Forums Forums National News BROWN HAS GONE

At last, the worst Prime Minister in the history of British Politics (to quote some Labour MP's and many Labour supporters), has announced he will resign.

HOOOOORRAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

I'm sure that the election result would have been very different if he had gone a few months ago

Perhaps Clegg doesn't want to be shouted at all the time, talk about calling the shots with a minority party.

Its the same as many companies, some at the top are badly behaved and get away with it, but at the top of the best companies are level-headed clear thinkers.

Not yet he hasn't, maybe september

He has announced he will resign, in my opinion, that's as good as - he now has zero authority in any respect other than ceremonial. He will remain a temporary PM to oversee the country (which is needed, regardless of how good or bad he may be) until a new Prime Minister is announced, whatever happens.

DD, im not fully aware so wondering if you know, but does Browns announcement to resign, technically mean that the Conservatives could form a minority government, regardless of the Lib Dems now? I realise they would have to wait for him to resign to the Queen first, but the announcement could surely put things in motion?

He has done the honorable thing and says he will help to form a stable government.

Not sure if its honourable, or just another desperate measure taken by the Labour Party, in a final bid to cling onto power... either way, he has done the right thing, and the decision will make the majority of the British public happy, im pretty sure the majority of Labour supports and MP's would rather have a different leader and Prime Minister, no matter how loyal they have remained to him and thier party/beliefs.

All this is the way I understand things.

Brown has only resigned as party leader, this doesn't affect the number of MPs, who is in power and who isn't. The Tories can form a government whenever they like it is only a matter of choosing cabinet members and other committee officials and members.

When they form a coalition government this is a legal undertaking with agreement from the queen to include another party, if there wasn't a legal agreement, every time they disagreed with the lesser party, they would just kick them out the positions.

I don't think the coalition has any legal compulsion on policies, so while they may agree to pass certain liberal policies through parliament - if they fail to do this then it is just like a WikiWirral barny, not a court or censorship jobber.

I thought Joe Brown had snuffed it then.

Gorden Brown has a constitutional duty to stay where he is until, he can form a government or the Tories can. If he can with the help of other parties, he will not step down as party leader/PM until the labour party vote for a new leader, it is quite possible the next PM after Brown has not faced a general election as leader of a party. Should the Tories form a government ,Brown will remain as opposition leader until the labour party vote in a new leader. Should add the process has until May 25th i think, for the Queen's Speech, for someone to form a government.

Looks like this is finaly going to be the destruction of the labour party if they take the libs on board. They wil be going round hugging trees next

Resigning in 'maybe August'. So he's not resigning then?
Jesus christ.
I'd rather have him stay where he is if it means Peter fooking Mandleson takes over. Please don't let this be true. The worst politician since Hitler.

If Gordon Brown had stepped down before the election Labour might not have lost so many seats.

just wish somebody would take control before the country goes to the dogs

He did the only truly democratic thing in resigning. Gordon Brown was never elected PM and the polls voted labour out so he should go. There has been nothing in the last elections that has given the impression he is wanted at any level.

The Queens speech the theoretical maximum deadline expected, however the real deadline appears to be next week, as they are already planning the re-opening of Parliament for Monday 17th.

Whilst it is true that Gordon Brown has never been elected, the only man that stands before that has any real "legitimacy" to become the Prime Minister is, love it or hate it, David Cameron, based on the election results. If we end up with a Lib-Lab coalition, this will still mean a further 5 years with a completely unelected Prime Minister, no matter who the Labour Party chooses to lead them, so we will be in no better a position than we are now, at least in terms of democracy. Labour should, imho, admit defeat, and the Conservatives should be allowed to form a minority government, they would still have enough to get most proposals through parliament, given the UDP link and the fact Sinn Fein don't take-up their seats, so their majority isnt likely to be so weak, it would only take a few Lib-Lab MP's to abstain or side with the Conservatives to get bills through should they be rejected by the opposition. The Conservatives won the election, both in terms of the popular vote and the number of seats, do we really want to live in a country where we say democracy means the party that wins our elections, by a decent number or votes/seats, ends up being the 3rd party? The Lib Dems do look a little shady right now, the way they are handling the affair, it's almost as though they either wanted Labour all along but Clegg wanted to look honourable, or they are trying to get what they want out of the Conservatives by calling their bluff with Labour... either way, the Lib Dems are in shaky teritory right now, and im no longer convinced they are doing things with the interests of the country ahead of the interests of the party and there members.

I may be the only one to think this, but a minority Conservative government, with no coalition, could just be what the country needs for a year, it means there would have to be more cross-party consensus and agreement (from both the left and right sides of the political spectrum), the Tories would have to be a lot more careful with how they run the country, the decisions they make etc, to ensure they can get their proposals through Parliament, and in a years time we would be sure to go back to the polls for the Conservatives to attempt to try and secure an outright majority, and then we can have a better idea of which party was leading the country best, Labour or the Conservatives.

It should be remembered that that British voter have never voted for a party leader and seeing as we vote for a constituency MP we have never voted for a PM.Whoever ends up as party leader/ PM is out of our control, though its beneficial to everyone if they have some idea who is at the helm. In the dog eat dog world of politics, now that we know that Brown is going because of Labours poor performance, it wouldn't surprise me if the Tories fail to form a government and are left in opposition, the knives would soon be out for Cameron, after all he failed to deliver a majority government. In the past failed Tory leaders have gone. Regardless of what you hear or read, the order of things for politicians is personal ambition followed by party protection followed by whats good for the country.

if the labour party hadnt lost john smith, things might of been better.

Or bitter (bad John Smiths pun)

Going

GOING...

Now he has said he will ask the Queen to ask Cameron to form a goverment do the tories still need the Lib Dems ?

Gone!!!

Not until he has visited the Queen... tonight is possible, tomorrow morning is probable.

Either way, David Cameron will be our Prime Minister tomorrow.

Nope he is on his way to the Palace right now... he is going straight to the palace, and will not pass GO.

He's on his way to Buck House now

Ok maybe I jumped the gun. I'm just so eager to see the back of him.

He is in the grounds of the palace now.

I think its now safe to assume that Prime Minister Gordon Brown, and the "New Labour" Government, have now...

GONE!!!

However, as to how David Cameron can proceed is quite bizarre, as he does not know for certain as to whether or not he has the coalition with the Lib Dems until later on tonight; if that fails, a minority government it will be, although I do genuinely hope for a coalition for the good of the country, because we need a majority government, and I think the country may well benefit from a left-right government.

The end of a great era, lets welcome thatchers love child, run for your milk!

David Cameron is on his way to the Palace, though his car is stuck in traffic, and behind a learner driver lol.

David Cameron is now officially the new Prime Minister after a 25 minute audience with the Queen!

TIME FOR CHANGE

What does this mean for tax? Child tax credits? Child nursey fees?

bye bye it means, if ya poor he don't like you

Nothing right now, we will have to wait and see what the new coalition plans are, but dont believe the shit that is flowing around Facebook about the Conservatives being the party of higher taxes etc... These are started by unintelligent Labour fanbois, who obviously only follow politics at election time, because the Conservatives have always been the party of low taxation and public borrowing, Labour has always meant higher taxes, however this ideology will be shot to bits right now thanks to the state Labour have left the country in.

The Tories did say they would protect tax credits for those households earning under £50k per annum iirc, which I know Labour took issue with, as it meant their own MP's who had kids would no longer be entitled to them. Quite why any household earning over 50k a year needs tax credits, I dont know, given the state the economy is in, it is completely unrealistic.

Funny, the gap between rich and poor, has INCREASED in the past decade, and then there are things like the 10p tax etc... It seems if you are poor, Brown/New Labour didnt like you either.

Bitter Labour LOSER. You had your chance, and you SCREWED US OVER, time for the Conservative-Liberal coalition to fix Britain.

I find it hellishly amusing the Labour "supporters" on Facebook, who have no idea about politics (the type that had never even heard of Nick Clegg until 4 weeks ago) or policies, and yet are ranting and raving about the Conservatives being in power. But then, factually incorrect posts and the lack of any spelling and grammar does not really show Labour supporters at their best...

makes me laugh you live in lovely ellesmere port and you vote tory, and hang on was it not Gordon who rang vauxhall every week when they were going to close?

Look, your a LOSER, face it, your poltical ideology has failed, and we are going to have to pay a very heavy price as a result of it. Well I say "we", had Labour managed to cling onto power, then your can be guaranteed all the doley's and the criminals in prison (at a cost of £28,000+ per year to the tax payer, when the average, hard working, tax payer, gets under £1100 spent on them each year) would be too busy playing on their PS3's and Xbox360's to worry about, it would be the hard-working taxpayers who would have had to pick up the burden of the debt - because Labour does not like people who work for a living and lead honest, and decent, law-abiding lives.

Tax burden in 1997, with a booming economy and low levels of consumer and public debt - 39%. Tax burden in 2010, with a dead economy and soring record-high levels of consumer and public debt - 41% - and thats before Labour had even started their programme of cuts and taxation increases.

Is it any wonder GM, and many other multi-nationals, see the UK as having a weak economical and viable future??

Just go back to your Labour chums, lick your wounds, celebrate the fact that you have managed to near-bankrupt the UK once again, hang your Gordon Brown photo on your "cool wall" of political heros, alongside the photos of Denis Healy and Michael Foot etc, and sit back and watch the Conservative-led government pick up the pieces once again and in time, build a stable and viable economy, that is not just built on a single philosphy, aka credit and debt, like you Labour supporters have been pushing for the past 13 years.

Agree with Bert

It should be remembered that that British voter have never voted for a party leader and seeing as we vote for a constituency MP we have never voted for a PM.Whoever ends up as party leader/ PM is out of our control, though its beneficial to everyone if they have some idea who is at the helm. In the dog eat dog world of politics, now that we know that Brown is going because of Labours poor performance. Regardless of what you hear or read, the order of things for politicians is personal ambition followed by party protection followed by whats good for the country.

I can see if the Tories don't get the economy right
it will all be blamed as Gordon Brown and Labours fault
for leaving us in this mess - as if it's not something happening
worldwide but in Britain alone

95% of the wealth in this country is owned by the top 5% so I've been led to believe so who's money was really being protected when we bailed out the banks


by the way I didn't vote labour

whatever, we shall see

Don't have a cool wall tbh, getting a dart board though for christmas with Cameron on it. :-)

As much as id have liked to have seen a bank fall, and as much as I believe the bigger "safe" banks like HSBC and Barclays would not have let it happen because it would have had disasterous implications for them, I actually think Labour, to their credit, took the correct decision in bailing out the banks - had they have fallen, the whole economy would be in total tatters.

However, Labour also got us into the mess originally, regardless of a global crisis causing the problems or not, there was zero regulation of the banks or the banking system, the FSA was funded and controlled by the banks so they were not a regulator imho, the likes of Northern Rock should NEVER have been allowed to only hold 5% capital compared with debt (and didnt need to, HSBC, the biggest bank in the world, holds over 100% capital:debt ratio, although is the only major Biritish bank to do so), and they further-weakened our economy by the fact we were living on credit (in bother the public and consumer finances) and didnt have a penny in the bank, so when the hard times hit us, not only did we not have a penny to help us along, but we had to borrow tens of billions from China and the like, at exactly the worst time in the last 60 years to be borrowing anything from anyone, add this to the fact our public debts were already at record levels, it meant they just kept soaring and soaring.

None of this can be blamed on the global financial crisis, Labour acted completely unresponsibly, as if nothing like the global financial crisis could ever happen, had they prepared for the possibility that it could happen, especially when there were many analysts, unpopuarly suggesting the sub-prime market in the US was going to crash and cause hell for years upon years before it happened, and indeed the likes of Vince Cable were warning of it and a national crash back in 2005 and even earlier, then we would have been in a much stronger position to get through it.

If you dismiss things you can't control as not a problem and only plan for the good times without thinking of the possibility of bad times, then you have to take the blame when these things go kaput and you end up in the shit, and Labour have found this out the hard way.

It still intrigues me that we have a deficit ratio larger than that of Greece, and are actually in a weaker position than they were before they went tits-up, and yet Labour did not want to cease government waste until next year, and were always admant the economy was still strong and everything was alright. It was this complacency that helped to get us into the terrible economic position we now find ourselves in, in the first place.

I have to add that in the good times of New Labour, riding high on the Conservatives booming economy and spending like there was no tomorrow, wasting billions and borrowing tens of billions, it was a nice dream, whilst it lasted, but thats all it could ever have been, a nice dream.

It's n very similar scenario to all these people who aspire to have everything in life, but can't really afford it, so get it all on credit cards etc beyond their means, and when the shit hits the fan, they end up with nothing - they may not even have control over problems that occur within their lives (global recession/higher taxes/cost of basic living/illness/job loss etc).

How many times have people seen others in this position and said "it's their own fault, I have little sympathy for them" (barring cases of illness maybe), do all Labour supporters instead say, its their banks fault for them spending that money so wrecklessly, its the recessions fault for them coming acropper for living beyond their means, its the price of petrols fault for their downfall etc... some people will blame the banks etc, but at the end of the day, its the person to blame, not the system.

Anybody can build new hospitals,new schools, increase public employment and all the other things that have been done if they use the nations CREDIT CARD and run up a mountain of DEBT and since labours second term in office that what they have done.

Margaret Thatcher got the country into the mess originally. the country has never recovered. Everyone knows that, but everyone has forgotten how awful the Tory government was.

i remember the 80s, manufacturing gone coal pits gone although icouldnt stand scargill. will we be heating or eating this winter.

Oh... so your saying things that happened in the 80's, are to blame for Labours handling of the economy in 13 years of power? Behave that man, all Maggie did was close down and privatise LOSS-MAKING (to the tune of BILLIONS) publically owned industries, after the Labour government of 79 left the country for dead with not a penny to spend. Have you not heard of the winter or discontent?

New Labour on the otherhand, were happy to continue wasting public money just to keep prisoners, doleys, bagheads and bankers happy, but they couldnt be bothered to spare a penny for the liked of MG-Rover and Woolworths... what is the difference between uncompetitive, massively loss-making, publically-funded businesses that were costing the taxpayer billions to operate, being shut down in the 80's and the government not helping private mass-employers stay afloat in the 00's? The only real difference is one was eating up a lot of public finances, the other wasnt.

If the Tories had not closed the pits in the 80's or 90's, and their decline in productivity and competitiveness had continued at the staggering rate it was already doing, would you still be happy to be throwing hundreds of billions a year to keep them open? The Unions (and therefore Labour) and shoulder some of the blame for the decline in the coal industry, it was they who decided to strike etc which caused the loss of international market-share and trust.

I got the distinct impression that Northern Rock was forced out the market by the other banks, they were the Virgin Airlines of the banking world, except in this case the competitors won by foul means or fair.

I think a few of us are starting to realise why Scargill was so angry and persistent/insistent - he was right, it WAS Government policy to close down the coal mines. Like him or hate him you can't say he didn't try and fight it.

this could change our local council and put jeff green in charge.

glad new labour has gone the days of the working class in their flat caps and scarves have gone most of them live in three bed semis drive cars and want to better themselves still vote labour though

does anyone know where all these jobs are coming from that Cameron wants people to get of job seekers and have? As i know being in work the ammount of C.Vs we get a week and there is no jobs going in the first place, and people in work find it hard to move on to another better job due to lack of work.

My family will be heating and eating dont freeze in my house unless my heating breaks down starakita can always go and get stick s from the woods for your coal fire

2 of my sons were on TNG courses one after security badge one for office admin
Both were asked to work in Barnado's charity shop Bromborough where there were already several others from TNG
Also chatted to a fellow in a charity shop in Oxton rd who was placed there by TNG
I suspect jobs may be created where you get a small topup (for fares, meals etc} about £30 on top of dole or only for minimum hours
A nephew is on a 4hour contract with one of the supermarkets
altho he works more

yeah labour did that, it's called new deal, you get extra and a bus pass for doing charity work or working vol.

Thatcher has problems with unions, and a 'with us or not' attitude. I remember the 80's quite well. It was fooking horrible. Please don't take offence, but please stop getting frothed up about David Cameron.

What the fook has Thatcher, got to do with Gordon Brown and New Labours failiure? Can you please stop getting frothed up about a Prime Minister who took power 3 decades ago and was ousted 2 decades ago.

Its always the same old argument with bitter Labour supporters, they always look to the past to defend their own parties failiures, New Labour inherited a booming economy, with low taxation and public and private debt. They completely savaged that and now we are on the brink of bankruptcy (im not sure people realise quite how close to it we truely are).

THAT WAS FOOK ALL TO DO WITH MARGARET THATCHER, SO STOP LIVING IN THE PAST AND ACCEPT THAT LABOUR FAILED AND AS A RESULT HAVE BEEN RIGHTLY REMOVED FROM GOVERNMENT.

Look to the future and concentrate on whats ahead, id be more concerned if I were a Labour support, about who is going to become the next leader, and what direction the party is going to take, now that the New Labour experiment has miserably failed. It's not just a case of elect a new leader and hey presto off you go, you have FAR greater problems that need addressing, and the reasons Labour have lost are far more deep-rooted than simply because Gordon Brown was unpopular.

We've been on the losing side of elections for 11 years, up until last years local elections, so we know what its like to be defeated, but you just get on with it and accept that you have usually lost through nobodies fault but that of your own.

Had New Labour been voted out after 5 years, maybe you could have argued that the problems were caused John Major's revious government, but after 13 years of rule, you can't use the "it was the last government's fault" get out of jail free card.

o....k.... Where do i stand then? Im a trained, qualified and 'experienced professional'. Currently, i do my stuff voluntary-
Coz there aint any jobs!?!

Maggie did some very funny things with the laws of this country.

A good example of that was to pick on one group of essential workers and force them to work without pay instead of correctly negotiating the problem, this has only partly been corrected in the last year or two.

That was something I was made to do during the 80's for an extra £10 on my dole.Thatcher robbed us of our Industry and we have NEVER recovered,hard working men and women gave us what we have today with help from the unions,if we had no Labour party we would not have free health care,free education for EVERYBODY and equality for all,The Tories would still hjave us putting kids up chimneys and the destitute in workhouses to line their pockets.

Chris.

And i dont get no bus pass?!

Any laws introduced by any government previous to 1997, could have been removed or ammended to suit the New Labour ideology. Any laws that still stand un-ammended, or were not removed/canged until after the first term in office, show that the Labour government agreed with them. Labour had a landslide majority in the first term, so they have no excuses im afraid.

Are you taking the piss, or do you just not understand the real world? Over 19? Fook off, you can pay for your college education. Want to go to University? Well we have a lovely thing called Tuition fee's.

I do love watching the shit Labour supporters spout, its hilarious, all over Facebook there are completely unsubstantiated claims and lies about what the Torys are going to do, and what Labour did or would have done.

Labour supporters saying they are looking forward to higher taxes and NI, this is one of the main "copy & pastes" doing the rounds on there within Labour fans right now... hold on one minute, if they had any idea, they would understand that the Conservative Party has always been the party of lower taxation, and the only NI increase in sight, was announced in the March 2010 Labour budget, and aggressively and publically opposed by the Conservative Party.

The reason being, these people have no real idea about politics, they just say what they think they know an hat their mates have told them or what their smilarly un-initiated parents have said, they are the same type of people who didnt have a clue who Nick Clegg was until 4 weeks ago, and it seems all the Labour fans on Facebook are like this, if this is the standard of young Labour voters, then I fear for our future, because obviously they are voting completely unaware of who stands for what, if they don't even have any idea about a Labour policy that has been constantly in the headlines for the past 6 weeks lol. How can you support, nevermind vote for, a party, if you have no idea or knowledge of their ideology, history and current manifesto and proposals?

Have you seen the full process to change the law, it is extremely complicated and drawn out and has a pretty fragile route on its way.

I don't think Labour have been a brilliant Government, Brown was pretty good as Chancellor of the Exchequer, Blair was good up to the point that Bernie Eccleston managed to control him, that unfortunately blew his authority and credibility.

I am fearful of the Conservatives, there basic philosophy seems to do something "at all costs".

There is a long list of countries in a worse state than ours, we are in the fortunate position that if we go, we take a few other major players with us, therefore we have support to prevent that happening.

I am not pro-Labour but I am anti-Tory and pro-F.Field

Labour has got Mandelson, Ed Balls, Miliband and Darling, none of which I have any faith or trust in.

EDIT - might as well add Jack Straw to that list as well

Mandelson, ah yes, another unelected rogue, who was pretty much the second person in charge of our country for the past 2 years. Miliband, as far as im concerned (im assuming your on about David), is a complete and utter prick. Balls is by name, by nature, talks a load of bollox and too close to Gordon Brown. Darling, im not so sure, I used to think he was just a weak member of the cabinet, but he is probably one of the few Labour MP's who has shown any guts and balls, and honesty, since the global recession. My respect for him has grown considerably since he became Chancellor.

Frank Field, I like him very much, but the Labour Party seem to hate him?? Alan Johnson would make a more suitable Labour Party leader than anyone else within the party (that im aware of at least), being an ex-trade unionist, though I feel he could be interpreted as a bit too "old Labour" for the parties liking. He seems the proper no bullshit, stand up for what you believe in type of guy, which I think could be good for Labour going forward. The excessive spin and lies from the outgoing Labour government has unfortunately, killed any chance of the electorate trusting any New Labour-type leader or party.

Glad we agree on that - I am afraid I haven't got a clue who is/was in the shadow cabinet.

Don't like Darling because of the darling Report.

Used to like Geoff Hoon - he used to make sound decisions and talk sense, but once promoted he soon found out he got stomped on when he expressed his own opinion and so just started towing the line and licking the appropriate places.

Geoff Hoon stepped down at the 2010 election, and just a few weeks before that, was caught by Channel 4's Dispatches programme trying to make money out of his influence and contacts within the Labour Party, so has been suspended - it shows how shady some polititians can be when you scratch beneath the surface.

Im glad Cameron got in at long last, but id have preferred David Davis if im honest. Time will tell if Cameron is a good PM or not, but I do have faith in him, and the country could be onto something good with this right-left coalition, because anything too extreme for the left, should be kept in check by the Liberal Democrats, so we won't turn into a completely right-wing country, though having said that, New Labour was pretty right-wing anyway.

In fact, if im completely honest, id have preferred Portillo as PM, Hague as deputy, Davis as Home Secratary and Clarke as Chancellor... but in the words of the great Boris Johnsons, "ive had enough it", so no more insight into my Tory dream team lol.

The Geoff Hoon thing looked very much like a deal to me, he took the role of fall guy, then suddenly appeared higher up the system not that long after.

I agree with a lot that Cameron says, but it is the "suits" that will control what actually happens, and they are very right-wing.

We need a good nationalist - bring back Enoch Powell, despite the "racist" picture spread - he certainly wasn't, in fact he did quite a lot of major work that proves he wasn't racist. His heart was in the nation. Which other Tory MP could get the dockers fighting on his side!

Never "get" Portillo, I swear he suffers from a bipolar disorder, he appears to have two faces.

Hague has come on loads - he was a pratt at one time.

Its good when you see politicians move on in the right direction, Ken Livingston being one. Many of the rest appear to be career people, they do what they have to do for their career, not the good of the nation.

Think I've just about exhausted my knowledge

So the Tories are having to amend their manifesto that the British public voted on to accommodate the Libs who, with some 50 odd seats, can now add in part of their manifesto.

The Tory manifesto isn't worth the paper its written on even before Cameroon went to the Queen!

Good start to governing!

The Tories and Lib Dems combined had almost 18 million votes from a 29 million turnout. That is a pretty good mandate for the two parties, considering Labour only got 9.5 million vs the Conservatives 8.7 million of a possible 27 million back in 2005.

As you are obviously a Labour supporter, do you care to explain to me, how a Lib-Lab or Lab-only government would have exceeded this majority? The only way they could have come close to equalling such a national mandate, would be by giving every other party, including the SNP and PC, a chance to form part of the government, and with the Tories being 2.1 million votes ahead of Labour in the election, they still would not have surpassed them in the popular vote.

With powers to NI, Wales and Scotland pretty much devolved, and with the Conservatives all but wiping out the Lib Dems and Labour in the English constituencies, I think the correct government is in charge. It's not a UK government we ned in Westminster, its an English government, Westministers powers over Scotland and Wales in particular, are very limited, and id have been pretty pissed off to see even more influence in English affairs from the Scottish Labour Party, SNP and PC than we currently have to put up with.

England voted Conservative, that's what they have got, there were some area's that voted Labour/Lib-Dem, and the Lib Dems will represent the left-wing voters in the next government. It could not have turned out better for either side with regars fairness - Had the Lib Dems coalitioned with Labour, the government would be left-wing only, and Labour were never going to partner with the Conservatives. A left-wing only government would be impossible and downright scandelous in a supposed democratic country (England) where the majority of the electorate have just voted for a right-wing party.

Not to mention the fact the Labour government had run its course, and where tired and pretty much deflated, one of the reasons the Lib Dems "claim" thay they could not continue talks with Labour, was because they just did not have any enthusiasm or real interest in taking the country forward as a coalition in partnership with the Lib Dems. Maybe Labour, and the heads of the party in particular, were in some way giving up?

In my view if i had to have a bet on which 2 parties would of got into bed with each other, it would have been Lab/Lib dem.
Historically those 2 parties have more in common, after all the Dem part was ex Labour party members and are supposedly still a form of right wing Laborites. The fact is we have a Tory/Lib pact and it shouldn't be knocked until its had its chance to govern and we will see what it can do.
It has been reported that the Labour party has shown no enthusiasm for forming a government with the Lib Dems, well it was never in the Labour mandate to do so, I believe and reading between the lines the Lib dems were told they could go in with Labour but Labours policies wouldn't change.
On the other hand if i was a member of the Tory party i would now be very disappointed, the party that had my support seems not to be carrying out the mandate i have voted for.
The only winners in this are the Lib Dems, even their supporters have cause for concern, they also are not following their mandate.
In a strange sort of way, the only ones to come out of this with their heads held high is the Labour party, they may have lost power, but they haven't sold out their supporters and voters.
So we will see, once the honeymoon period is over, something that all governments have, how things go, chances are, another general election sooner rather than later.

Im not upset, the deal looks to be quite fairly laid out, and many of the Conservative manifesto promises will remain intact, there have been adjustments and comprimises for both sides to accept however.

Im not surprised you would say the Labour party are the only party to come out of this with their heads held high, your a Labour supporter and a trade-union supporter, so it is in your nature to remain stubborn and never accept defeat. I admire you for this however, I am not trying to diss you.

Labout "tried" to talk with the Lib Dems, as I hear it, whilst the Lib Dems did not feel that Labour were fully committed to a coalition, they also offered so much to the Lib Dems that the Lib Dems believed the promises and comprimises could never be delivered by a Labour-led government (something which has become apparent during tonight on the news channels) - if anything, on this basis, Labour could be held accountable for trying to decieve the public and the Lib Dems in their final desperate attempt to cling onto power at any cost - and had they not been lying for a change, they would have pretty much completely sold-out, and we would be governed under Liberal Democrat rules, behind a Labour Party facade. The mere fact that John Prescott had urged Labour to coalition with the Liberal Democrats, shows how desperate Labour were to cling on to power.

Back to the Conservative Party giving up some points of its manifesto, maybe for once, something that Labour supporters may never understand, the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, have acted for the good of the country, instad of just for their own party. If the Conservatives wanted, knowing full-well that Labour would never have had a strong government and probably no chance of a majority in the House Of Commons, they could have simply formed a minority government - at some point, be it today, or in a few months time when the Labour government would have eventually given in and re-run the election because they could not command a majority or their alliances or even their party were falling to bits, the Conservatives would have gained power.

May 7th, no matter how Labour supporters want to portray it, was the beginning of the end for Gordon Brown and the New Labour experiment, and it's good that the final nail in the coffin was hammered in within days, instead of a tired, failing, unpopular and distraught government carrying on for months, because it was certainly coming. Political analysts from all sides of the political spectrum seemed to agree that the magic number for the Tories was 300 seats, irrespective of a working majority or not, and even Labour's own MP's, such as Blunkett, Reid, Andy Burnham etc admitted that Labour should accept defeat, and rebuild the party for the future. In fact, even Mandelson hinted at it on election night, whilst talking to the BBC.

The only reason Labour never sold themselves out, was because of the Liberal Democrats realising Labour were just desperately trying to cling onto power by making outlandish promises they could never deliver, and had no real interest in doing so anyway, because the entire party was in disarray and a shambles, with no effective leader at the helm for some months, and certainly a party or leader in no fit state to govern a country.

Had Brown gone before the election, I think the voters and the media may have been "kinder" towards Labour, but I think the election would still have turned out in this way; indeed it may have been Brown that was Labours saving grace at the election, for people knew and understood what they would get from him, whereas Cameron is still in real terms, and a complete unknown. Had someone like David Miliband or Ed Balls become Labour Leader and PM prior to the election, they would have stood no chance. I stand by my belief that the only guy who could have seriously mounted a challenge to the Conservatives, is Alan Johnson, but I could not see Labour ever choosing him as a leader prior to this general election thanks to his old-Labour style, and he would have had to have been in before last Christmas to establish himself with the public.

The full details of the coalition agreement will be released later, but the outline goes as follows:

• There will be a "significant acceleration" of efforts to reduce the budget deficit - including £6bn of spending reductions this year. An emergency Budget will take place within 50 days.
• Plans for five-year, fixed-term parliaments, meaning the next election would not take place until May 2015.
• The Lib Dems have agreed to drop plans for a "mansion tax" on properties costing more than £2m, while the Conservatives have ditched their pledge to raise the inheritance tax threshold to £1m.
• The new administration will scrap part of Labour's planned rise in National Insurance and will work towards raising income tax thresholds for lower earners.
• A pledge to have a referendum on any further transfer of powers to the EU and a commitment from the Lib Dems not to adopt the euro for the lifetime of the next Parliament.
• The Lib Dems have agreed to Tory proposals for a cap on non-EU migration
  The Conservatives will recognise marriage in the tax system, but Lib Dems will abstain in Commons vote.
  
• The Lib Dems will drop opposition to a replacement for Britain's Trident nuclear missiles but the programme will be scrutinised for value for money.
  
• There will be a referendum on moving to the Alternative Vote system and enhanced "pupil premium" for deprived children as Lib Dems demanded.

Not quite the sell-out you are trying to portray is it Bert... things like the inheritance threshold etc, were not a major interest of many Tory supporters anyway and I think we can live without it, the mansion tax has been scrapped which is something the Tories opposed, and things like the lower taxes for lower earners and removal of the jobs tax, will benefit everyone. The Conservatives main pledges, to cut spending and waste quickly, and have an emergency budget, an immigration cap, no take-up of the Euro, the probable future of Trident, marriage tax rules etc seem to be upheld.



Source - BBC News Report

As i said before i will not knock this coalition government for knocking sake, it has to have the chance to do what it can, then be judged. The fact that Gorden Brown has removed himself form party leader is one good thing to come out of all this, whether he removes himself from politics is no concern of mine, that's between him and his constituents. If what has happened in the election means New Labour is defunct and it has to move in a different direction, there will be no tears from me.

It has always been my belief that politicians regardless of what political party they belong to have their set agenda.
Self survival, party survival, Country, in that order.
Over the last few days this has become more self evident and will become more so in the coming months as more things come out and are reported.

Though this coalition has been given the go ahead, it is not going to be plain sailing, even leaving the Labour party out of the equation the Tory and Lib Dem die hard will see to that.
One thing the old Tory guard didn't expect was for them to have to form a government with another party, David Cameron is going to have to watch his back, Nick Clegg may fare a bit better, but he will come under pressure from his own party when it becomes clear he will eventually have less and less influence. We shall see, it should be very interesting.

Can I ask is Matt working for David Cameron? or maybe you are him?

The way wiki has been lately you wouldnt know who was who,not sure if i know who i am now.

gotta love this, UK so happy to see David Cameron arrive at number 10

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUOm4oZtxCU

not everybody happy then.

lets give this new government a chance we can always vote them out next time round if were not happy seems people are brainwashed by labour spin doctors

I think we should at least see what happens before we ConDem(n) them

Pun police have been dispatched

Oooooh goody - men in uniform

how many swollowd the crap on ID cards and have paid 30 quid for a soon to be redundant little card

Cracking point!!

Lol the ID card section of the Home Office website has already been deleted...

www.homeoffice.gov.uk/passports-and-immigration/id-cards/

ID Cards were "agencied" in 2006, its taken this long for the home office to realise ....

Clicky