Agree about the cuts. Danny's more leftish within the party, whereas David was very dry, but David is one of the smartest people I've ever met, will miss him in that job, we'll have to see.
I think Clegg did prefer working with Cameron, definitely over Brown, and I know I personally favoured it anyway (not a secret that one), but the Parliamentary party, especially Vince, definitely preferred a Labour deal if at all possible; I think that would've been even more electorally suicidal than the Tory deal, but...
When I spoke to Vince at the special conference, his disappointment with Labour not negotiating at all was palpable, he really wanted to see if a deal was possible, and really wanted to try and make it work, but the Labour negotiators pretty much said "this is the manifesto, take it or leave it", whereas the Tories gave ground. Lots of ground.
The idea that we could get a better deal on policy from the Conservative party scares me, even without the qualms about legitimacy and similar.
The big problem is of course British governance traditions. We know there've been lot of behind closed doors negotiations. What we don't know is how much vileness was stopped by that already. I suspect quite a lot, but won't know until the memoirs are published.
But yes, being in opposition does make it harder to make decent policy. What really bothers me is they hadn't got anything prepared already, despite saying in the last Budget they'd make massive cuts (nearly as big as the Tories are making, just timed slightly slower).
What were those cuts going to be? I know why they didn't announce them, and I know they want to make hay attacking everything now, but the open government consensus politics fan hates it; all ideas should be on the table, not just those from the governing party.
no subject
I think Clegg did prefer working with Cameron, definitely over Brown, and I know I personally favoured it anyway (not a secret that one), but the Parliamentary party, especially Vince, definitely preferred a Labour deal if at all possible; I think that would've been even more electorally suicidal than the Tory deal, but...
When I spoke to Vince at the special conference, his disappointment with Labour not negotiating at all was palpable, he really wanted to see if a deal was possible, and really wanted to try and make it work, but the Labour negotiators pretty much said "this is the manifesto, take it or leave it", whereas the Tories gave ground. Lots of ground.
The idea that we could get a better deal on policy from the Conservative party scares me, even without the qualms about legitimacy and similar.
The big problem is of course British governance traditions. We know there've been lot of behind closed doors negotiations. What we don't know is how much vileness was stopped by that already. I suspect quite a lot, but won't know until the memoirs are published.
But yes, being in opposition does make it harder to make decent policy. What really bothers me is they hadn't got anything prepared already, despite saying in the last Budget they'd make massive cuts (nearly as big as the Tories are making, just timed slightly slower).
What were those cuts going to be? I know why they didn't announce them, and I know they want to make hay attacking everything now, but the open government consensus politics fan hates it; all ideas should be on the table, not just those from the governing party.
Ah well, plus ca change.