Coalition

Author's site

Jacket text for Coalition

As the prospect of a hung parliament looms large, our political protagonists can learn much from the politics and personalities of the past. Mark Oaten’s story of coalition government begins in the 1850s, with Disraeli fighting for his political life and Queen Victoria’s battle to find a Prime Minister from the Whigs and Peelites driving her to despair.

At the start of the following century, the First World War threw Lloyd George into the limelight but nearly killed the Liberal Party; Ramsay MacDonald’s coalition in the 1930s saw him become leader without his party, who many felt he had betrayed, and Churchill’s Great War coalition helped bring victory at war but not in peace.

Decades later, two generations and parties came together with David Steel and Jim Callaghan forming the Lib-Lab pact, something Blair and Ashdown’s "project" never managed to emulate. North of the border, a deal did come off, resulting in Scotland being run by coalition government for 8 years. Throughout Europe, coalitions are the norm but recent political events in Italy and Germany have been far from normal.

All these lessons from history are drawn together by Mark Oaten as he looks forward to the next election and reflects on whether hung parliaments and coalitions can ever work.

Chapter headings for Coalition

Preface

1. A Stormy Start
2. A Coalition Of Egos
3. Fighting At Home And Abroad
4. A King’s Coalition
5. Winning War And Peace
6. The Uncle And Nephew Pact
7. Traffic Lights And Jamaican Flags
8. The Coalition That Never Was
9. Whisky And A Handshake
10. Entering No Man’s Land
11. Was Disraeli Right?

Appendices

About Mark Oaten

Mark Oaten was born in Watford in 1964. He was educated in Watford and attended the main local Comprehensive School. He obtained a degree from Hertfordshire Polytechnic. During the early 1980s, he joined the SDP and acted as agent in a number of elections. In 1986, he became one of the country's youngest Councillors and the first ever SDP Councillor on Watford District Council. He served for eight years, culminating in leading a group of six other SDP councillors. In 1992, he stood for Parliament in Watford getting 10,000 votes. Mark worked as a consultant for Shandwick Public Affairs between 1988 and 1992. He then joined Westminster Communications where he was made a group director and Managing Director of Westminster Public Relations in 1996. In 1995, he was appointed a Director of Oasis Radio, a commercial Radio Station in Hertfordshire. He was selected to fight for the seat in Winchester in 1995. His two-vote victory in May 1997 was declared invalid, but a by-election held in November 1997 convincingly confirmed him in the seat with a majority of 21,556. Mark Oaten's parliamentary responsibilities have included: the Spokesman for Disabilities; a member of the Liberal Democrat Foreign Affairs and Defence team; and Chairman of the All Party Groups on Far Eastern Prisoners of War and on Adoption. At the June election 2001, Winchester achieved the highest turnout, and returned Mark Oaten with a majority of 9,634. After the election, Mark Oaten was elected Chairman of the Parliamentary Party of the Liberal Democrats. In October 2003, Mark replaced Simon Hughes as Liberal Democrat Shadow Home Secretary. He resigned in January 2006. He is a member of the All Party EU Accession group and of the All Party Adoption Group. Mark lives in his Winchester constituency with his wife and two daughters.

More about Mark Oaten