Yet there is something satisfying about seeing the two parts of the government challenging one another in the public eye, then having to work together and stand by collective decisions back at the office. Considering the social issues gulf between liberals & conservatives, it's a wonder that the centre and left parties failed to find as much in common to tackle in government.
It may be that some senior figures in the Labour Party where not yet willing to give up the party's internal struggle to find policies with which they can monopolise the entire bredth of leftist & moderate supporters. With Mr Blair & his heirs having departed, the internal wrestling has moved on too; focusing on how to claim that monopoly. These contests are not new to Labour. For instance, the party once saw a struggle between the left-wingers aligned with Mr Tony Benn and Social Democrats.
Today's struggle is between the New Labour we have come to know; business friendly and big spending; and the new contender, Blue Labour, described as more conservative, more hands on and more antagonisic (Fabian Society, 2011). Blue Labour has already antagonised its opponents enough to inspire Mr Peter Mandelson, an important figure for New Labour, to accuse the movement of clutching 'at straws and grab[bing] at any passing sentiment' (Wintour, 2011).
Fragmented Majorities
The reality is that political parties are themselves coalitions, groups of similar groups, all with their own policy agenda, all trying to get to the top of the party pile. And every party has this baggage; the factional strife & dealmaking is not the reserve of formal coalitions.
The Conservatives, the epitome of a Unionist party, has its own factions and tensions. Shortly following the 2010 UK general election, Mr Cameron muscled his way onto the 1922 committee, a Tory backbencher's group, in a way that made some senior party members rather upset (Tebbit, 2011).
Even the Liberal Democrats are not immune to a bit of intrigue. The Liberal Democrat Party developed out of an alliance between the Liberal Party and the Social Democratic Party (many of which where the same social democrats who had vied with Labour's left-wingers). Since then, that divide has been replaced by two major factions in the party, the Orange Book group and the Social Liberal Forum.
The senior party members at present, such as Messrs Clegg, Alexander, and Laws (Assinder, 2008) are broadly supportive of the economic liberalism focus of the Orange Book (2004) - that is low taxes, free markets & less state intervention.
The more left-leaning Social Liberal Forum, who's ideas are heavily influenced by Brack, Grayson & Howarth's 'Reinventing the State' (2007), have been visible of late due to the SLF's involvement in opposition to the planned Health Reforms, led by member Dr Evan Harris.
And let's not forget either that Labour sit in parliament as an American-style caucus - being formally two parties that sit as effectively one, due to an electoral alliance with the Cooperative Party.
Consensus Politics
The reality of majority politics is that it, and not coalition politics, is politics behind closed doors. Majority politics is the system where news breaks six years after the fact of suspected plots & schemes within parties (BBC, 2011).
Labour have shown what happens when you are unwilling to cooperate or compromise. This stubborness can be found at the heart of the party splits of the 70s & 80s, and the fragmentation of worker's parties, not to forget Labour's inability to keep office in a hung parliament following the 2010 UK general election (Wintour, 2011).
It is a stubborness that breeds an extreme all or nothing mentality, that Alan Moore's (1986) famous creation Rorschach symbolised:
'No. Not even in the face of armageddon. Never Compromise'The left has always had divisions. The competition of ideas is key to scientific progress in politics. But these debates must stay above the gutter level rhetoric, the 'us-or-them' mentalities; the fear & blame tactics that created our polemicised left-right political culture.
In order to overcome the alienation produced by this system, the left could learn something from the coalition and the code of Cabinet Collective Responsibility. Plural parties of the left can support choice from plural interests, while still allowing for a united front in the face of intolerance & injustice and in support of common ideals. The Labour leader sharing a platform with representatives from the Green Party and Liberal Democrats to campaign for AV was a good start and a bold, new direction for the left in regaining the interest of voters.
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References:
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+ Toby Helm & Tracy McVeigh's 'England riots: coalition row grows over "kneejerk" response'; in The Guardian; 13 August 2011.
+ Patrick Wintour's 'Peter Mandelson lambasts "anti–immigrant, Europhobic" Blue Labour'; in The Guardian; 26 July 2011.
+ Norman Tebbit's 'The scandal of the 1922 Committee putsch'; in The Telegraph; 20 May 2010.
+ Nick Assinder's 'Clegg's orange revolution'; on BBC News; 14 January 2008.
+ Paul Marshall & David Laws' (ed.) 'The Orange Book: Reclaiming Liberalism'; Profile Books, 2004.
+ Duncan Brack, Richard Grayson & David Howarth's (ed.) 'Reinventing the State - Social Liberalism for the 21st Century'; Politico's, 2007.
+ BBC's 'Leaked memos: Ed Balls denies plot to oust Blair'; 10 June 2011.
+ Patrick Wintour's 'Labour-Liberal Democrat coalition hopes end in recriminations'; in The Guardian; 11 May 2010.
+ Alan Moore's "Watchmen"; Titan Books, 1986.
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