The Telegraph has the news that the Tories have drawn up plans for a minority Government, should Nick Clegg be ousted and replaced by someone who is less sympathetic to the Coalition.
Apparently, Cameron’s advisers have told him that he could stagger along to 2015 without Nick Clegg, because the Liberal Democrats would still support the key reforms to state pensions and long-term care.
What they haven’t revealed is how much of the programme would have to be ditched. I cannot imagine a full timetable of legislation in those circumstances.
The article once again airs the usual gossip that has been around almost since the Coalition was formed.
* Mary Reid is a contributing editor on Lib Dem Voice. She was a councillor in Kingston upon Thames, where she is still very active with the local party, and is the Hon President of Kingston Lib Dems.
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7 Comments
It would be rather bizarre if Cameron *hadn’t* prepared plans for if Clegg leaves, wouldn’t it? What a non-story.
A member of the Conservative Party could almost certainly be Prime Minister. Given the recent “alternative Queen’s Speech,” I very much doubt the backbencher a would allow it to be him.
Jack,
Of course he will make preparations but why release the fact to the Telegraph – someone will have talked to them about it?
” I cannot imagine a full timetable of legislation in those circumstances.”
What a relief that would be. No more of Gove and Pickles’ flights of fancy wasting public money in times of austerity.
What is our plan for when Boris ousts Dave?
‘What is our plan for when Boris ousts Dave?’
Well, I’d buy a single ticket to Zurich. Yes, I know the Humber Bridge would be cheaper and just as effective, but I can’t stand heights – even briefly!
Of course contingency planning is sensible. There isn’t enough of it. For example, we didn’t seem to have thought through more than superficially our policy priorities and sticking-points in the even that we held the balance in 2010, likely though that was.
But bcrombie has a good point. It looks to me as if someone in the Tory Party wants to try to make sure Nick stays as leader. In reality, in the extremely unlikely event of a change of Liberal Democrat leader before the next election, the newcomer would not be opposed to the coalition, but probably would want to revisit some of the terms – so this Tory leak could also be positioning them to scare Leader B a bit. But it’s all far-fetched. It could be they’re really thinking about the situation after 2015, irrespective of who leads us.