Well, it's over, bar an awful lot of shouting.
It seems that Cleggmania was a perception but unfortunately not a reality. Either the media picked up the wrong signals, and I don't think they did, or many voters considering voting Lib Dem changed their minds at the last minute to vote for one of the two "old" parties. A chance for real change in our lumbering outdated political system has been lost, and personally I feel gutted.
In my seat of Northampton North, the perception, as it was nationally, was that the Lib Dem would win. As it turned out the Tory turned a small Labour majority into a Tory majority of just 1936. There was a mere 549 votes between the sitting Labour MP and the Lib Dem in third place. Very disappointing.
Clegg is now in a strange position. He must feel very disappointed, not to mention knackered, but excited as well as he now has the opportunity to play kingmaker. I have just heard him make a speech on the steps of Lib Dem HQ in London saying "It is now for the Conservative Party to prove that it is capable of seeking to govern in the national interest". To do this they need the Lib Dems on board in some guise. Whether this is in the form a coalition, which in my view is highly unlikely, or as a less formal alliance, at least we should see the worst excesses of Cameron's chinless wonders reigned in. If Cameron has any political nous he should offer the Lib Dems a referendum on voting change while making it clear his party will campaign against it. If I were Clegg I would accept that. What the country needs is a period of stable government in the face of an economic shitstorm heading our way.
Brown however remains Prime Minister until he resigns. Any attempt by Brown to desperately cling on to power with an unworkable alliance of all the minor parties and the Lib Dems would be viewed with dismay by the vast majority of voters, especially those of us old enough to remember the disasterous year of political turmoil that was 1974.
The Rubbish Party still like beer, and are off to the pub to drown their sorrows......
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