Tangled Metal wrote:That moderating effect is widely espoused. Personally I don't completely agree with it. My perception of cameron before the 2010 GE was a kind of change in which end of tory party was gaining power. More centrist IMHO and pushing a kind of slightly green edge to n the blue. IIRC this was the time of Cameron and the husky sledge photocall, the green tree logo, etc.
There was a feeling among centre right that tories were going for middle ground more than ever before. For once people like me, who were more centre than right, could feel comfortable voting tory. I nearly voted Labour before Cameron because they seemed more centrist.
I suspect the 2015 lurch back right was a correction within the party but I think the separation with LibDems caused that. It was happening towards the end of coalition too I felt.
Whatever the case I don't think 2010 coalition was a true coalition in a European style. You can't compare it with say Belgian national governments for the last 40 or 60 years (not sure how far back not they've just 4 or 5 party coalitions for a very long time). As a Belgian national told me last week, "we give a little to you, a little to them and I get a little too", which I do not think a two party coalition gives.
Couldn't Cameron technically run a minority government without LibDems? Fighting for votes with each bit of legislation. Any loss could bring the government down. In that case perhaps there would have been a wider consensus formed more frequently? Just a thought.
The problem that we have in this country is that we do not have PR, what we have instead is effectively two party politics with the opposition (of whatever colour) being only interested in bringing the government down. It’s all a rather silly game in which the public suffer the consequences. The two main parties like it that way and hence scuppered the last referendum on changes to the voting system.
IMHO the last coalition worked well, but the Tory party did put some booby traps into the train of events ready to wreck the Lib Dem’s at the following general election. Long term that was a mistake by the Tories, they will loose power to Labour yet could have influenced things for a further decade or two in coalition with the Lib Dem’s. U.K. voters like centre ground policies and politicians.
