Quote: Gussie Fink Nottle @ 9th May 2015, 7:45 PM BST
I can't say I'm much bothered about cacti in the past, Horseradish.
It seems a strange grievance to dig up.
I suspect you're a guy on the left who simply begrudges that he formed a coalition with the right.
But what honestly would you have had Clegg do back in 2010?
The numbers for a Labour/LibDem coalition were not really there. They'd have needed Plaid Cymru and Co.
Moreover a certain Mr Balls was throwing brick bats at the idea during negotiations.
So, with the country in a mess, what should Clegg have done?
Refuse coalition with the Tories?
I suspect it largely was a case of damned if you do, damned if you don't.
Especially with the left.
First, I often get things wrong. Yes. I thought we would have a February 1974 situation on Thursday and I was wrong. I thought the Lib Dems would get at least 18 seats - and I was wrong on that too.
But I moved in my mind against Clegg in 2007 so that was at the very beginning. It had nothing to do with Coalition. It did have a lot to do with the way all these people suddenly appeared from nowhere - Clegg, Laws, Browne - and took over. Actually, it happened when CK was having some problems and his eye was not on the ball. Instinctively I just knew that something about it all was very, very dodgy.
Why? It was the biggest coup since Livingstone ousted McIntosh from the Labour leadership in 1981 just after Labour won the GLC elections. But this one was an Establishment fix. They are all effectively Tories. It looked for a long time that the Conservatives didn't have a cat in hell's chance of winning an election and consequently the Establishment were worried sick about any left wing Labour majority after the departure of Blair. I see them as having been planted there to ensure that it didn't happen.
The arithmetic in 2010 meant that only an agreement between the Tories and the LDs was realistic. I said from day one that it should be on a vote-by-vote basis. I was proven right but their egos got in the way. They wanted Cabinet positions and titles and were prepared to sacrifice their party for that purpose. Even, sadly, Cable who does at least believe in that party unlike quite a lot of the others.