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a parliament hung, drawn, and ...
May. 7th, 2010 08:10 amFurther on ...
Of course, if Mr Clegg (Lib Dem) refuses to negotiate with Mr Brown (Lab) on the grounds that Mr Cameron (Con) should have the first try, having a plurality of seats, then Mr Clegg is rewriting the British constitution all by himself. If he sticks to this, it cannot help being a precedent on future occasions.
It is particularly poignant, as nobody can force Mr Clegg to negotiate with anybody he doesn't want to. Were this 1910 or 1931, locales of previous British constitutional crises, it might be time for the monarch to have a few quiet words with various party leaders, suggesting where their duties lie, but I don't think she can do that any more.
Mr Clegg's policy moves British constitutional practice in a continental European direction, but Lib Dems skeptical of the Con party may be right to assume that this is less because of the Clegg continental background (half Dutch, quarter Russian, Spanish wife and half-Spanish children) than because their leader has what they've always feared, a secret love for the Cons.
Of course, if Mr Clegg (Lib Dem) refuses to negotiate with Mr Brown (Lab) on the grounds that Mr Cameron (Con) should have the first try, having a plurality of seats, then Mr Clegg is rewriting the British constitution all by himself. If he sticks to this, it cannot help being a precedent on future occasions.
It is particularly poignant, as nobody can force Mr Clegg to negotiate with anybody he doesn't want to. Were this 1910 or 1931, locales of previous British constitutional crises, it might be time for the monarch to have a few quiet words with various party leaders, suggesting where their duties lie, but I don't think she can do that any more.
Mr Clegg's policy moves British constitutional practice in a continental European direction, but Lib Dems skeptical of the Con party may be right to assume that this is less because of the Clegg continental background (half Dutch, quarter Russian, Spanish wife and half-Spanish children) than because their leader has what they've always feared, a secret love for the Cons.
