Brown Down, more unelected PM's to come?

The thing is, Gordon Brown was never elected. Long the number two in the UK under Tony Blair (hmmm.. I guess you would call the Queen number zero) he came to power three years ago under a long-standing, and shadily defined agreement between him and Sir Tony. He could have called snap elections back then, and probably won, but he didn't.

Now, as Labour looks to woo the Liberal Democrats (who have a lot more in common with Labour than they do with the Tories) he has stepped aside. While election reform (that whole STV thing) is the biggest stumbling block to an alliance with the conservatives, or so the pundits say, personally I think the biggest stumbling block is that they barely agree on anything, Mr. Brown was seen as the biggest stumbling block to an alliance between the Lib Dems and Labour.

Which means... this is likely a move to try and get the Lib Dems to agree to an alliance with Labour. Which would get them ultimate power not very far. Because they still would not have a majority needed to rule. So they could ask the Conservatives very kindly to let them rule with a minority coalition government with only a few seats more than the Conservatives have on their own. In which case they will likely to be told to stick it where the sun don't shine.

But there is a catch. All of the little parties more or less align with Labour, at least more than they do with the Tories. So, there is a good chance you will see (scratch that, already seeing it) the Scottish Nationalists, Plaid Cymru, the Green Party and the SDLP all lining up with the LD's and Labour.

This Italian-style coalition of those-opposed-to-the-other-guy is likely to be as effective at running the country as the UN is at creating world peace. Which isn't really a bad thing, because, you know, there is not anything important going on in Europe right now...

The good thing about the Parliamentary system is that new elections can be called pretty much from now on. And my bet is, they will have to be.

Because when you think about it, what this means is that Brits are looking at another government lead by someone they never voted for. Well - you don't really vote for the PM in the UK, and it means someone, somewhere, in some county voted for them, but not the nation as a whole. There is no way Clegg will be allowed to be PM, but with Brown gone, someone new from Labour will have to step in if indeed the coalition of the illogical gains power.

Can you imagine that? It would be like somehow out of the contested 2000 election the US ended up with Joe Lieberman running the country. Ugh.