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Politics Brexit Election 2019 Elections Jeremy Corbyn Jo Swinson liberal democrats Remain The Labour Party votes

The lesson of history? If the forces of Remain don’t get their act together, they could be wiped out

As Nigel Farage weighs in behind Boris Johnson, Labour and the Lib Dems must urgently put their bitter disagreements to one side—and do a deal

By Tom Clark  
November 12, 2019

Ramsay MacDonald knew all about political pacts.

The first history lesson about political pacts is one to cheer Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage. Namely, that secrecy is no problem. The 1903 deal done between Liberal chief whip, Herbert Gladstone, and Ramsay MacDonald of the then-new Labour Representation Committee was very much on the QT. Nobody knew that the deal was done, still less what favours were traded. But what was soon enough evident—in the subsequent 1906 general election—was that 60 per cent of the Labour candidates enjoyed a free run…

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Tom Clark

Tom Clark is editor of Prospect

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