Britain | Politics

Lib-Lab unpacked

|

THEY meant it to symbolise the end of tribal politics. Tony Blair, the prime minister, and Paddy Ashdown, the Liberal Democrat leader, would work together despite Labour's election landslide. Yet their ambition is now threatened by a survival of tribalism: a dispute over the Liberal Democrats' sacred objective, proportional representation (PR). A row looms which could lead, some senior Lib Dems believe, to Mr Ashdown's resignation.

This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline “Lib-Lab unpacked”

What kind of victory?

From the June 14th 1997 edition

Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents

Explore the edition

Discover more

This illustration depicts Keith Starmer and Rachel Reeves set against a background of UK, US, and Chinese flag elements.

The slow death of a Labour buzzword

And what that says about Britain’s place in the world

Adele performs on stage.

Adele is taking a break from music. Can anybody replace her?

Probably not


Women's Rights supporters protest outside the 'What Is A Woman' trial at the Supreme Court.

Britain’s Supreme Court considers what a woman is

At last. Britons had been wondering what those 34m people who are not men might be


Can potholes fuel populism?

A new paper looks at one explanation for the rise of Reform UK

Are British voters as clueless as Labour’s intelligentsia thinks? 

How the idea of false consciousness conquered the governing party