Nick Clegg an Gordon Brown - frenemies?

With Nick Clegg and the Liberal Democrats’ recent explosive rise, both main parties – the old political duopoly that Clegg and voters alike rail against – are scrambling to figure out a new game plan.

The Tories may be more vulnerable to Nick Clegg and the Liberal Democrats’ spike in popularity – they, after all, were running as the party of change, a mantle that seems to have been neatly lifted off their shoulders by the Lib Dems – but Labour is in this race as well. Now at the bottom of the heap in the latest polls, Labour is, according to some observers today, trying to cozy up to the Lib Dems in an effort to forge what could be an uncomfortable alliance in the likely event of a hung parliament.

But Rachel Sylvester, writing in today’s Times, noted that “Labour is alternating between love-bombing and carpet-bombing the Lib Dems.” And for his part, the Lib Dem leader appears to be keeping his options open and, Sylvester noted, allies suggest that he could opt to support the other parties on individual policies, rather forming a formal coalition. “But the extraordinary political climate has highlighted divisions within as well as between the parties,” she wrote. “The truth is that Labour, the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats are already coalitions of people with quite different views and the more uncertain the result of the election, the more pressure they will be put under.”

So who is Clegg’s natural political partner? Not Gordon Brown, Sylvester says: “Mr Clegg has a problem with Mr Brown.” Their enmity dates back to the beginning of the MP expenses crisis, when, in a private meeting with Clegg and Conservative leader David Cameron, the Prime Minister exhibited his now well-known angry, ranting side. During last week’s debate, Brown tried his best to bridge the gap – “I agree with Nick” became his catchphrase of sorts – but Clegg was having none of it.

But now that the Lib Dems seem to be directing the election, the question of Labour’s leadership is back on the agenda: Said Sylvester, “It’s hard to see [Brown] going easily — but it is being discussed.”

Meanwhile, Labour has hinted at extending some other substantial olive branches in the direction of the Lib Dem camp, including, The Times reported today, electoral reform. At this point, interestingly enough, it’s Labour that stands to gain the most by the UK’s first-past-the-post voting system – though they may lose the popular vote, the party could still pull off the most seats.

But electoral reform isn’t the last gasp of a desperate party. As Steve Richards pointed out in today’s Independent, Brown is looking positively relaxed these days: “The single reason for his good spirits is that another candidate has highlighted what he has always believed but has not been able to convey, that the Conservatives are not as fresh and modern as Cameron’s energetic leadership has sometimes suggested.”

Moreover, said Richards, “Brown is a sharp reader of politics. If he looks relaxed he almost certainly has cause to be so. … For now he knows that all the cards are up in the air once more, and he holds an ace in his belated, calculated support for a referendum on electoral reform.”

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