More thoughts on a hung Parliament
Another entry in my continuing series about what various people think should happen, if there's a hung Parliament after the next election. My colleague Peter Henley, the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ's political editor in the south, has been asking the Lib Dem MP, Mark Oaten.
Speaking on the south of England regional section of Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ One's Politics Show, the Winchester MP said:
Mark Oaten: I would be reluctant to prop up a fourth term Labour government, I'd need a lot of convincing that they had new, fresh ideas and not just leave our country dithering.
Question: Gordon Brown is offering PR, wouldn't that convince a few Liberal Democrats?
Mark Oaten: I think it would be foolish to decide who you support on electoral reform. In the end you've got to do it on whether this government can lead for the next four years. If, for example, you did a deal with Labour on PR and then you prop them up for a fourth term and they prove, as I think they would do, to be a very unpopular government for four years then you're going to get the blame for everything during that period of time... I don't think Nick's in the business of doing that kind of deal. He's acutely aware that there will be a big responsibility to get the party that is right to govern.
The MP for Winchester talked about how he struggled with the possibility that he might really be a Conservative.
Mark Oaten: I had a difficult relationship with the party, they were suspicious of me, and there was a time when I was frustrated by their lack of ambition. I was frustrated that what I was arguing for as a Liberal was just not coming through. I saw what I perceived to be a change in the way that the Conservatives were developing and yes, I was tempted to think; was I in the right party? Should I be picking up the phone to David Cameron and switching? It would have hit a few headlines at the time but was it the right thing? No it wasn't. It took a few a people around me talking about the party and what I really cared about to make me realise.
You can watch the interview on the iPlayer.
I'm Mark D'Arcy and I'll be writing about what goes on in the chambers and committee rooms at Westminster.
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