I’ve had a few calls and contacts asking me what’s happening down in Westminster with the coalition talks.  I wish I knew!  Sadly – along with most people from all parties – I know no more than anyone else and quite possibly less.

In the last few minutes, the rumours flying around are that chances of a deal between the Lib Dems and Labour- never exactly strong in the first place for all sorts of reasons – are sinking down to zero.

So what are we meant to think of all this?  All the people who have spent the last few weeks giving every minute to campaigning against the opposition (in my case, the Conservatives) now being told we might be working together with them?  And the nearly-seven-million people across the country who voted Lib Dem presumably wanted a Lib Dem MP and maybe even a Lib Dem government.

Perhaps surprisingly, I’m pretty happy with what the Lib Dem leadership have done and how things look to be going.

Is it my ideal scenario?  No, I wanted a Lib Dem government with Nick Clegg as PM and Vince Cable as chancellor.  Had we got 40% of the vote across the country, that would have happened.  But the voters decided otherwise, we got 23% of the vote (our highest since 1983, so not bad), and here we are.

So the party had three options: work with the Conservatives, work with Labour or work with no-one.

As promised in the campaign, the Lib Dems first spoke to the Conservatives, who’d won the most votes and the most seats.  When those negotiations didn’t produce a result the Lib Dem MPs were happy with, the party spoke to Labour too.

Quite right.  Anything else would have been letting down our voters.  Those nearly-seven-million who voted for no tax on the first £10,000 of your income, for investment in schools, for a strong approach to the economy including breaking up the banks and for reform of our broken political system.  That’s what’s most important – the policies for Britain.

So the party has talked to both Labour and the Conservatives to see where we can both get the best fit for our policies and build a strong government for Britain.

There are those who believe talking to the Conservatives has betrayed some progressive agenda (despite Labour not exactly scoring highly on the progressive front over the last few years, to say the least).

There are others saying talking to Labour is keeping a discredited party in power.

Both views are mistaken in my opinion.

Let’s be honest – I’m a tribal politician.  I’m a Lib Dem and I always have been.  I’ve fought the Conservatives and Labour in numerous elections – sometimes winning, sometimes losing, never doubting that I was on the right side.

But the voters have told us loud and clear that we need to put that tribalism aside, at least partly, for the good of the country and to get at least some of our policies into law.

Working with another party doesn’t make us from that party.  If there were to be a Con/Lib Dem coalition, the Conservatives wouldn’t suddenly turn into Lib Dems.  They’d be Conservatives, working with Lib Dems in a grown-up way to deliver stable government and a particular programme.

It happens in most modern democracies around the world.  It happens in Scotland, in Wales and in local authorities up and down the country.  And now it looks like it may happen at Westminster too – welcome to the new politics.

The voters could have given Cameron, or Brown, or Clegg an outright majority.  They  didn’t.  They told them to find a way of working together and that’s what they’re doing.

The political risks are high, especially for the Lib Dems.  It could all end in tears and mutual recriminations.  Or it could work pretty well, giving us not only stable government but more Lib Dem policies turned into reality than ever before.

Give them a chance.  The voters said “no one party in control – you’ve got to work together“.  The parties have worked night and day to make that happen and everyone, especially the Lib Dems, have taken huge political risks.  The least we can all do is let them give it a go and not rush to judgement.

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