Politics: Britain’s new gang of four

We have a new system of rule in Britain: Quad government. The coalition has not, as is often claimed, restored Cabinet government after 30 years of personality-charged premierships. But the Quad, which consists of the Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister, the Chancellor and the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, plays the Cabinet’s traditional role. It decides all major matters of policy, inviting other ministers along where necessary.

The Quad will determine the contents of the Budget. It has already met twice to discuss its priorities for the statement on 21 March. As its members will proudly tell you, the Quad doesn’t have its meetings in the Prime Minister’s den. This is not, they stress, sofa government. When it meets officially, its members are each chaperoned not only by a political adviser, but by a civil servant. But not all Quad meetings are official. On Monday night, the four men dined together informally in David Cameron’s Downing Street flat. There is a belief that the system functions best when as few people as possible are present, and discussions can be frank.

Deciphering the workings of the Quad is perhaps the best way to understand the coalition. The first thing to say is that, at least at the very top of government, the division of power is surprisingly equal. The Tories make up more than 80 per cent of the coalition’s parliamentary strength and occupy 18 of the 23 seats in the Cabinet, but the Quad is evenly split between the parties. There is a logic to this: after all, without Liberal Democrat votes, David Cameron can’t be confident of getting anything through the Commons. But the way the logic plays out might seem paradoxical. As one Cabinet minister observes, ‘In coalition, you’re strongest when you are weakest.’ It is when the Liberal Democrats are faring particularly poorly in the polls or their MPs and activists are in despair that Nick Clegg and Danny Alexander have the best chance of getting their way with Cameron and Osborne.