A poison chalice?

[sandyRoe]

Why are political parties jockeying for a place in a government that is going to have to introduce stringent cuts everywhere?
Wouldn't it be better to pass on this one and come in later to pick up the pieces?

[woofgang]

cannot remember who said it but one of the pundits said before the election that whoever got into power, if they did what needed doing they wouldn't get voted in again for a generation.
Me i think Nick Clegg need to watch it. No he can't afford to alienate his own party (much) but if he really pees off the other two big parties or either of them, those are the people he's going to share the rest of his working life with if he stays in politics...and they'll have a long time to get their revenge.

[jake-the-peg]

I think the answer lies in all those quotes about "acting for the good of the nation"

Nobody wants to be seen as scuttling off to the back benches in order to vote down everything a minority government does in a crisis.

Ideally Clegg's best scenario would be for Cameron to pull out in a huff and say "The door is closed - get stuffed - we're going it alone"

[rov1200]

Top politicians have the biggest egos on the planet. Even though Brown helped to create the biggest deficit ever he still believes no one else is capable of solving it except himself.

[jake-the-peg]

How could he think that Rov when in the blue corner he is faced by the awesome intellectual powerhouse that is George Osbourne!!!

[andy-hughes]

It's interesting that Labour's approach to the election has been identical to all other parties - "If we are elected we will do this to sort things out ..."

which rather misses the point that after 11 years in government, they should have had processes in place to prevent and or sort the issues out then!

How can they come forward with an approach that suggests that they will come in a sort everything out - far enough for the other parties - when they are the incumbent government and have been in the front row while the deficit was growing / expenses scandals were brewing, and so on.

Politicians are supreme optimists. They truly believe that they have the answers - even to problems that they have personally created. That is what makes them want to govern.

it is possible that the next government will have to make those decisions that curb the deficit, and make them unelectable in the process, but they can rely on the notriously short memory of the electorate to start everything from scratch - if a sufficient gap is left before they hold another election.

[ludwig]

True andy, it's like this... 'We've now had 3 consecutive terms of Labour government - and if you elect us for a historic 4th term, we can start to sort out the mess'.

[olddutch]

"Wouldn't it be better to pass on this one and come in later to pick up the pieces? "

I think Labour may be coming round to your view today !