Quintin Jardine's blog

It’s official: we don’t have a government any more. Nor will we have one until the Opposition stops playing silly buggers and gives the people what they want and need.

It’s an outrageous situation in a parliamentary democracy, but whose fault is it. On the face of it, The can is Corbyn’s to carry; all he had to do was say a simple ‘Yes’, and his side would have been whipped to support the Election Bill. He didn’t, out of perceived self interest, and as a result most of us bystanders are left frustrated.

But how did the current state of affairs come to pass? In fact it goes back to a single act of cowardice, nine years ago. David Cameron didn’t have to indulge in his rose garden bromance with Nick Clegg. As the leader of the party with most seats in the House, he could have formed a minority government, presented a Queen’s Speech that a then rudderless Labour could not have voted down, and undoubtedly secured an outright majority a year or even months later as Wilson did in 1974.

He could have but he didn’t. Why not? Because he lacked the courage. Instead he formed his clumsy coalition from which emerged a piece of legislation that nobody had voted for or even anticipated, the Fixed Term Parliaments Act.

That was only the start. In 2015 he promised a referendum that he thought he couldn’t lose, and when he did he shat himself, and chickened out again. He ran away and left others to clear up his malodorous mess.

So where is he now, the architect of the current ongoing shambles? With immaculate timing he is readying himself for the launch of his memoirs, ‘For the Record’, scheduled for publication on September 19.

I won’t be buying it, that’s for sure.