We've come a long way, baby

Sir Dave of the Cam and Squire Nick of the Clegg just held a press conference in the rose gardens of Downing Street, amongst the tweeting birds of London town, bathed in the ebbing sunshine. All that was missing was the gents in question holding hands.

Cam spoke about their three joint aims - fairness, freedom and responsibility, and the way to do it is proper leadership.

He explained there will be five Lib Dem secretaries of state in the cabinet, as well as Deputy Dog Nick. He assured us that the Lib Dems will be represented at every level of government.

He says "We are not just announcing a new government with new ministers - we are announcing a new politics."

Deputy Dog far outshines his master when he speaks though. He spoke of their promise to the nation "This is a government that will last... not because it will be easy - there will be bumps and scrapes along the way... this is a government that will last because we are united by a common purpose."

They answer several questions from the press (apparently Sky haven't sacked Boulton yet) including where Clegg will live (not in no 11 as the reporter queried - not sure what Osborne would have had to say about that, anyway) and whether this coalition would be able to last 5 years in reality. Clegg says it has to. That they both had a choice to form coalition or not, and they chose to.

And last but not least Dave of the Cam was asked if he regretted his response to the question 'what's your favourite joke?' and answering 'Nick Clegg' some months ago. While Clegg assured the press Dave said no such thing, Dave admits he did and Deputy Dog jokily walked off in a huff with Dave shouting 'come back!' Much laughter. Bit of a red faced Dave of the Cam too. Humble pie for supper...

It's a brave new world indeed, where left and right talk sensibly and in a grown up fashion for the greater good. We've come a long way, baby. But have we come far enough for this to work?



The full text of the coalition agreement is here.