Labour weren’t serious about keeping the Conservatives out of office

So much for all the Labour rhetoric about how only a vote for Labour could keep the Tories out of power.

Turns out Labour was quite willing to see David Cameron become Prime Minister as you can see from tonight’s statement from ‘a Liberal Democrat spokesperson’:

It is clear that the Labour Party never took seriously the prospects of forming a progressive, reforming government with the Liberal Democrats. Key members of Labour’s negotiating team gave every impression of wanting the process to fail and Labour made no attempt at all to agree a common approach with the Liberal Democrats on issues such as fairer schools funding for the most deprived pupils and taking those on low incomes out of tax.

It became clear to the Liberal Democrats that certain key Labour cabinet ministers were determined to undermine any agreement by holding out on policy issues and suggesting that Labour would not deliver on proportional representation and might not marshal the votes to secure even the most modest form of electoral reform.

It is clear that some people in the Labour Party see opposition as a more attractive alternative to the challenges of creating a progressive, reforming government, not least in the context of a Labour leadership election campaign.