Patterico's Pontifications

5/11/2010

Britain Has a New Prime Minister

Filed under: International — DRJ @ 1:57 pm



[Guest post by DRJ]

Brown resigned and Cameron is in:

“”Her Majesty the Queen has asked me to form a new Government and I have accepted,” Mr Cameron declared before paying tribute to Mr Brown for his “long record of dedicated public service”.

Looking ahead to the coalition he will form with the Lib Dems, he said: “We have some deep and pressing problems – a huge deficit, deep social problems, a political system in need of reform.

“For those reasons, I aim to form a proper and full coalition between the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats,” he said.

“I believe that is the right way to provide this country with the strong, the stable, the good and decent government that I think we need so badly.”

He added: “Nick Clegg and I are both political leaders who want to put aside party differences and work hard for the common good and for the national interest. I believe that is the best way to get the strong Government that we need, decisive Government that we need today.

“I came into politics because I love this country, I think its best days still lie ahead and I believe deeply in public service, and I think the service our country needs right now is to face up to our really big challenges, to confront our problems, to take difficult decisions, to lead people through those difficult decisions so that together we can reach better times ahead.”

It was a businesslike, even sombre, performance at odds with Mr Brown’s own farewell little more than an hour before. Mr Cameron’s ministerial line-up will start to emerge later today but the Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg is expected to be named Deputy Prime Minister.”

I’m not knowledgeable enough about British politics to say anything valuable but from what I’ve read, the Tories and the Liberal Democrats seem like strange bedfellows. I hope it works out because Britain and Europe need strong fiscally conservative leadership right now.

— DRJ

16 Responses to “Britain Has a New Prime Minister”

  1. Strange bedfellows, indeed !

    I am wondering if the Secretary of State for Scotland will be Tory Shadow one, or if that will be one of the Cabinet posts given to the LibDems ?

    It will be interesting, over the next days and weeks, to see which Cabinet posts go to the LibDems and which remain with the Tories …

    Alasdair (302007)

  2. Well, I am not so sure about Britain’s best days still lying ahead, but I certainly do wish the new government success in dealing with their problems–and also wish all the best to our friends and brethren across the pond.

    elissa (9c4e9f)

  3. elissa – I am reasonably sure that the change in Government will make a considerable and positive difference …

    How long it takes, and how it is done, now, that’s the fascinating part …

    The first legislation passed into law under David Cameron as Prime Minister should be interesting …

    Alasdair (302007)

  4. If the Cameroons are serious about individual freedom and winding down the Nanny State, they might –
    in the land of “A Man’s Home is his Castle” –
    institute a form of what we over here in the unenlightened former colonies call The Castle Doctrine,
    and allow homeowners to defend themselves against the depredations of those who invade their homes, assault their families, and destroy their property.

    AD - RtR/OS! (09aa03)

  5. AD – RtR/OS! – from your keyboard to Her Majesty’s Royal Assent !

    Alasdair (302007)

  6. Regardless of your political persuasion, it’s a bit of bad luck in timing for Cameron to be served such a thin wedge given the fiscal situation. Forming a coalition government with the LD’s, who have little in common with the Conservatives, besides language, will be a challenge. Alasdair has rightly noted that the Cabinet postings will be key to how strong– and how long– this kind of coalition government can stand. But an Age of Austerity is at hand and it will no doubt be unpleasant for Britons. But as always, they will endure. Expect Labour MPs to borrow a line from Terry-Thomas for their Tory PM– “I say, hard cheese, ol’boy.”

    DCSCA (9d1bb3)

  7. Tories are on the right(36% vote / 306 seats)
    Lib Dems in the middle (23% vote / 57 seats)
    Labour on the left (29% of vote/ 306 seats)

    The vote / seat disparity for the Lib Dems is one of the things they fix. Run-offs will help. Time will help erase the wounds of gerrymandering. The Lib Dems will get this for their alliance with the Tories.

    Newtons.Bit (7c1323)

  8. Newtons.Bit – In many ways, LibDems are more leftie than Labour …

    I will be astonished if the UK moves to run-offs … the vote/seat disparity is a proverbial many-edged sword – and it’s one that is a direct consequence of FirstPastThePost (FPTP) …

    I’m a bit puzzled by the gerrymandering reference … while I know that it is alive and well in the US, I am under the impression that the UK has grown beyond that technique …

    Which current constituency boundaries do you believe to still be gerrymandered ?

    Alasdair (302007)

  9. I am reminded of the (imminent) war-time cabinet Lincoln cobbled together. The UK is heading into a time of civil unrest not known for generations, if ever on the home soil. Clegg and his LDs can either recognize the tough medicine ahead and united for the good of the Queen, or they can watch the sun set for good on the realm.

    If all the opposition parties were smart, they would let the Tory government make the incredibly difficult cuts and to crack down on the Islamists who refuse to swear allegiance and act as loyalists. Then, two years hence, they can aim for their own government. Bush fatigue will have nothing on the coming Tory tiredness.

    Ed from SFV (f0e1cb)

  10. It sounds like this is pretty bad for the U.S. from a foreign policy perspective. I think I read earlier that the LibDem’s Clegg is not too keen on the “special relationship” between the U.S. and Britain, and of course Obama has famously questioned Cameron’s competence. Labor (which, post-Brown and post-Blair, may well return to its socialist trade union roots) and the LibDems may unite around the old “we won’t be Washington’s lapdogs” posture and start giving us trouble on Iraq, Afghanistan, and Israel/Palestine.

    On the other hand, Cameron is apparently something of a Euro-skeptic, so maybe if they move away from the Paris-Berlin-Brussels axis they will have nowhere to turn except to us. It promises to be interesting.

    JVW (08e86a)

  11. a time of civil unrest not known for generations, if ever on the home soil

    it’s hard to imagine civil unrest which would be more widespread, violent, and world-changing than the civil unrest of 1649.

    aphrael (73ebe9)

  12. You would think that the Tories would have made a deal with the Nationalists, but their price might have been more than Cameron could have lived with.

    AD - RtR/OS! (09aa03)

  13. Ed from SFV – the last time this happened, back in 1974, it was a period of uncertainty, not civil unrest …

    And, for all their faults, the Labour Party is no longer led by the folk who said “Do anything you want; break laws; and, when we are back in Government, we will pardon you !” …

    This is the UK, not Detroit …

    Alasdair (205079)

  14. And it seems that I got one right …

    “Mr Clegg’s chief of staff, Danny Alexander, who was part of the party’s negotiating team, is to be Scottish Secretary, the BBC understands.”

    Alasdair (205079)

  15. The British nationalists didn’t get any seats in the Parliament, and the combination of the Scottish nationalists and the Welsh nationalists weren’t enough to put the Tories over the top.

    The only way to put together a coalition that didn’t involve either the Liberal Democrats or Labour was to get the competing parties from Northern Ireland to agree with each other to support the coalition, which would have been … unlikely.

    aphrael (73ebe9)

  16. Comment by aphrael — 5/12/2010 @ 8:29 am

    Thanks for fleshing that out. My conjecture was prompted by a brief item about the size of the “nationalist” vote, and how if it had gone to the Tories, would have put them over 326, but there wasn’t any break-down of minor-party seats beyond listing those of the Labour, Conservative, & Liberal-Democrat.

    AD - RtR/OS! (04f5c9)


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