The Guardian really has had a bad election. First, it ditches Labour for the Lib Dems, only to see its former party do much better than expected without their support and its new stablemate perform poorly. Then it works itself up into a lather of excitement over the prospect of a “progressive coalition” which will be lucky to last out the month, never mind an entire Parliament. In a breathless editorial this morning we were told of historic possibilities

It is difficult not to be a little impressed by the dignity and seriousness shown by the three main party leaders and their chief negotiators as they seek to respond to an inconclusive general election result. Nick Clegg has honoured his promise to give the party with the largest number of seats the first opportunity to demonstrate that it can produce a programme for effective governance that can command a sustainable majority in the Commons.

With the exception of a few deluded Lib Dems, a hung Parliament is everyone’s idea of a political nightmare. The prospect of getting jiggy-jiggy with the Yellow Peril is turning the stomachs of the tribalists of both the nation’s great parties.
For the negotiations to succeed, much will depend on the strength of character of the [...]

This time it should have been our turn to endure the misery of defeat at the hands of a resurgent party enjoying a workable majority and a clear mandate. What many commentators forgot is that the narrowness of the victory in 2005, coupled with recent boundary changes, provided a pretty shaky platform for Labour to launch an unlikely bid for a fourth term. On paper a majority of 66 looked good, but drill a little deeper and the figures showed that nearly all the 33 seats that Labour needed in order to retain the status quo were won with small or tiny majorities. Basically, it would not have taken much more than a puff of political wind to knock out the Labour majority.

Like Will Heaven, I was bemused by the lame reasons given in a recent Guardian editorial for its ditching of Labour. “If the Guardian had a vote in the 2010 General Election,” we grateful punters were told, “it would be cast enthusiastically for the Lib Dems.” Quite apart from the bizarre concept of extending universal suffrage to newspapers, as if they don’t have enough power already, the obvious question for those of us with Leftish inclinations is: why now?

In the far-off days when I used to be an MP, I enjoyed taking part in a bi-monthly review of the week’s news on BBC Radio Berkshire with my friendly Conservative neighbour Richard Benyon MP. A while ago we were discussing likely general election outcomes, and I remember him saying something along the lines of “all David Cameron has to do is look like a Prime Minister and wait”. Much as I like Richard, I couldn’t help thinking how complacent this sounded. But, as events have unfolded, waiting for the opposition to divide or implode has indeed been one of the Tories’ best strategies.

If it wasn’t for a furious Thames barbel on the end of my fishing rod, I probably wouldn’t have spent 13 years as Labour MP. Let me explain…

The last speech that I made as a Member of the House of Commons came at the end of what some have called the Manure Parliament, at a time when the stench of corruption and personal greed has overwhelmed the good that MPs of all parties try to do and the reasons why the vast majority of us came into politics in the first place.

Labour’s angling spokesman Martin Salter, who is standing down at the General Election, has made a final call for better controls on numbers of otters and cormorants to ensure “a sustainable balance between predators and prey”.

MPs from opposite sides of the House of Commons have joined forces this week to call upon the Government to drop plans for the £23 billion Severn Barrage on environmental grounds. Labour MP Martin Salter (Reading West) and Conservative MP Charles Walker (Broxbourne) have published a detailed 90 page report covering the history and background to the barrage project with an examination of less damaging alternatives.