Across the pond

They have been thrust together  by the force of events into a marriage of converience. But the detailed agreement, just released, and the allocation of the top cabinet posts show that both David Cameron and Nick Clegg are determined to turn what in one sense was a failure for both of them into an opportunity to create a new British politics in style and substance in  UK 2010.

They may fail, as commentators from all sides of the media are telling us constantly. But there is no doubt that they are making a bold attempt to work together in a partnership. And that they are going to work together to take their parties with them. Perhaps  the most important announcement is the commitment to fixed term parliaments. This is a change, unlike the alternative vote, which can be done without a referendum. The House of Commons can vote for it through, so the Prime Minister of the day will no longer be in a position to decide how long his government will stay in power, and call an election when the opinion polls show he has the best chance of winning.

That is important for the long term. But it also deals with the biggest fear of the Lib Dems, the junior partner in this alliance, that Cameron, if his star was rising, would call another election in a year or two. An election which would almost certainly hit the Lib Dems harder than than the two bigger parties.

It is not surprising that the two men get on well together personally because both are the products from the elite part of our public school education system. Eton has  the best playing fields a stone’s throw from Windsor Castle but the classrooms of Westminster is at least their equals in attracting excellent teachers, rich intelligent students, and nurturing self belief as well as good scholarship.

Both men are far removed from the lives of the working classes. And their parties are overwhelmingly from the priviledged and educated middle classes. The Lib Dems no less than the Conservatives. But the today’s package suggests that they have taken on board the interests of the working class and all poor, in the all important economic portfolios.

George Osborne  becomes Chancellor of the Exchequer. He is one of Cameron’s oldest friends, who has not shone during the election and whom some journalists thought Cameron might ditch in favour of the vastly experienced Ken Clarke. Once the hung parliament became known, journalists speculated that Cameron might solve the problem by making Vince Cable, 67, Osborne’s number two as Chief Secretary of the Treasury. In the event Cable has been given the job of Business Secretary with responsibility for banking. The job done presently by Peter Mandelson, probably the most powerful man  in Brown’s government, who did much to save  him from oblivion.

The Chief Secretary goes to David Laws, the shadow education minister, and one of the most talented of the Clegg inner circle. He had been expected to be given the education portfolio, but he is a former City banker who has practical experience. And in terms of the personal chemistry, the chances of him forming a good working relationship with Osborne look better, since both men are fortyish. It would not have been easy for Osborne to have a deputy like Cable, the wise old man who not only got it right, but was able to explain it to the nation.

I shall have to continue this later as family duties call. But before I go, to finish the opening thought. It would be one of the ironies of history if this Gang of Two actually succeeded in breaking the mold of British politics, which the Gang of Four failed to do in the 1980s.