, but from what I've observed, this sort of cynical opportunism would be the logical end of Blairite philosophy which informs much of "New Labour" strategy.

Gordon Brown's sudden and very public resignation has cut the ground from under both Nick Clegg and David Cameron. They're now forced into a shotgun marriage. So congrats to the Tories: they finally got what they wanted for thirteen years —and to the Lib-Dems for getting their first real fingerhold on national power— just as everything's about to turn to shit.

[Big Orange]

Let's hope the Conservatives take most of the heat (I voted Liberal Democrat).

[J]

The cynical view of this development:

A BBC analyst who appeared on the Diane Rehm Show on NPR, I believe, opined that the party which would win this election would actually be the losers politically. They're the ones who are going to have to impose severe austerity measures to cut down Britain's deficits, which will mean deep cuts in the public services sector and the whole range of social welfare and defence spending which will not go down well with the public.

My first thoughts were rather similar, I pity the party which inherits this mess. Unlike the US they don't have reserve currency status so they likely won't have tools to play kick the can until they're safely out of power following the next election. The UK can't print money in nearly unlimited quantities nor do they have the means to temporarily bend the markets to their will. Their financial system is also even more leveraged & vulnerable than that of the US, so when they're hit with a market event the crash will be worse than it was on this side of the pond.

[Straha]

The cynical view of this development:

>SNIP<

Gordon Brown's sudden and very public resignation has cut the ground from under both Nick Clegg and David Cameron. They're now forced into a shotgun marriage. So congrats to the Tories: they finally got what they wanted for thirteen years —and to the Lib-Dems for getting their first real fingerhold on national power— just as everything's about to turn to shit.

This is true, but let's flip the perspective about for a bit:

Tories: The Tories campaigned on MASSIVE spending decreases. Promising Six Billion pounds in the first year, and then Billions more in the next years. Being in bed with the Lib-Dems forces them to give up many (but not all) of these cuts, quite publicly. With people like Vince Cable in Government (being given control over Banks and business, no less) they also have a very easy out with the electorate if/when the shit, namely: "We knew this was coming! We offered a way forward, and our junior coalition partners blocked us." When the next election rolls around they can stand up, point to the "progress" they've made towards fixing the crisis and get credit for it, while at the same time blaming everything that went wrong on the Lib-Dems.

Lib-Dems: The single biggest obstacle the Liberal-Democrats have faced over the past thirty years (going back to their genesis in 1983, when they almost polled higher than Labour) is that they've never been perceived as having the experience or ability to govern. This past election was proof of that, people loved and trumpeted Nick Clegg and rallied around the LD banner until Election Night when they all realized that the Liberals don't have a lick of cabinet experience between them and opted for a more mainstream choice. Getting into Cabinet, especially so with the stipulation that Nick Clegg will handle PMQs whenever Cameron isn't around, gives them this high-profile experience. When the next election comes around it's no longer the untried/untested Nick Clegg and his bunch of scrappy nobodies, it's Nick Clegg the former Deputy Prime Minister and his band of noble stalwarts who fought for reform in the halls of government and were squashed by the heartless Tory bastards. Even if the coalition falls apart and there needs to be an election in a year this deal has solved their biggest weakness.

Now I can hear you saying "Ah, but what about Labour?" Well, if British electoral history tells us anything it's that Labour is a spent force for the next few years. They have no leader, no leader in the wings, and no ideological direction to go in. The Blairite camp is discredited (especially after Iraq), and the Brownies/Old Labour have the egg on their face because they were in charge when they lost the election and the time immediately preceding. Finally, as nails in the coffin, the modern Labour party has A. no party discipline because their majority was so large their entire time in office that Blair could treat himself like King with Cherie Blair (or Lord Mandelson, if you want to be vulgar) as Queen and Gordon Brown as the corgi and B. no credible political architects to try and piece everything back together. Without a strong leadership, a strong direction, or a strong message they will be tarred as the people who caused this mess and will hard pressed to fight back against incumbent Conservatives and an emboldened Liberal-Democratic party. This isn't a "political wilderness for a generation" situation, but they'll certainly be out of the picture for the next five years. Which is just long enough for the LDs to retool themselves and for the Tories to start claiming every good benefit of government as something of their doing and everything bad as a legacy of either Labour or the result of LD meddling.


As for why Brown quit so suddenly? If you ask me I think he was fed up with his own party and wanted to fuck them over as a great big thank you for treating him like shit for the past twenty years. Good on him, I say. Much as I might disagree with the man on a number of issues he deserved a lot better than he got.

[Thanas]

David Millibrand might very well be the upcoming leader of Labour.

EDIT: At Straha, regarding the Labour has no upcoming leader.

[Vendetta]

Tories: The Tories campaigned on MASSIVE spending decreases. Promising Six Billion pounds in the first year, and then Billions more in the next years. Being in bed with the Lib-Dems forces them to give up many (but not all) of these cuts, quite publicly. With people like Vince Cable in Government (being given control over Banks and business, no less) they also have a very easy out with the electorate if/when the shit, namely: "We knew this was coming! We offered a way forward, and our junior coalition partners blocked us." When the next election rolls around they can stand up, point to the "progress" they've made towards fixing the crisis and get credit for it, while at the same time blaming everything that went wrong on the Lib-Dems.

Everyone campaigned on spending cuts to roughly the same degree, the tories just wanted to start this year not next year. I'd expect there to be some cuts this year under a coalition government, but probably not as many as there would be under a Tory majority government.

On the electoral reform front, a working Lib-Con coalition this Parliament blunts the edge of the single biggest argument against Proportional Representation, that it produces coalitions and that they are baaaad, mmkay? A working coalition government lets the Liberals point to this parliament and say "look, it worked, even with the Tories."

[Dartzap]

And of course, the punning has already begun: A Con/LD pact in the national interest? ConDemNation!

[Thanas]

In Germany, the newspapers are all universally claiming that the Liberal Democrats got rogered but good, especially with regards to the ministers they are (not) getting and the fact that there is no commitment to election reform.

Is that about the same as in Great Britain or are we Germans missing anything?

[Vendetta]

In Germany, the newspapers are all universally claiming that the Liberal Democrats got rogered but good, especially with regards to the ministers they are (not) getting and the fact that there is no commitment to election reform.

Is that about the same as in Great Britain or are we Germans missing anything?

The papers here aren't really moaning about it, because all the papers here are either Conservative or Labour partisans anyway.

[Lord Woodlouse]

In Germany, the newspapers are all universally claiming that the Liberal Democrats got rogered but good, especially with regards to the ministers they are (not) getting and the fact that there is no commitment to election reform.

Is that about the same as in Great Britain or are we Germans missing anything?

The papers here aren't really moaning about it, because all the papers here are either Conservative or Labour partisans anyway.

Not really. Only one major national newspaper came out in full support of Labour this election, and that was the tatty tabloid the Daily Mirror. Fair enough about half came out for the Tories, but a great bunch were in support of either the Lib-Dems or a coalition of Lib-Dems and Labour.

As for how people are taking it, most are commenting that it's been a fair division. 20 government jobs, 5 cabinet posts and major concessions on a number of issues of national policy is hardly a shafting, given they're very much the junior partner in this coalition. Maybe it seems like that to German journalists, who are so used to coalitions, but on this side this degree of bi-partisanship is completely unprecedented. People are amazed at what the Liberals have got.

[Teebs]

In Germany, the newspapers are all universally claiming that the Liberal Democrats got rogered but good, especially with regards to the ministers they are (not) getting and the fact that there is no commitment to election reform.

Is that about the same as in Great Britain or are we Germans missing anything?

The comments in the UK media and blogosphere seem to be agreeing that the Lib Dems rogered the Conservatives good. Interesting difference in opinion.

I think the policy agreements are more important than which departments are put under whose control and the Lib Dems seem to have done well there. I also have the impression that German Cabinet ministers are at least a bit more independent than UK ones, but that could be more a legacy of Blair's presidential style combined with Brown's iron control over the Treasury.

Edit: On electoral reform, there is a commitment to hold a referendum on alternative vote. I think this is weak, but on the other hand there was nothing else on the table. The Labour Party couldn't deliver on anything like that and the Conservatives never would. Slightly better, there seem to be indications that there'll be House of Lords reform to an elected chamber using PR and local government PR. If that's the case then that's pretty good going considering the antipathy of the Conservatives to any form of proportional representation.

[Hillary]

Not really. Only one major national newspaper came out in full support of Labour this election, and that was the tatty tabloid the Daily Mirror. Fair enough about half came out for the Tories, but a great bunch were in support of either the Lib-Dems or a coalition of Lib-Dems and Labour.

Really? Apart from the Mirror and Grauniad groups, who went against the Tories?

Certainly the Mail, Telegraph, Sun, Times, FT, Express and Star ( ) were in favour of Dave - most of them pushing him extremely aggressively.

The Independent was, well, Independent.

[Dartzap]

Anyone else watching this press conference? I'm all for cordial relations, but Cam and Clegg appear to be a Chuckles Brother tribute act already....

[Vendetta]

Certainly the Mail, Telegraph, Sun, Times, FT, Express and Star ( ) were in favour of Dave - most of them pushing him extremely aggressively.

Well those are all the Murdoch and Desmond papers. (and see upthread for one of Murdoch's little minions react to the thought of a lib/lab coalition)

[Minischoles]

In Germany, the newspapers are all universally claiming that the Liberal Democrats got rogered but good, especially with regards to the ministers they are (not) getting and the fact that there is no commitment to election reform.

Is that about the same as in Great Britain or are we Germans missing anything?

I'm pretty amazed at what the Lib Dems managed to get out of the Tories actually. While it's not perfect, they've got themselves into quite a nice position, to get some of that experience they're seen as lacking. Come next election I can see the Lib Dems being in a much better position, simply because one of the largest arguments against them has always been lack of any major political experience.

[Teebs]

Agreement

Here is a summary of the agreement between the Conservatives and Lib Dems.

The Lib Dems also get Deputy PM, Scotland Secretary, Environment, Chief Secretary to the Treasury and Business.

Looking through the agreement, I'm actually quite happy with it all. I was expecting it to be something I could live with, but it seems out and out good to me (obviously I don't like everything in there, but we got more than I expected).

[Dartzap]

Apparently there is a 'Freedom Bill' they are planning on pushing through which would involve the following:

* Scrap ID cards for everyone, including foreign nationals.
* Ensure that there are no restrictions in the right to trial by jury for serious offences including fraud.
* Restore the right to protest in Parliament Square, at the heart of our democracy.
* Abolish the flawed control orders regime.
* Renegotiate the unfair extradition treaty with the United States.
* Restore the right to public assembly for more than two people.
* Scrap the ContactPoint database of all children in Britain.
* Strengthen freedom of information by giving greater powers to the Information Commissioner and reducing exemptions.
* Stop criminalising trespass.
* Restore the public interest defence for whistleblowers.
* Prevent allegations of ‘bad character’ from being used in court.
* Restore the right to silence when accused in court.
* Prevent bailiffs from using force.
* Restrict the use of surveillance powers to the investigation of serious crimes and stop councils snooping.
* Restore the principle of double jeopardy in UK law.
* Remove innocent people from the DNA database.
* Reduce the maximum period of pre-charge detention to 14 days.
* Scrap the ministerial veto which allowed the Government to block the release of Cabinet minutes relating to the Iraq war.
* Require explicit parental consent for biometric information to be taken from children.
* Regulate CCTV following a Royal Commission on cameras.

If this really does happen, then not only is the moon blue, it has a fully fledged colony of winged pigs on it. That would.....reverse the last 13 years of Labour civil infringements in one bill? A quid says it doesn't happen any time soon,

[Zac Naloen]

Would be possibly the most important bill this government could put through though. I applaud the sentiment. I just hope we see it.

[Thanas]

Is a move to PR in the works?

[Teebs]

If this really does happen, then not only is the moon blue, it has a fully fledged colony of winged pigs on it. That would.....reverse the last 13 years of Labour civil infringements in one bill? A quid says it doesn't happen any time soon,

I'd take that money. It's close to an obsession for the Lib Dems and I think the Tories quite like it in principle even if in practice they wouldn't be so keen.

Is a move to PR in the works?

No. Unfortunately not, but neither of Labour or the Conservatives would support it, I think it'll take a certain level of public outrage to force such a move because unless people really start to get really angry the two bigger parties will still benefit more from the status quo. I think New Zealand had PR forced on its parties by popular pressure?

On the plus side, apparently a PR elected House of Lords is part of the agreement.

[Vendetta]

Is a move to PR in the works?

No, though a referendum on Alternative Vote (which is barely better than what we have) is.

Anyway, there are a few other rosy things in the agreement. Increased personal income tax allowance, for instance.

[Rye]

Apparently there is a 'Freedom Bill' they are planning on pushing through which would involve the following:

* Scrap ID cards for everyone, including foreign nationals.
* Ensure that there are no restrictions in the right to trial by jury for serious offences including fraud.
* Restore the right to protest in Parliament Square, at the heart of our democracy.
* Abolish the flawed control orders regime.
* Renegotiate the unfair extradition treaty with the United States.
* Restore the right to public assembly for more than two people.
* Scrap the ContactPoint database of all children in Britain.
* Strengthen freedom of information by giving greater powers to the Information Commissioner and reducing exemptions.
* Stop criminalising trespass.
* Restore the public interest defence for whistleblowers.
* Prevent allegations of ‘bad character’ from being used in court.
* Restore the right to silence when accused in court.
* Prevent bailiffs from using force.
* Restrict the use of surveillance powers to the investigation of serious crimes and stop councils snooping.
* Restore the principle of double jeopardy in UK law.
* Remove innocent people from the DNA database.
* Reduce the maximum period of pre-charge detention to 14 days.
* Scrap the ministerial veto which allowed the Government to block the release of Cabinet minutes relating to the Iraq war.
* Require explicit parental consent for biometric information to be taken from children.
* Regulate CCTV following a Royal Commission on cameras.

If this really does happen, then not only is the moon blue, it has a fully fledged colony of winged pigs on it. That would.....reverse the last 13 years of Labour civil infringements in one bill? A quid says it doesn't happen any time soon,

Not sure about the double jeopardy thing, but that's a great bill. All it needs is to add in a scrapping of the anti-piracy legislation that relies on "intent" as much as anything and it could be one of the finest moments I've ever seen in politics, heheh. Seriously though, good show. This coalition, if it works, could be a great idea; holding back the douchebag behaviours of the Tories, and also making sure we keep building nukes.