Winners and losers

So it looks like it will be Lib-Con after all.

Back, in other words, to where we were 23 1/2 hours ago.

Who has gained, and who has lost, from this apparent Lib Dem flip-flop?

Loser #1: Nick Clegg. See below.

Loser #2: Gordon Brown. He has lost his job without winning the prize for the Labour Party.

Winner #1: The Labour Party has probably emerged a little stronger.

The Conservatives will probably be going into this little coalition feeling a little less charitable towards Clegg and their other new Lib Dem colleagues than they were feeling this time yesterday.

The Lib Dems might have squeezed a little bit more out of the Tories - but there's no guarantee they'll get AV, let alone PR.

On the other hand, the Lib Dems have emerged from the last 24 hours looking a little grubby. The other two parties have emerged quite well.


Nick Clegg's perceived two-timing - however much it may have been forced on him by the elder statesmen within his party (Ashdown & co.) - will have tarnished his image, and this will hurt him and his party at the next election.