T ordon is a goner, the Mole hears. After a Sunday of cloak-and-dagger meetings, Tory leader David Cameron and Nick Clegg are ready to seal a deal. It could still take a couple of days - some are saying Thursday - but, barring accidents, there will be "stable" government with the Liberal Democrats supporting a Cameron government even it falls short of a full-blown coalition. Cameron is due to meet his own backbenchers tonight, and could face some dissent from Tory backwoodsmen who prefer purity to power. Clegg also has his trouble-makers. Holier-than-thou Simon Hughes, the former Lib Dem president, gave a pompous interview suggesting that he will favour a Lib-Lab pact if nothing comes of the talks with Cameron. Brown, too, has dissent in the Cabinet from ministers who are frankly embarrassed at the spectacle of him clinging to power. He sounds as though he is in denial about the result. Wiser heads are telling him to let go, allow a younger generation (David Miliband or Ed Balls) to take over and mount a fight-back in a year, when the Tory/Lib Dem alliance has run into the economic mire with cuts and debts weighing it down. Call them naïve, but the Cameron/Clegg negotiating teams emerged from the Cabinet Office yesterday brimming with optimism about the future. They had their ties off (well, it was Sunday) and they were both singing heartily from the same hymn sheet. But it was still pretty remarkable. Both William Hague for the Tories and Clegg's chief of staff Danny Alexander stressed that the centrepiece of any deal would be a plan to tackle Britain's record £163 billion deficit. No mention of PR. Clegg is now talking about "political reform" not 'electoral reform' while Michael Gove, one of Cameron's chief lieutenants, hinted on the BBC's Andrew Marr Show that he would be ready to see some form of electoral change. As John Prescott once observed, "the tectonic plates are moving". Brown is still pleading with Clegg not to ditch him. They furtively met at the Foreign Office while the Tory and Lib Dem negotiating teams finished their meeting at the Cabinet Office. But last night, the civil partnership between Clegg and Cameron was all but confirmed after another face-to-face meeting between the two men. Brown called on his old gang to support him - Ed Miliband, Lord Mandelson, and the PM's spokesman Simon Lewis were spotted going in by the backdoor to Number Ten Downing Street when Gordon and Sarah Brown returned from their bizarre 24-hour trip to his home town of Kirkcaldy. Sarah tweeted she "had lovely 24-hour family break in Scotland, glass of wine, sort of a lie in, good to see many Fife friends at local church now back again". Harriet Harman also muscled in later for a strategy meeting at 10 Downing Street with the Brown group and visiting professor in cunning studies, Alastair Campbell. The scene inside must have resembledDownfall. It leaves Brown facing a difficult audience with the Queen this week. If it's anything like his small talk on campaign visits to factories, he will say, "Hello, how are you? How ya doin? Good to see ya." But he will have to tell Her Majesty that the other two 'wee bastards' have agreed to do a deal and therefore he can't form a government. The Queen will then invite Cameron to 'kiss hands' at Buckingham Palace. The only question facing Cameron is should he bring his friend, Nick Clegg in the car? Meanwhile, in the Brown bunker, they are desperately trying to convince the Saviour of the Global Economy that he's better off letting them get on with it. Come on, Gordon, get real – in six months, the cuts they are going to have to introduce will make people wish you were back in charge. Lighten up. You are the real winner in the long run. Just let go. ‘Scene inside No 10 must have resembled Downfall’
The Mole: Brown rooted to spot – but Cameron and Clegg are closing in on deal
Monday, 10 May 2010
LAST UPDATED 7:22 AM, MAY 10, 2010
he Tory-supporting market traders waking up this morning have nothing to fear
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