Gove raises the spectre of an electoral pact

Michael Gove has reignited talk of a Tory Lib Dem pact by urging people in Hull to vote Lib Dem to keep Labour out at the local elections. Gove’s intervention was not planned but it does reveal how he thinks.

Gove’s department is the most coalitionised. Not only is there a Lib Dem minister there in Sarah Teather, tellingly the only Lib Dem minister not to moan to the Telegraph’s undercover reporters about her colleagues. But there is also David Laws, who is acting as an unofficial adviser to Gove.

Anthony Wells’ thorough analysis of an electoral pact suggests that it could do well in the seats where it matters.  Obviously, all this discussion of pacts could be overtaken by events if AV passes. Interestingly, Gove remains undecided on that issue.