A Lab Dem Cabinet?
This story in the Guardian has set off posts all around the blogosphere on the likelihood of it being true and any effect that it could have. The story, of course, being that of the possibility of a Lab Dem Cabinet:
“Gordon Brown and Sir Menzies Campbell, the Liberal Democrat leader, have held private discussions in recent days about a plan for one or two senior Lib Dems to join Mr Brown’s first cabinet, the Guardian has been told by a well-placed source.
It is being emphasised that the discussions have not been about a coalition and may not have been conclusive.” (The Guardian)
Is it true? Who knows. But if it has even been considered as a possibility, then it shows us two main things:
- The Lib Dems are hypocrites - they claim that they are the “true opposition” to Labour, and yet consider joining a Brown government.
- That Gordon Brown has even considered it shows that he has little hope in the “talents” of Labour MPs.
Quite frankly, the Lib Dems would be extremely stupid to do this. Unless part of this deal would entail at trade off in Parliamentary elections so that Lib Dems and Labour rarely don’t stand against each other, then it would be a straight choice between the current government and the Conservatives - and the Lib Dems would ultimately be squeezed right out as they would no longer be a destination for protest votes. For the Lib Dems, joining government - any government - would be a bad move, and cost them severely at the polls.
To even consider it as a possibility right now is bad enough, but were Ming to actually go ahead with it, it would be the true death knell for the Liberal Democrats.
Source: The Guardian
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You’ve answered your own question.
Even Iain Dale, not noted for his love of the Lib Dems has criticised the story for being absolute rubbish and as he made clear, the Guardian even dropped the story from later editions.
This story is, the put it in straight words, an utter lie.
Hopefully so! But that it even got in to a newspaper shows that rumblings are afoot!
Well, looks like there was merit all along!
Personally, I wish it had happened. It would have broken the now traditional view that the cabinet must come from the leading party, pretty well a constitutional convention nowadays.
However, it doesn’t need to be the case, and there may be better people in the Commons for the job.
Remember, the PM doesn’t need to be the leader of the main political party. I’d love to see that convention broken!