The one-year itch

摘要

Although the government's honey-moon with voters ended long ago, the love-in between the partners in coalition lasted almost a year. Differences between Conservatives and Liberal Democrats were aired privately. Relations between senior figures were effortlessly cordial. As recently as last month, Nick Clegg, the Lib Dem deputy prime minister, was caught joking with David Cameron, the Tory prime minister, that the pair would never find anything to disagree on. It was even suggested that coalition could lead to an electoral pact or outright merger.