Cameron and Clegg - oh dear

While some people are trying to pretend that the message from the electorate was that they wanted a hung parliament, by the end of the campaign it was obvious the country was operating on an anyone-but-Dave (ABD) strategy.

It was this tactical vote which led to the collapse of the Lib Dem vote where the public weren't sure if a vote for them would split the opposition to the Conservative candidate. Where a wild card left wing option was a viable proposition, such as the Green victory in Brighton, the public took it. There is great heart to be taken of the collapse of the BNP and UKIP as profile actually destroyed the credibility of these political cowboys, and local elections showed a resurgence of Labour activism as people tried to best protect the local services they rely on.

It was this that stopped Cameron achieving a majority despite earning a similar share of the vote as Tony Blair five years ago. While Blair ended up with a fairly comfortable majority, Cameron fell well short. The spine stiffening among liberals and labour supporters is much more noticeable than the fears in the Tory ranks of Blair's lukewarm conservative reform and right-wing International bent.

This ABD attitude has not been connected with by Nick Clegg, a man with all the natural political instinct of King Herod, a decision maker of the poorest kind, an uncharismatic civil servant with the long term charm of a double glazing salesman.

But his party has a radical streak the Labour party seems to have neutered through mistaking process for progress, and proved that real reform does not come through the employment of management consultants or research groups.

There is no need for a short term fix. Dealers who sell currency or shares on the basis that British industry will be affected by this time for negotiation are doing so in full knowledge they will cash in when it is resolved. The UK should hold its nerve. Nick Clegg should hold his nerve. The precise feelings of a robbed democratic voice will become the left leaning majority in this country if Clegg does a deal with the Conservatives.

The ABD group want a vote that means they can include all their feelings when they vote. So that democracy understands it's not just about who you want in. It's about who you definitely don't want in. This flip flop between the right and the centre is neither representative of the public's appetite for radical change, but it simply isn't democratic. Nick Clegg is the first person for decades to have the opportunity to win the one battle his party has fought on for a century - voting reform.

Now, this decision lies in the hands of a European bureaucrat and a posh PR man.

Without immediate and committed voting reform, any deal Clegg does fails not only himself and his party, but the country as a whole.

Dave. He's pretending to be just like you. He even believes he's just like you. But he isn't.