General Election (6)

It was Harold Wilson who said 'A week is a long time in politics'. The events of the past 7 days have shown the truth of this.

There was I, a week ago, disappointed with the election result and blogging that Nick Clegg had an impossible choice. Ideologically I would have preferred a deal with the Labour party, but I realised that the political arithmetic simply did not add up. So a deal with the Tories became almost inevitable.

I have never voted Tory in my life. So a LibDem / Tory alliance was a difficult concept for me to accept. But I have been impressed with David Cameron over the past week. And of course impressed with Nick Clegg. The deal is a good one. Importantly, I think it is a deal that could last a full parliament.

And interestingly it is not so much the Labour party that is marginalised, but in fact the Tory right wing. We get the best of the Tories (and there is some of that) and the best of the LibDems.

I applaud the courage of both Nick Clegg and David Cameron. And I look forward to a fascinating political situation, not least in the House of Commons.

Bring it on.