So much has happened since the general election that it is hard to press events into a meaningful pattern. The first coalition since the second world war, the deepest cuts since the 1970s, our military’s budget slashed, and the extraordinary (if predictable) crisis in the eurozone. The coalition has begun with remarkable energy and purpose. But where is the government going right? And where wrong? The end of the year is a good time to take stock.
The coalition’s success so far has lain in its ability to marry Conservative economic liberalism with Lib Dem democratic radicalism. Its agenda, the coalition agreement, was inspired as much by the vision of Tory localists, such as Douglas Carswell and Daniel Hannan, as by the Lib Dems’ Orange Book. This explains why, to the bafflement of the BBC, the government has so far enjoyed popular support.
But writing four-page political accords is easier than altering the nature of the British state. The real question is how the coalition has measured up against its own stated goals.
In most areas, the ledger is positive. The deficit is being brought under control. George Osborne, whom we interview on page 26, could have expected to be the most hated man in Britain by now. Instead, he finds that Nick Clegg has claimed that honour. Clegg owed his brief flowering in popularity during the election to rather pious rhetoric about ending the culture of false promises. He will take no pleasure in commentators using words such as ‘courage’, ‘maturity’ and ‘leadership’ to describe his behaviour over tuition fees: what they mean is that he has broken his word.
He is not alone, however, in doing that. Outside Heathrow airport, there is still a tattered Tory poster denouncing Gordon Brown for letting out 80,000 prisoners early.
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