Re: And so the tide begins to turn
 

Sorry, I must have missed it where he said, "I would back Tories in hung poll." Can you point out to me where he actually said that?

Re: And so the tide begins to turn
 

I can say, hand on heart, that I am genuinely surprised at that.

---------- Post added at 13:24 ---------- Previous post was at 13:22 ----------

Heero_Yuy is quoting the headline, which being in the Sun may or may not be a fair reflection of the entire interview they had with Clegg. It's hard to tell, to be honest. It would be interesting to try to find something on it in one of the better quality news sources.

Re: And so the tide begins to turn
 

Go back though my posts. I supported Labour at the last election, shall not be this time. I have mentioned this before. Not sure what is too surprising about it. :shrug:

Re: And so the tide begins to turn
 

That actually adds a lot of interesting and useful detail, thanks :tu:

It's especially useful because it shows how the Lib Dems would decide which party to support if Parliament is hung. The Observer seems to believe that there would be a hung Parliamant with the Tories on a six-point lead, and any less than that might actually result in a Labour victory. If the the Lib Dems are going to offer support based on share of the vote rather than share of the seats, that is almost inevitably going to mean a Tory/LibDem coalition.

Re: And so the tide begins to turn
 

Not really. That just repeats what was in The Sun and still does not say that he has declared his support any party whatsoever.

Re: And so the tide begins to turn
 

Given the maths put forward by the Observer, which Clegg is doubtless well aware of, it's hard to see his position as being anything else. He may not have said "I declare my support for the Tories" - why would he, there's nothing to gain from it - but the most likely outcome of Clegg's "ethical principle" is clear.

Re: And so the tide begins to turn
 

Brown obviously doesn't want to be in power again... too much mess to clear up, and it goes against the natural order of things: Labour puts us in debt; Conservatives get us out of debt; ad infinitum.....

Re: And so the tide begins to turn
 

And quite promptly put us right back there. So, the cycle continues.

---------- Post added at 21:19 ---------- Previous post was at 21:18 ----------

Neither ethics nor principles are mutually exclusive, as nor are they from politicians, who see these concepts as movable feasts.

Re: And so the tide begins to turn
 

Our worst debt as a percentage of GDP has been under Tory governments although WW2 contributed a lot to that. Up until we had to bail the banks out, Brown can't be blamed for banking deregulation in America, debt had been 40-50% of GDP through Tory and Labour governments.

As for a hung parliament, it's looking likely. I can't imagine the Tory's managing the kind of record swings necessary to take overall control. I'm curious to see what would happen under a hung parliament. It could be good for democracy but there hasn't been a worse time for it.

Re: And so the tide begins to turn
 

I agree with you there, you've only got to look HERE to see the Tories are looking after the rich of Rushcliffe while ignoring the working class of Ashfield. You could say nothing has changed regarding the Tories.:rolleyes::rolleyes:

Re: And so the tide begins to turn
 

I don't want Labour OR the the Conservatives.

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Re: And so the tide begins to turn
 

Amen to that.

Today's bit of good news for the Tories, their chief spin doctor's landed his former employers with a £800k bill after being found to have bullied a reporter out of his job. Clearly just the man to trust to restore civilised politics to the UK after the Blair/Campbell years.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009...ullying-payout

£800k is a lot for a case like this, suggesting that the bullying was pretty extreme - after all, an experienced tabloid sports reporter's hardly going to be the thinnest-skinned most sensitive person in the world. Mind you, he'd have been on a lot of money.

Re: And so the tide begins to turn
 

Has the enquiry into his involvement in the phone tapping scandal been concluded yet?

Re: And so the tide begins to turn
 

Sounds like a nice dream but we are going to be stuck with one of them, UKIP all the way.

General Election 2010
 

Not sure if we have a topic yet for this Election so thought I would start one. Mods please rename/delete if you think it's too early to be chucking election talking into one topic.

A new poll has been released suggesting a Hung Parliament, which seems to be a common view amongst the pollsters.

Not sure if the polling company has a bias for their selection but it does seem a common theme.

Does anyone else think it's actually surprising that the election looks like it will be close with the anger directed at Labour? Do you think this is a likely result or will they scrape a minority? Why haven't the Tories consolidated their position?