Torn ... Clegg
By TREVOR KAVANAGH
NOW we see the Lib Dems for what they are... double-crossing, two-faced shysters who would sell their mothers for political gain.
A treacherous party whose leader, Nick Clegg, puts the fragile British economy in peril in a shoddy coalition with a squatter awaiting eviction.
But this blatant act of betrayal is a desperately lucky escape for the Tories.
Any deal David Cameron might stitch up was doomed from birth and would wreck a Tory government.
His eleventh hour referendum offer can only have been made on the assumption that it would be rejected. In any case, it was too late. By last night, Mr Clegg had publicly abandoned all integrity.
He promised his rag-bag army of losers would support the Party that won most votes and most seats - for the good of the nation and to save Britain going bust.
Even as he spoke, he was secretly plotting with Peter Mandelson that instantly sparked a run on the Pound.
Destruction
Even Labour stalwarts could not stomach this "coalition of the losers".
Labour warhorse John Reid denounced the plan on Sky News. "It would be mutually assured destruction," the ex-Defence Secretary growled.
Even if it does go through, this shambolic grouping of the unwanted and the unelected could not form a government on their own.
Gordon Brown's parting gift to the nation is a motley band of fringe parties with their hands out for favours, mostly at taxpayers' expense.
His legacy to his party will be a bloody civil war that risks tearing Labour's tattered army of MPs asunder.
The Lib Dems are little better than a gaggle of political tarts wandering Westminster in search of a John.
They are not welcome in respectable Labour homes.
Until last night, senior party figures were watching with glee as bickering Tories offered them sanctuary.
One told me: "The last thing we want is a Lib-Lab pact. We have the luxury of watching them squabbling over spending cuts while we regroup for another election."
But arch-plotter Peter Mandelson was too greedy for power to bide his time. Now he has lumbered Labour with a weird coalition of Liberal lefties and sharp-suited Democrats who will make life hell for anyone daft enough to give them a chance.
Leading the Lib Dems is like herding cats. Nobody can deliver them as a reliable coalition partner. Yet this is the duplicitous horse trading we can expect after EVERY election if Labour does a deal on voting "reform".
It is the inevitable result of an injustice which last week saw the party that won most seats denied office by two rivals who actually LOST seats.
Now in a final insult to democracy, we will see Nick Clegg in a Cabinet led by a Labour PM who nobody knew was on offer.
David Cameron should be breathing a sigh of relief and saying: "Good riddance." He and his MPs may have to wait a little before forming a government.
Meanwhile, they will have front-row seats as Labour now chooses another unelected Prime Minister. On past performance, it will be a bloodbath.
Enemies
Far from seeking ways of healing wounds, Gordon Brown has spent his entire political life searching for "dividing lines".
No decision is taken without first considering how best it can damage the enemy. And he has as many enemies in the Labour Party as on the Tory benches.
Despite his election day humiliation, he will hang around like a bad smell for months.
Mr Brown is a very angry man. He can do a lot of damage between now and the election of his successor in September. If he isn't to remain as leader, he will make sure none of his enemies get the job either. That includes geekish Foreign Secretary David Miliband.
Labour is split, not just Blairites from Brownites but brother from brother. Miliband is Tony Blair's protégé. Brother Ed is devoted to Gordon.
First they have to get past the real Brownite, Schools supremo Ed Balls, a ruthless political thug who will stop at nothing to be the next PM.
How are bewildered voters likely to respond?
According to pre-election polls, they liked the idea of a hung Parliament. Now they have truly got what they wished for.
Most will be appalled by the chicanery unfolding. Mr Clegg ran through the campaign as the man of integrity - the squeaky-clean reformer against squalid "Old Politics". Now what do we see? A man who has lost everything, leading his party to even fewer seats than in the last Parliament.
He has betrayed his promise to support the real winners - the Tories who won most seats and most votes. He emerges as the ultimate shabby opportunist.
Instead of bolstering the economy, he has put it at risk. The Pound fell instantly on the news of this sordid deal.
He is prepared for a change in the way we vote without even giving the voters the chance to say if they want it.
Sensible Labour MPs know this is unacceptable. They also know that, eventually, Nick Clegg will betray them, too.
That's if Nick himself isn't betrayed in a coup by leadership rival Chris Huhne.
Treachery? Like Peter Mandelson and the scorpion, it's in their nature.
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