You're a Banana

Two articles on Michael Gove (left) in as many days underlines the shrillness of his hysterical outbursts to the public over a hung Parliament. He's more twisted and enraged than a Daily Mail editorial. He does not persuade; he berates.

He told Radio 4's Today programme this morning, “If people vote for the third party, for Nick Clegg, in this election, what they are doing is succumbing to a sort of blind date politics. The voice is seductive, but when the curtain slips back, after having voted for Nick Clegg, you don’t know who you are going to end up in bed with. You could have Ed Balls, Harriet Harman, or David Miliband as your prime minister. If that’s democracy, I’m a banana."

That is precisely what a Parliamenary democracy is all about. Gove is not just a banana - he's a monkey's uncle. He is essentially describing his support for a Presidential system which we don't have. There is panic in his voice and with good reason.

If the Labour vote can hold up to 30% then there should certainly be enough numbers of red and yellow MPs to keep back the blue wave. Whether their collective resolve against the Tories is enough to hold that coalition together is the big question. But we can expect the Cons to HOWL if they are marginally the largest party and yet don't immediately get PM Cameron.

There are also loud whispers about the constitutional position (presumably that means Francis Maude) and whether the Cons would "accept" the convention of PM staying PM until he resigns. Not sure what options they have. But to foist a minority Government on the country sounds a little, er, undemocratic.

This is just about craving power, pure and simple. The Cons clearly have little regard for democratic principle in terms of representaion. They claim to like FPTP as it gives 'power to the people to throw out a Government they don't like'. Again, a transparent mistruth. They like the absolute power of an overall majority unfettered by select committees and backbenchers. In any event, people vote out an individual MP not a Government.

You can bet they have got some plan involving a legal challenge taking inspiration from Bush in 2000. But their gnawing impatience and frustration seems to be about to get the better of them. My advice to Gordon is, check the locks on those Downing Street gates and beware a gang of upper class geeks in pinstripe trying to storm the barricades.