If a couple went to a party and he spent the whole time slagging off his wife in the most vitriolic terms to all their friends, it would be hard for their relationship to stagger on. That is what is happening to the coalition.
Chris Huhne is being vilified (by the Tory papers and commentators) for tackling Cameron and Osborne over the disgraceful attacks on Nick Clegg by the No campaign.But he is completely right and displaying the balls which sadly the rest of the junior partners don't have.
The Tory campaign - and the No campaign was precisely that; no one else was running it or funding it - boiled down to: If you change the voting system, you will get more of Clegg and he is the worst kind of politician as evidenced by all the promises he has broken.
But the reason he broke them was because that is the price he and the LibDems have paid for putting Cameron and his thugs into power. I don't agree with Clegg and I think it is appalling that the Liberal Democrats are supporting so many reactionary, destructive policies but why attack a man for doing what you want him to do.
Clegg may have to forgive, even if he can't forget, but the coalition will never be the same. In fact, it can't survive.
Someone is going to walk out before too long - maybe Huhne, maybe even Cable - pushed into it by the inevitable grassroots rebellion by the hundreds of LibDem councillors who lose their seats.
Clegg's two arguments for going into government was that it was for the good of the country and the good of the party. But the consequence has been that the country is being wrecked and so is the party. It has all been for nothing.
If Clegg had got voting reform, he could at least have told his members that, despite everything, despite the pain and the uncertain future, they had finally taken a small step towards changing the electoral system. Instead he has suffered a catastrophic defeat in the referendum, which has put reform back years, possibly decades, and been left looking weak and pathetic by the senior partners in the coalition.
There is only one way out. Nick Clegg should resign.
Take Me To Your Leader Writer
- David Seymour
- ...has written more leaders (newspaper editorials) than anyone alive or dead, an honour still to be recognised by the Guiness Book of Records or the Nobel judges. I have produced them for the Daily Mirror, Daily Mail, Sunday Mirror, Today, the Sunday People, the Evening Post (Hemel Hempstead), the Caithness Courier and the Student (Edinburgh). My creed is: Have opinions, Will travel.
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