PM paves way for deal with Lib Dems in hung parliament.

Both Britain's main political parties are starting to behave as if a hung parliament is a serious possibility after the next election:

Asked about the possibility of a coalition with the Liberal Democrats in the event of a hung parliament, Mr Brown struck an uncharacteristically emollient note towards the party.

"There is an agreement of ideas and of course the Liberals, I think, are closer to us on tax and public services," he told BBC1's The Andrew Marr Show.

Labour would fight "every inch of the way" at the election, he said. But Labour commitments on electoral reform, overhauling the House of Lords and recalling MPs who committed fraud, as well as its approach to the environment and civil liberties, showed his party had "not dissimilar" policies from the Liberal Democrats.

Lord Adonis, the Transport Secretary, said: "Nick Clegg is a capable leader and ideologically I am on broadly the same page as him, as I believe is Gordon Brown."

The apparent olive branches came after Mr Cameron also tried to woo the Lib Dems by insisting there was "a lot less disagreement than there used to be" between their party and the Tories.

Clegg has already, astonishingly as far as I am concerned, hinted that he would back the Tories if they were the largest party after the next election.

I presume that he is doing so in the interests of maintaining the democratic wishes of the people. But, in any country with three main political parties, there is a serious flaw to his logic.

There is one main right wing party in this country and two parties which are progressive. If the Liberals and Labour get more votes combined that the Conservatives do, it is still possible - given our parliamentary system - that the Tories would emerge with the largest number of seats.

I don't see how Clegg would be upholding any democratic ideal if he decided, under those circumstances, to put his party's weight behind the Tories.

And I don't know how stable such a Tory government would be as Clegg surely couldn't force his party to back all of Cameron's policies if they are anywhere near as right wing as some of us expect them to be.

The notion of a Tory-Lib Dem alliance really doesn't strike me as all that feasible.

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Tags: Conservatives, Labour, Liberal Democrats, Cameron, Brown, Clegg