Clegg would equally get toasted by the Liberals if he cuddled up to the Tories, and since a lot of the Liberal pitch will be aimed at disenchanted Labour voters, their own support will be furious if they ally with the Tories, and a never trust the Liberals again in a generation mood would develop that would do the centrist party a lot of medium term damage. They'd be better off putting the Conservatives into a minority administration and watch it fall apart. I'd be surprised if Cameron could manage a majority of less than 20 anyway. Initially they'd fall in to line as sustained spells in opposition tend to do this to you, but the Tories have never been able to lance the boil of the EU from their party and there'd also be the old-fashioned Tory who doesn't like Cameron, as well as the 'Thatcher youth' to contend with.
Incidentally, 'The Observers' reproduced the fashion shoot that Caroline Flint did for the 'Observers Women' supplement today!!! At one level I have to say she's looks pretty glamerous, but it transpires that she wasn't instructed into these photos against her will, and Downing Street was furious with them as they felt she was concentrating more on self-promotion, personal presentation and fashion than she was on her ministerial brief.
Her own resignation letter of course said something like "women - myself included - had been used as little more than female window dressing". Now where as I can accept that Flint cuts a fair figure, but Jaquci Smith? God even her husband would rather seek solace in a porno. Or Hazel blears? window dressing? God streuth. If your saw that window your first reaction would be to throw a brick straight through it
Flint goes on to say (rather tellingly)
"they used me when it was convenient - they put me on the GMTV sofa, or on Newsnight - but then judged me not on my work, but who my friends are"
Well in the first case I can accept that GMTV would be consistant with her window dressing accusation, but I can't accept the same about Newsnight as the BBC's premier politics and current affairs magazine programme. Paxman et al are hardly likely to be asking her the soft questions she'd get off Roland Rat.
The issue of being judged by who your friends are is altogether more revealing. As i observed earlier, (and it seems to have been missed in the media) Flint was Blears campaign manager for her Deputy Leadership bid. This would be the same Blears who launched an attack on Brown a month ago with her "youtube if you want to" and went on to say how everything Brown did was about style, presentation, policy synnergies, strategy reviews, and conceptual management models and that nothing was about delivery on the ground. What she seemed to be saying was that the government was content to present something by way of announcement, and then settle for this, in the mistaken believe that it was being rolled out to the chalk face. (Echoes of Flints grievances to do with window dressing?)
It sounds to me as if Flint's backed the wrong horse in Blears (wouldn't be the first politican to do so) and it's entirely understandable that if Browns got a loose canon running around in Blears, than he's not going to confide in, or promote someone like Flint who would be one of her closest allies and confidants (he'd be stupid to).
Her attempts to try and pin this on a gender issue is tad disingenious, and perhaps she's recognising that it could be the company she's been keeping, but even then, she's another one whose part of this self-styled coven calling themselves 'women against Gordon'.
I think the bottom line is that Brown basically doesn't suffer fools!!!
It's that straight forward.
Blair had a better grasp as to how to accomodate them, and allow them to believe they were involved. By contrast Brown doesn't, and once someone is perceived as being a fool, then that's it.
I'm reminded of Estelle Morris. Now she you might recall was a sort of unique ministerial resignation in that she cited 'Not being up to the job' as her reason for going (though Brown I seem to recall was pretty central to persuading that she wasn't?). Now I'm seriously struggling to believe that Morris is the only minister in the history of government that hasn't been up to managing a major portfolio, but she is probably the only one whose had the humility to admit it. She was for the most part a reasonably timid woman, or no particular ego, and seemingly no hidden or personal development agenda. She genuinely seemed to want to do the right thing, and was really an educationalist lost in a politicans skin.
Now do we see similarities with messrs Blears, Hughes, Flint and especially Smith? I do. Again, probably people of questionable ability (Smith in particular) but because they have a greater sense of denial of their own limitations as politicans by Browns particularly exacting standards, they were never going to go the Morris route and admit their thresholds had been exceeded. It's a far more palatable and a convenient association for them to realise that they're all women, and so hey presto, Brown doesn't like women - that explains it gals!!!
As it happens, I tend to be of the opinion that Brown doesn't like many people, and has a capacity to alienate either gender and completely dismiss anyone who he just disregards as an idiot. As i said, he really doesn't suffer fools gladly.
nb
If anyone can find the Flint photoshoot, it does make it a tad difficult for her sustain her central allegation of being used as female window dressing I'd suggest when she consented to this seemingly behind Downing Streets back. I'm counting at least 4 costume changes, not to emntion the make up, lighting, poses, and props. It is in truth the sort of thing that sets women in politics back, though i suspect would have earned a job as Foreign Secretary in a Berlusconi government
