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Matthew Parris a former Conservative MP and not known as someone with a particularly soft heart wrote a very upbeat piece on the Times about the new Coalition Government having sat in the Garden of Downing Street to see the fist joint news conference given by David Cameron as PM and Nick Clegg as his Deputy.

“The political earthquake in the rose garden. It almost felt as if a divine hand was at work, bringing together two men to blow away years of staleness.” http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/matthew_parris/article7124533.ece

A Good Slide Show

This is quite splendid because it captures the whole thing from the Hung Parliament on the Friday to the joint press conference, well worth a look:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8680407.stm

But and whilst there are painful troubles ahead and any of those could cause the coalition to break apart leaving us with a minority Conservative Government, overall I feel optimistic because it is in both party’s interests that this should work out for at least the next couple of years or so. Of course it is in the very nature of the British Media to see if they can split them apart, “Good News is no News and doesn’t sell papers…”

But all that said, for Nick Clegg and despite the high hopes generated by his first TV Debate broadcast, the Liberal Democratic Party actually did worse than it did in 2005 and lost seats but Clegg has got them into power, 5 Cabinet posts and up to 20 other more junior ones which means almost half his Parliamentary Party has Government posts, not bad for someone who came third, I might suggest.

Fresh Beginnings

I have never voted Labour in my life but even I can remember that feeling of a fresh start one May morning when Blair swept into Downing Street in 1997. This is similar but totally different and in some ways, a whole lot better. The thing I have always liked about David Cameron is that he seems a genuine chap but more than that, he is pragmatic rather than dogmatic.

The join press conference at Downing Street with him and Nick Clegg had a very genuine feel about it, decisive, humorous and uniquely ‘inclusive’ in a way it wouldn’t have been if just one party had won outright.

Will it Break ?

Possibly, probably at some time, the British Media will work tirelessly to make it crack and there will be some in both parties, the “Ultras” who will also be busy trying to frustrate and undermine it. A man I have always had a question mark over is Vince Cable because I don’t believe in “Saint Vince”. Someone wrote how well qualified he was to be Chancellor, my reaction was that he was over qualified and that is more dangerous than ignorance.

Stories have come to light but whether they are true or not, is another matter, that Vince Cable, a former Labour MP, phoned Gordon Brown repeatedly saying that he (Vince Cable), didn’t want to see a Lib-Con Coalition. He certainly seems the least happy of the LibDems about it all and I think that he would do better to stand for the Speakership of the House and leave party politics behind him.

In the end, we shall see how the cards fall but I have a feeling that the majority of the public quite like the idea and are prepared to give it a fair chance, honeymoon period, call it what you will.