The book Peter Mandelson will regret - Nick Clegg "told Brown to stand down" during coalition negotiations "Gordon Brown's attempts to hold on to power were thwarted by Nick Clegg's demand that he step aside as part of any coalition between Labour and the Liberal Democrats, it has been reported. The Lib Dem leader informed the then prime minister to his face that a Lib-Lab alliance was only possible if Mr Brown bowed out. According to Peter Mandelson's memoirs, serialised in The Times, former prime minister Tony Blair also told Mr Brown after May's inconclusive general election that the public would not accept him remaining in office." - Press Association "Mandelson also claims that one Liberal Democrat negotiator, Danny Alexander, now Treasury chief secretary, pressed Labour to agree to enact legislation imposing a new way of electing MPs without bothering with a referendum." - The Guardian Peter Oborne: Treachery, poison, and the book Peter Mandelson will regret - Daily Mail Jackie Ashley: The diary wars risk being a dangerous distraction for Labour - The Guardian"As I think Gordon must have sensed, I thought a deal between us and the Lib Dems was highly unlikely. When David Cameron went public with a willingness to seek a policy compromise and a governing coalition with the Lib Dems, I was almost alone in our ranks in being impressed. Gordon and his team told me they felt it was a mistaken show of weakness, given that the Tories had won the largest number of seats. To me, it sounded like the new politics." - Extract from Peter Mandelson's memoir serialised in The Times (£)
Monday, 12 July 2010
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