How are they going to stick it for the next 43 months?

There’s a very negative account of the way the coalition is operating by James Forsyth on the Speccie Coffeehouse blog.

Listing all the areas where the partners are at odds with each other Forsyth writes: “…we’re now entering a more zero-sum period of the coalition. There’s a growing, and depressing, belief on both sides that the best kind of win is when you get one over on your coalition partners.”

Looking at the causes and possible consequences Forsyth notes: “..Neither side is exempt from blame for this. The Tory strategic miscalculations that led to Number 10 being so closely involved with the No campaign’s brutal – but effective – attacks on Clegg during the AV referendum undoubtedly changed the nature of the coalition. But if the two sides aren’t careful, this will come to be seen as a government that expends far too much of its energy on internal squabbling.“

If there’s one consolation the latest revelations from Alastair Darling reinforce the point that the splits are nothing like as serious as they were in the last government.

On a broader level the divisions put all the media focus on the coalition partners and it’s becoming increasingly difficult for Labour to get a look in.

@MikeSmithsonPB