BRITAIN enters the perilous waters of coalition government today – almost exactly 70 years since the last one came into being.
That was on May 10 1940 – Winston Churchill’s wartime coalition, with Labour leader Clement Attlee as his deputy. It was a coalition that, inevitably, had its internal tensions, but it achieved its objective: victory over Adolf Hitler.
A few days after its formation, Churchill explained its purpose in the House of Commons with these words: “You ask, what is our policy? I will say: It is to wage war, by sea, land and air, with all our might and with all the strength that God can give us; to wage war against a monstrous tyranny, never before surpassed in the dark, lamentable catalogue of human crime. That is our policy.
“You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word: Victory.”
A similar coalition, under Lloyd George, was formed World War 1.
There have been only two peacetime coalitions in the UK over the past century: from 1918 to 1922, also under Lloyd George, in the aftermath of WW1 – it was ended by a rebellion of Tory MPs as it “lingered on increasingly rudderless” according to one observer – and the National Government from 1931 to 1935 to combat the economic crisis.
In February 1974, prime minister Edward Heath – although winning fewer seats for the Tories than Labour had achieved – tried to form a coalition with the Liberals under Jeremy Thorpe. But his blandishments failed and Harold Wilson returned to Downing Street.
