The currency of trust

The correct way to do politics in a world of dirty coalition building

[Prime Minister David Cameron and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg during their first joint press conference. 12 May 2010, Crown copyright]

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On the 6th May 2010 something remarkable happened. For the first time since the Second World War, there was a hung parliament in a Westminster General Election. In an electoral system designed to produce majority government, the British public gave no political party more than half the seats in the House of Commons.  The voters may have been uncertain  as to the government they wanted; but the markets were certain that wanted a government. In time of economic crisis, they wanted a quick resolution of the political impasse and a clear commitment to curb public spending. And so it was that the timer was set; the starting whistle was blown; and the race to form a stable government in a week had begun. And not just any stable government. A stable government able to make unpopular economic choices with the backing of Parliament.

On the 6th May 2010 something remarkable happened. And it wasn’t what I’ve just described. It’s what happened next. It’s the fact that a multi-party government was indeed formed; formed in just 5 days. And in a country so unaccustomed to coalition building and coalition government, that government lasted a full five-year term.

On the 6th May 2010 something remarkable happened.  And it’s not so much that a government was formed. And it’s not so much how quickly it was forced. And it’s not so much how long that government lasted. It’s HOW that government was formed. It was formed with a currency so much more powerful than the dollar, but so rarely employed in the exchanges of high politics: The currency of trust.