Conservative Cameron Takes the Reins in Britain

NOTE:

• The Liberal Democrats, often known as the “Lib Dems”, are a political party in the United Kingdom. They have traditionally occupied the center of the political spectrum, between the Labour Party on the left and the Conservative Party on the right (“liberal” in British political parlance means “centrist” or “moderate” rather than “left-wing”, as it does in the United States). At the present time, the party is seen as being moderately left-leaning.
• The Liberal Democrats’ current leader is Nick Clegg.
• The Liberal Democrats were formed in 1988 by a merger between the centrist British Liberal Party and the moderately left-wing Social Democratic Party, which had split off from the Labour Party in the early 1980s when the latter became too strongly socialist. The Liberal Party was one of the oldest political parties in the world, tracing its roots back to the Whigs of the era of William of Orange. (click here for more details)

(by Paisley Dodds and David Stringer, YahooNews.com) AP, LONDON – Britain woke up to a new political era Wednesday with its first coalition government since World War II, an unlikely marriage between the reborn right-wing Conservative Party and the left-[leaning] Liberal Democrats.

With a handshake, smiles and waves, new Prime Minister David Cameron welcomed his new coalition partner, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, outside the black door of 10 Downing Street and set off on the business of running the country. (SEE PHOTO – David Cameron, left, shakes hands with Nick Clegg, right)

The alliance was necessary because no party won a majority of parliamentary seats in last week’s national vote. …

Once described as sandal-wearing hippie academics, Clegg’s Liberal Democrats have emerged from the political fringe to the top rung of government. The party is expected to gain five Cabinet seats and more than a dozen junior government roles in what will be one of the least experienced governments since Tony Blair’s Labour Party won a landslide victory in 1997.

“Of course, we must recognize that all coalitions are about compromise,” Cameron wrote in an e-mail to supporters. “This one is no different.”

Cameron said the coalition agreement commits the next government to a significantly accelerated reduction in the budget deficit, to cut 6 billion pounds ($8.9 billion) of government waste and to stop an increase in the national insurance tax.

Cameron wrote that the agreement allows Conservatives to move forward on school and welfare reform and rejects Liberal Democrat pledges to get rid of nuclear submarines, offer amnesty to illegal immigrants or handover any additional powers to the European Union.

The government will immediately begin tackling Britain’s record 153 billion-pound ($236 billion) deficit. It is still unclear whether the Liberal Democrats will back the Conservatives’ plan to begin immediate spending cuts …..

Bank of England governor Mervyn King gave a strong endorsement to the new government’s plans for attacking the deficit, calling it the single most important problem facing the United Kingdom.”

“And the agreement that I have been informed about that was been reached between the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats is a very strong and powerful agreement to reduce that deficit and to take more action,” King said.

One of the first calls of congratulation to the new prime minister came from President Barack Obama, an acknowledgment of Britain’s most important bilateral relationship. Obama invited Cameron to visit Washington this summer.

Both Cameron and Clegg have acknowledged that Labour under Blair was too closely tied to Washington’s interests. Both men back the Afghanistan mission, but Cameron hopes to withdraw British troops within five years. Clegg has said he’s uneasy at a rising death toll. …

The new foreign secretary, William Hague, told the BBC that the new government wanted a “solid but not slavish relationship” with the United States and described the so-called special relationship between the two countries as being of “huge importance.”

“No doubt we will not agree on everything,” Hague said of the United States. “But they remain, in intelligence matters, in nuclear matters, in international diplomacy, in what we are doing in Afghanistan, the indispensable partner of this country.”

Hague is expected to speak by telephone later to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and soon travel to the United States and Afghanistan.

Relations with European neighbors could … become problematic. Cameron’s party is deeply skeptical over cooperation in Europe and has withdrawn from an alliance with the parties of Germany’s Angela Merkel and France’s Nicolas Sarkozy. Clegg, once a member of the European parliament, has long been pro-European.

Cameron extended his first invitation for formal talks to Sarkozy, who will visit London on June 18. The date is highly symbolic for France as it is the day that Charles de Gaulle launched his appeal from London via the BBC for the French to resist the Germans during World War II.

Cameron also spoke Wednesday with two key new allies, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The new British chief has vowed to build a “new special relationship” with India, believing the country can become a major political and trade partner. …..

The 43-year-old Cameron became Britain’s youngest prime minister in almost 200 years – the last was Lord Liverpool at 42 – after cementing a coalition deal with the third-place Liberal Democrats. Clegg and four other Liberal Democrats received Cabinet posts. A number of other Liberal Democrats would receive junior posts.

The agreement, reached over five sometimes tense days of negotiation, delivered Britain’s first coalition government since World War II.

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The coalition has already agreed on a five-year, fixed-term Parliament – the first time Britain has had the date of its next election decided in advance. Both sides have made compromise, and Cameron has promised Clegg a referendum on his key issue: reform of Britain’s electoral system aimed at creating a more proportional system.

Brown’s resignation Tuesday ends five days of uncertainty after last week’s general election left the country with no clear winner. It left Britain with its first so-called hung Parliament since 1974. Britain’s Conservatives won the most seats but fell short of a majority, forcing them to bid against the Labour Party for the loyalty of the Lib Dems.

Associated Press Writers Jill Lawless, Danica Kirka and Slyvia Hui contributed to this report.

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