Shifting political sands

When I was no'but a lad the political scene was dominated by the Conservative and Labour parties. The Liberals' MPs could be fitted into a taxi. There were a number of strangely titled candidates at election time. Some Labour candidates stood under the banner: Labour and Co-operative Party candidate (indeed some still do), which was a reference to Labour's roots. Indeed, it has been said that Labour owes more to co-operatives and Methodism than it does to socialism. I digress

Some Tories stood as Conservative and Unionist candidates which was a throwback to the days of bitter debate concerning Independence for Ireland and the creation of the Irish Free State with Northern Ireland remaining part of the United Kingdom. There was a split within the Liberal Party and a group formed which became known as Liberal Unionists.

The other banner which some Conservatives stood under was that of: Conservative and National Liberal candidate. In the early 1930s the Liberal Party had been part of the National Government. The party split, some left the National Government, others remained. Those who remained were eventually assimilated after 1947 into the Conservative Party and it seemed rather strange to me that over twenty years and a world war later the tag Conservative and National Liberal should be used.

Now we have a coalition government will history repeat itself? Will some Liberal Democrats assert their independence of the coalition, leaving the rest to be assimiliated into a new coalition party? You may consider this unlikely, but the political sands have been shifting over the years.

When a group of Labour MPs left the party and formed the Social Democrat Party it didn't take long for the new party to ally itself with the Liberal Party and eventually a merger took place which is known to this day as the Liberal Democrats. Some Liberals decided to go it alone and retained the name Liberal Party.

The Labour Party in the 1980s was infiltrated by Militant. Militant was seen off by Neil Kinnock and John Smith and from this base New Labour was born. When Blair became Prime Minister it was suggested seriously that New Labour was a 'big tent' which many Liberals Democrats and Conservatives would wish to inhabit with New Labour. The Left and Right of British politics would be consigned to the edge of politics.

As we know it hasn't worked out that way, but one cannot but think that the new coalition is the 'big tent mark 2' in which many social democrat Labour politicians would be comfortable. But will this second 'big tent' be any more successful than the first? Unlikely, on account of the history, social make-up and collective conscience of the political parties. The Left would not wish to be cast adrift from Labour, nor would the Right wish to relinquish its stake in the Conservative Party. Self preservation will see to that.

However, there are two elephants in the room: electoral reform and House of Lords reform to which I shall return in a future blog.