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May. 12th, 2010 10:19 pmCrikey. The leaders are actually serious about making this coalition last - one of the first things they plan to do is introduce fixed 5-year terms for the government. The joint press conference by them today had a good feel to it as well.
The Tory and Lib Dem party members are another matter - not all in those parties will be happy with this outcome, and may well defy the whips to try and take down the coalition.
Note to non-Brits: currently the government can call an election whenever they wish, with an upper limit of 5 years between elections. What's happened in the past is that the incumbent government will call an election early if the opinion polls look good (to try and secure an extra period in power), but will leave it as long as possible if the polls are against them. Examples are Labour holding the previous couple of elections at the 4-year mark (the polls were in their favour), and Gordon Brown *not* holding an early election when he became Prime Minister (the polls were very uncertain).
The Tory and Lib Dem party members are another matter - not all in those parties will be happy with this outcome, and may well defy the whips to try and take down the coalition.
Note to non-Brits: currently the government can call an election whenever they wish, with an upper limit of 5 years between elections. What's happened in the past is that the incumbent government will call an election early if the opinion polls look good (to try and secure an extra period in power), but will leave it as long as possible if the polls are against them. Examples are Labour holding the previous couple of elections at the 4-year mark (the polls were in their favour), and Gordon Brown *not* holding an early election when he became Prime Minister (the polls were very uncertain).
