'Judge us on five years, not a 100 days' (Twickenham & Richmond Liberal Democrats)

'Judge us on five years, not a 100 days'

August 15, 2010 11:15 AM

• [Aug 15] Nick Clegg writes: ALL new governments claim that they are governing for the long term: most end up being pushed around by short-term events. All claim they have a plan: most end up with no plan at all. All say they're going to ignore headlines: most end up driven round the bend by the press. So I understand why people might react with scepticism to the claim that, this time, this government will be different. But as this new coalition government approaches its first 100 days in office, I believe the claim is a strong one: we will govern for the long term and we'll stick to our plan.

There are two reasons why: first, the nature of coalition and, second, the scale of the economic challenges ahead. A coalition can only work if it is upfront about the differences between the two parties and explicit about the partnership it is seeking to create. It requires collective decision-making and a high level of candour as two different parties seek to govern together. The fiefdoms, factionalism and backbiting of the Blair-Brown years thrived within the secretive world of internal Labour party politics. The differences between two parties in one government, on the other hand, are explicit and so in some ways easier to overcome.

. . So far, this coalition government has confounded expectations. First, we were told the coalition agreement couldn't be done. Then we were told that the coalition government wouldn't work. Now we're told it won't last. We intend to confound expectations again. One hundred days? That's not the prize. It's the next five years that count.

Richmond upon Thames Liberal Democrats: