A heavy responsibility now rests on Nick Clegg's untried shoulders. Throughout the election campaign he rightly insisted he was not a kingmaker: that it was for the British people to decide what sort of parliament and government they wanted. But the people's voice gave forth a highly uncertain sound. They have elected not just a hung parliament but a fragmented one. For all the huffing and puffing from Conservative and Labour camps, it is clear that no single party can form a stable government on its own; and none of the inter-party deals now in contention can offer stability either.
Meanwhile, the elephant in the campaign room – the double crisis of the real economy and the public finances that none of the party leaders seriously addressed before the votes were counted – is getting more and more restive. The Greek crisis is far from resolved. The threat of crisis looms in Spain; the eurozone is in a state of incipient chaos. Britain is not in the firing line – yet. But, to put it at its lowest, there is no divine law to say that we will stay out of it for much longer.
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