innocent_lex

So, Clegg (LibDem) said it was only fair to give whoever had the most votes and the most seats the opportunity to form the next government if at all possible. He lied. Brown said it was his responsibility as PM to give the Cons and LibDems as much time as they needed to hold discussions - that may indeed be the responsibility of an outgoing PM in the event of a hung parliament, but it's not what he's done. So he lied too. Apparently 'secret' talks have been going on between LibDems and Labour while open talks were going on between Cons and LibDems. Cons apparently didn't know (but it would only take one more group to have a full house of lying politicians).

I can't believe my cynic-o-meter was so utterly defective. I'm usually so much more perceptive than that about politics. When Clegg actually followed his promise I was impressed (instead of my much more frequent suspicious). Turns out the whole talking-with-Conservatives thing was a tactic to get Brown to resign so Labour and LibDems have all obstacles removed and are willing to create a coalition. At this point, I think the only reason we may end up with Cons-LibDem would be because the alternative would be untenable in the eyes of the public, but any possible trust will have vanished anyway.

Congrats, politicians. You've successfully moved from 'we only lie about our expenses' to 'we also lie about anything we think we can get away with' and the whole idea of a fresh start with a boatload of untainted MPs is down the toilet.

At least there were two Labour MPs on the news tonight (or was one an ex-MP? Can't remember) who both pointed out that the idea of Labour trying to sneakily form a government after having lost almost 100 MPs was both horrifying and appallingly short-sighted. People would not readily forgive a party who were given such a strong message by the electorate and ignored it. Of course, these are the same people who completely ignored the million people who marched against the invasion of Iraq, so nothing would surprise me.