They Said You Was Hung

Returns are in from Britain's parliamentary election, and the net result? No party has a clear majority, but the Conservatives have a 306-seat plurality. Labour has 258 and the Liberal Democrats have 57. So how will the horse-trading play out?

There are three main mathematical possibilities:

1. The Tories and Lib Dems could form a government.
2. The Lib Dems could ally with Labour instead, but at least two other parties would also have to join in.
3. The Conservatives could theoretically form a government without the Lib Dems, but would need at least four other parties to do so.

Would these miscellaneous other parties side with the Tories or with Labour? I'm not sure. The largest other parties are regional parties like the Scottish National Party (6 seats), Plaid Cymru (3) of Wales, and Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party (8; traditionally Tory) and Sinn Fein (5).

But by far the biggest playmaker is Nick Clegg and his Liberal Democrats. Clegg, a proponent of proportional representation, had indicated that the party with the most votes (i.e. the Tories) should get to occupy 10 Downing Street. But the Lib Dems seem the more natural ally of Labour.

What will happen? My prediction (and chance to look silly) is that the Tories will form a coalition with the Lib Dems after promising electoral reform. We shall see.