Michael White: A History of Hung Parliaments
[Michael White is assistant editor and has been writing for the Guardian for over 30 years, as a reporter, foreign correspondent and columnist.]
The party leaders are reluctant to talk about what they might do if none of them wins a clear majority on Thursday. But, as keen students of political history, they know the half-forgotten secrets of coalitions, minority governments, pacts and haggling over electoral reform that may come into play on Friday.
Such dilemmas were common in the 19th century, but 20th-century Britain faced them at least once a generation. After the 1923 general election the party with the most seats did not form the new government. In 1930, parliament came close to introducing the very voting reform which Gordon Brown has just offered for a referendum 80 years later.
The best-remembered decade of hung parliaments and backroom deals is the 70s. In February 1974, the defeated Conservative PM, Edward Heath, tried to lure the then-Liberals into a coalition. He failed, but three years later, Labour's prime minister, Jim Callaghan, negotiated an informal understanding, known as the Lib-Lab pact, with David Steel. It helped keep his minority party in power for two years.
Whatever they say before polling day, both David Cameron and Gordon Brown may try such tactics again this time. On both occasions before, Liberal third-party demands for electoral reform proved crucial to the haggling.
Cameron's insistence that he will seek to govern alone even without a majority suggests the topical precedent may be 1923 – after the belated overthrow of David Lloyd George's rackety Lib-Con 1918-22 coalition by Tory backbenchers. Then, the new Tory PM, Stanley Baldwin, called a snap election over free trade, only to lose 86 seats – from 344 seats to 258. Still the largest party, the Tories tried to battle on with the aggressive minority-government tactics which Alex Salmond's SNP administration currently deploys in Holyrood.
In effect, the incumbent leader dares his opponents to bring him down and risk another election, which he wins. Both Cameron and Brown have been urged to adopt this tactic if they emerge with most seats on Thursday. So was Heath in 1974....
Read entire article at Guardian (UK)
The party leaders are reluctant to talk about what they might do if none of them wins a clear majority on Thursday. But, as keen students of political history, they know the half-forgotten secrets of coalitions, minority governments, pacts and haggling over electoral reform that may come into play on Friday.
Such dilemmas were common in the 19th century, but 20th-century Britain faced them at least once a generation. After the 1923 general election the party with the most seats did not form the new government. In 1930, parliament came close to introducing the very voting reform which Gordon Brown has just offered for a referendum 80 years later.
The best-remembered decade of hung parliaments and backroom deals is the 70s. In February 1974, the defeated Conservative PM, Edward Heath, tried to lure the then-Liberals into a coalition. He failed, but three years later, Labour's prime minister, Jim Callaghan, negotiated an informal understanding, known as the Lib-Lab pact, with David Steel. It helped keep his minority party in power for two years.
Whatever they say before polling day, both David Cameron and Gordon Brown may try such tactics again this time. On both occasions before, Liberal third-party demands for electoral reform proved crucial to the haggling.
Cameron's insistence that he will seek to govern alone even without a majority suggests the topical precedent may be 1923 – after the belated overthrow of David Lloyd George's rackety Lib-Con 1918-22 coalition by Tory backbenchers. Then, the new Tory PM, Stanley Baldwin, called a snap election over free trade, only to lose 86 seats – from 344 seats to 258. Still the largest party, the Tories tried to battle on with the aggressive minority-government tactics which Alex Salmond's SNP administration currently deploys in Holyrood.
In effect, the incumbent leader dares his opponents to bring him down and risk another election, which he wins. Both Cameron and Brown have been urged to adopt this tactic if they emerge with most seats on Thursday. So was Heath in 1974....