Lib Dems - Holding Back "The Flood"

I was listening to the radio the other day when "The Flood" by Take That came on. I can't be the first person to see an analogy between the lyrics and the role of the Lib Dems in the coalition government, even more apparent following the recent government reshuffle.

The lyrics can be found here. Without going through them line by line, i think they do reflect my thinking...

May 2010 - Post election, Pre Government
Standing
On the edge of forever
At the start of whatever
Shouting love at the world

The May 2010 General Election left no party with an overall majority. The Conservatives were the largest party (307 seats), then Labour (258 seats) and third the Liberal Democrats (57 seats). The other parties had  28 seats. Five days of intensive negotiations results in a Conservative / Liberal Democrat coalition which would have a majority of seats in parliament (364 out of 650). For the first time sine the 1920s, there would be a Liberal party in government. Being a democratic party, the Liberal Democrats had previous agreed a procedure for entering a coalition, the so-called "triple-lock". This required a majority of the Federal Executive, the Parliamentary Party in the House of Commons and a Special Conference. The Special Conference was held on 16th May 2010 to debate the Coalition Agreement.

It was at that moment, when the Party agreed to move into Government for the first time in generations that i think it really was a leap into the unknown for the party and its supporters.


2010-2011 - The first year of Coalition
Back then
We were like cavemen
But we mapped the moon and the stars
And we forgave them

The realities of government seemed to hit the party hard, from losing income to the outcome of the Browne review of tuition fees (i may write a post about the perils of two-part pledges) . The result was a collapse in the opinion polls and then in the local government elections in May 2011 and also the No outcome of the Alternative Vote referendum.

Whilst i wouldn't say that the party were "like cavemen", i do think the lack of government experience led to some strategic mistakes which combined by Conservative Party ruthlessness and Labour's opportunism led to a very bad year.

2011-present - The second and third year of Coalition
We will meet you where the lights are
The defenders of the faith we are
When the thunder turns around
They'll run so hard we'll tear the ground away

The second year of the Coalition showed the party beginning to re-assert itself, causing a pause to the Health and Social Care Bill, and an acceleration in raising the income tax threshold. The debate on Lords Reform, when the Labour party voted against the timetable motion despite allegedly supporting reform, led to David Cameron being unable to lead his party and Nick Clegg announcing that the party would not support the proposed reduction in the number of seats in the house of commons.

The party was finally defining its own agenda, separate from the Conservative agenda.


Today
Although no one understood, we were holding back the flood
Learning how to dance the rain
We were holding back the flood
They said we'd never dance again

The recent government reshuffle has been described as having resulted in a shift to the right. What was less commented on was that there was an increase in the number of Lib Dems in the cabinet and an additional Junior Minister.

Lib Dems like to portray ourselves as holding back the Tory flood but i think that is too negative. It is not an argument for the Lib Dems, only an argument against the Tories. There are also plenty of people saying that the party will never recover from the huge collapse that will kill the party in 2015.


Future
I don't think it will be as bad as some people think/want but the next 2 1/2 years will be tough (although hopefully not as tough as the last 2 1/2 years).