Coalition arrangements tend to be more informal in British government. The Liberals (one of the Lib Dems' predecessor parties) propped up the Labour government in the 1970s, while the Ulster Unionists gave John Major's government a bit of a hand, but it's rare for such parties to have representation in the Cabinet.
Quote: sootyj @ September 1 2008, 10:47 AM BSTHmm last time we had a situation like that, we had a bloody civil war.
That's a pretty good idea.
I'm going to be a Roundhead!
Ah, my favourite revolution. Text book failed revolution, that is. I actually might have shouted at my textbook "Get rid of the King first, you idiots! He's like Terminator!".
Quote: sootyj @ September 1 2008, 10:47 AM BSTHmm last time we had a situation like that, we had a bloody civil war.
That's a pretty good idea.
I'm going to be a Roundhead!
Essentially though the Queen inivites some one to be PM.
I suspect one party would form a coalition of all the little parties with their own one.
You can't be a Roundhead with an avatar like that.
Quote: Graham Bandage @ September 1 2008, 10:49 AM BSTCoalition arrangements tend to be more informal in British government. The Liberals (one of the Lib Dems' predecessor parties) propped up the Labour government in the 1970s, while the Ulster Unionists gave John Major's government a bit of a hand, but it's rare for such parties to have representation in the Cabinet.
That's what I'd call a tolerated minority government.
British political culture is not cut out for coalition government, I guess. It's a good safeguard against government secrecy, though. I'm sometimes amazed that it works in Germany, because it's not easy to assess from the outside (You don't have a single person you can blame for everything).