An Unholy Alliance?

The breaking news that Gordon Brown is to resign as Labour Party leader has really put the cat among the pigeons! For a whole weekend we have heard about the comings and goings of Nick Clegg and David Cameron. The Conservatives have been keen to talk to the Liberal Democrats about forming an alliance to take the government of this country forward. But I would bet they have not offered as much as the Labour Party will now offer as they begin discussions with the Lib-Dems.

In Parliament the Lib-Dems stand much closer to Labour. Their dream of electoral reform could be realised by way of an agreement with Labour. It is my humble opinion that the Tories would never allow this to happen. As negotiators the Tories have less experience than Labour. If you are to be a true negotiator you must first learn not to drive the other side into a corner. As a party who loves power they are not naturals at negotiation. To negotiate is to be prepared to do a deal in which both sides have gains. I was once involved in a game which was about negotiation. Our side wiped the floor with the opposition and so we thought we had won the game. We were told we had actually failed because negotiation should always end with a prize for both sides!

This is a tale that British Airways would learn from, but they won't. We have not heard the last of this dispute yet!

The current news is about governing the country and getting out of a financial problem that faces everyone across Europe. Whilst we have yet to see the end of the talks, I hope and pray that we shall see proportional representation in being. Other countries can live with it and we shall have to do the same if we are to have government by consent of the nation. These are heady times and could well prove historic in the long run. There is a chance that common sense will play a part in future government decisions because it is how the public see politics and how they see the way forward. Proportional representation would mean that our politicians would have to think hard about their supporters before deciding on the way forward. The amount of power they would possess would reduce and this would be a good thing for us all.

I hope to see an end to the Thatcherite way of saying "do as I say - not as I do!" Consensus would be the watchword, and rightly so. The art of persuasion has a lot in common with negotiation skills. Try to persuade the other side that there is something in it for them as well as you. It works because I have tried it when I was a trade union branch secretary. Common sense and justice should not be strangers to one another.