The Coalition of 2010-2015

[jwj1988]

It's 2010 and the result of the election is a hung Parliament.

Labour 314
Conservative 258
Liberal Democrats 51
Others 27

Gordon Brown won 38% of the vote, staggering the opinion polls. Nick Clegg, who previously stated he'd back the party with the highest number of votes and seats was in no position to form an alliance with David Cameron even if he wanted to. Therefore, his hand was forced and he entered into a coalition with Labour.

Having previously expressed an interest in forming a 'ministry of all the talents', Brown had a radical agenda on the table...

 

[Alex Richards]

To be completley fair, part of the OTL coalition agreements were that the Lib Dems would consider backing Labour in return for Gordon going, that might still be an option here.

 

[Charles EP M.]

Torn between thinking:

a) Harder to say "Brown goes" if he's done better, so the Lib Dems don't try that

b) They can go in if, Blair-like, he agrees to leave during the government - presented as him choosing to step down, of course, retiring from office after Fixing Things, versus Blair's "so when yer going Tony??" problems

 

[The Red]

Gordon Brown won 38% of the vote,

Sorry to be pedantic but it's hard to see Labour losing their majority if they increased their vote share from 2005; not impossible but I can't imagine the Lib Dems holding up so well if the Tories have managed to get an even larger number of votes.

 

[jwj1988]

Sorry to be pedantic but it's hard to see Labour losing their majority if they increased their vote share from 2005; not impossible but I can't imagine the Lib Dems holding up so well if the Tories have managed to get an even larger number of votes.

My premise is that essentially we see what happened in Scotland and Merseyside (and to a lesser extent London) in OTL happened in the rest of country. Added to that no 'bigotgate' and I think it's quite plausible that Labour votes would've held up. Remember, Cameron failed to impress in 2010 campaign. He's a notably lacklustre personality on the campaign trail and it's quite possible that the public might have found him uninspiring.

 

[AgentRudda]

Sorry to be pedantic but it's hard to see Labour losing their majority if they increased their vote share from 2005; not impossible but I can't imagine the Lib Dems holding up so well if the Tories have managed to get an even larger number of votes.

Indeed, I can see Gordon Brown insisting on staying on at least until the coalition is secure, so 2011/12 at the earliest. From what I've read he never intended to stay on until 2015. He was going to say that he wouldn't serve a full Parliament but was persuaded against this by Peter Mandelson. I don't that Brown would announce that he's going, but it'd be an open secret that he'd go eventually.