Partying with Politics – Why Co-operation for Co-operation’s sake will lead us down the wrong path

Partying with politics
Why co-operation for co-operation’s sake will lead us down the wrong path
Tom Hoctor

While the rhetoric of ‘new’ or ‘grown-up’ politics has worn out faster than an X Factor winners’ success, we will be left with an important legacy of peacetime coalitions as a direct result of this election. Most critics have so far been surprised by the stability of the coalition and it seems that the attractiveness of cooperation has entered the psyche of the British public. Well, sorry to burst the collective bubble, but adversarial politics is the fundamental backbone to our political discourse.
While the amount of point scoring within politics may be regrettable, we have seen a reinvigoration of debate between political parties following the election and the development of a contentious comprehensive spending review. But to assume that the fashionable coalition rhetoric is not simply point scoring itself is something that should be challenged. It was a strategic victory for Nick Clegg that he was allowed by Cameron and Brown to define cooperative politics as being mature. The creation of Cleggmania hinged on defining single party based politics as immature, ‘old’ politics.
Taking his lead from Clegg’s characterisation John Leech, Liberal Democrat for Withington, claimed that Britain, “might mature to adopt grand coalition” (Mancunion 25/10/10). This shows a flawed understanding of continental politics (or a penchant for misrepresentation) that needs to be challenged.
It is true that grand coalitions do occur in European government and the most recent was between German SPD and CDU from 2005-2009. However, Leech’s core assumption that grand coalition is an expression of political “maturity” should be contested. Neither of the German parties would have chosen this method of government if either could have had a coalition with a smaller party and therefore been the dominant force. The only party that stood to gain from the arrangement was Angela Merkel’s CDU because she was President at the time, something Clegg should bear in mind. There is too much ideological tension in a grand coalition for it to function in a truly efficient manner for a long period.
In addition, continual cooperation between the parties, while potentially popular, could stifle debate. It is certainly not true that the ability to form coalitions in British politics is a sign of maturity. In reality the British press and public have been the victims of a rhetorical coup by Messrs’ Clegg and Cameron. By talking of grown-up politics and mature coalitions they have ingrained the idea that their enterprise is progressive. They have also implicitly convinced the public that cooperation for the sake of cooperation is more important to political process than real, rigorous and thoughtful debate on issues that affect all of our lives.