Tag Archives: ucl constitution unit

The Politics of Coalition: How the Conservative-Liberal Democrat Government Works

Robert Hazell and Ben Yong’s work, The Politics of Coalition: How the Conservative-Liberal Democrat Government Works, is a very readable volume, written mostly in the style of an introductory politics textbook and based on extensive interviews with the participants, including at very senior levels.

The book is well done, readable, comprehensive and has a few gems lurking in the revelations from all the interviews, such as the limited involvement of Andrew Lansley and Paul Burstow in drafting the health section of the Coalition Agreement.

Posted in Books | Also tagged , , , , , , , and | Leave a comment

Is 75% of the Coalition Agreement drawn from the Lib Dem manifesto? Alas, no…

One of the key justifications for Lib Dem involvement in the Coalition — one which has comforted many party members through the first two difficult years of being the junior partner in government with the Conservatives — has been the finding that 75% of the Lib Dem manifesto appeared in the Programme for Government (commonly known as the Coalition Agreement). This assessment was based on research by UCL’s Constitution Unit, and published a year ago in their interim report on ‘How Coalition Government Works’ (PDF).

However, UCL has …

Posted in News and What do the academics say? | Also tagged , , , and | 29 Comments
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  • Richard Dickson
    Thanks for this. Kindness - to people, businesses, whole communities, our environment and to nature, to our past, present and future - requires us also to be br...
  • Richard Cripps
    I've been a Lib/Lib Dem voter for 50 years. However, I'm finding it more and more difficult to justify this to friends and family (snd sometimes even myself) as...
  • Steve Trevethan
    P. S. Here is an article from the current edition of "Counterpunch" which may be of relevance and/or interest. https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/10/23/france...
  • Steve Trevethan
    Thank you for a most incisive article which, so precisely, presents the cruelty and greed of Neolibealim. Would that the L.D Party renounced and denounced Ne...
  • Peter Davies
    I don't think we have the construction capacity to engineer a crash in house prices. The highest realistic target would probably only bring prices down by about...