Now, we promised ourselves we weren’t going to mention the snow, but dammit we just did in the first bloody line. Ignoring the various reports of what the snow (dammit, again) has done, including airport sleepovers (not as fun as it looks in the movies) or queues outside St Pancras, the biggest piece of news today was Vince Cable’s slip up (no pun intended) and his suggestion of rifts in the coalition government.
The national news is captivated by Cable’s admonition that he could resign his position if arguments with others members of the coalition became more severe. With each mention of a disagreement, the coalition seems more unstable and the issues covered by the Business Secretary in his recent disclosure are multiple and wide-ranging, from education and dealing with the banks, to benefit and winter fuel allowances.
As the national press question the stability of the coalition, the country has to start asking how we ended up in this position in the first place. Under what principles and arrangements was the coalition conceived? Is this friction surprising or, looking back, is it inevitable?
David Laws was there at the conception of the coalition and his book, 22 Days in May, provides the necessary look back. A key figure in the negotiations between his own party, the Liberal Democrats, and both the Conservatives and Labour, Laws later wrote his insider account of the talks.
And now, who knows what’s in store for him...
22 Days In May by David Laws is available to buy in paperback for £9.99 and e-book format for £4.60