Is Clegg Driving the Nation off the Edge of the Cliff?

Ok. So Brown has now broken his silence - signalling that it's now the Labour party's turn to open negotiations - which in turn signals that a Conservative / Lib Dem deal is looking very unlikely.

Sounds like naive ultra hard-ball to me. Clegg is trying to call Cameron's bluff and is prepared to cause fear and possibly panic in the markets to add power to his elbow - as it were.

Trouble is, any possible future Conservative / Lib-Dem Coalition or alliance will need good-will to work. And if Clegg behaves in a way that the Conservatives or the wider electorate find intolerable then that goodwill will evaporate - not just for a Conservative Lib Dem deal but for any deal. If he lets things slide for a day or two then there will be no going back for him, no future for the Lib Dems as a credible partner in anyone's government, and  people will take to the streets.

For Clegg even to be considering a deal in which Brown is PM for one more minute than is absolutely necessary, let alone for months is absolutely abhorrent. He needs to turn back from this path very, very quick.

I will have absolutely no hesitation to take to the streets. We have had an election. We have had a clear winner, we only lack a majority for a government. So if the Lib Dem's have blown the chance they have been given to work as part of a government then there is no second option. For them to be complicit in allowing Brown to remain in government would be intolerable.

We have just had an election - NOT a referendum on PR.

I think minds need to be focussed. Perhaps a prominent Conservative with a big voice should call for us to take to the streets. A couple of hundred thousand people chanting 'Out, Out, Out' in Downing Street tomorrow or the next day should do it.