The only metaphor in town - Clegg & Cameron's great marriage/gay wedding/civil partnership/love-in

The press have joined in the spirit of consensus government. They've become even more unanimous than the Tories and the Lib Dems.

Hark at 'em:

"David Cameron and Nick Clegg finally tie the knot" - BBC Newsnight

"Love-in", "Love-fest" - Daily Telegraph

(Although Benedict Brogan, elsewhere in the Telegraph, claims not to like all this sort of talk:

"The immediate reaction consisted largely of gags about Gilbert and George, civil partnerships and what one Tory described as "the apotheosis of metrosexual, public-school nonsense". There was something about two smoothies in nice suits flaunting their new-found closeness that invited some pretty lowbrow, junior common room humour."

But for all that, he still headlines his own piece with the words "the happy couple", and further down talks about "chatting up" and the "bloke they'd always fancied".)


"not so much a love-in as the exchanging of vows", "the couple who got married the day after meeting in Las Vegas" - Nick Robinson on the BBC

"The No10 love-in" - Daily Mail

"Mock pouting, misty gazing. This was pure Mills & Boon" says Quentin Letts in the Daily Mail. "The Prime Minister said he had thought about forming a minority government. But once he and Nick had talked about it they had realised how much more inspiring it could all be if they went the whole way. Ahem."

"Happy couple Dave and Nick pledge conjugal devotion", "one side for the groom, the other for the other slightly more boyish groomette", "love-in" - The Times


"David Cameron and Nick Clegg: a marriage" - The Guardian


"In the spring garden the Clegg-Cameron civil partnership looked magnificent" - Polly Toynbee in the Guardian


"A shotgun wedding" - Michael White in the Guardian


"This may have been a shotgun wedding, but the couple were determined to convince us that they really have fallen in love", "The posh golden indoor seats outside made it look like a wedding", "the happy couple" - The Independent

"The very closest of mates", "quickest marriage in political history" - The Sun

"An awfully civil partnership" - headlines the FT. "Downing Street’s rose garden was tastefully arranged as if in readiness for a wedding; though in this case it was more of a civil partnership.  The grass was verdant; the sun shone; the blossom was in full bloom. The two young men were nicely turned out and full of sweet things to say about each other. Oh yes, this is going to be a very civil partnership."

"It's love" - says the Express headline.

And then of course Boris Johnson has to go and spoil it all by calling the deal "a kind of cross between a bulldog and a chihuahua".