One of the great virtues of blogging is its immediacy - the fact that, unlike newspaper journalists, bloggers can react to events as they are taking place. And in that spirit, for my inaugural blog, I'm going to talk about something which happened two days ago.
Even the Conservative blogger, Iain Dale, said that his 'eyes moistened' when Gordon Brown walked out of No. 10 for the last time as Prime Minister.
No matter how you voted, it was a sad moment to witness a man's political career come to an end. But actually, Brown himself looked relieved - in fact he was smiling! And not the infamously scary joker-like smile, but a genuine warm smile. Some in the Labour party must have wondered why Mr. Brown didn't smile in that way during the election campaign - if he had, Labour may have won. But, of course, Labour lost and the elegance and brutality of the UK's unwritten constitution came into effect.
Gordon Brown drove the short distance to Buckingham Palace where he tendered his resignation to the Queen. As this was happening, Labour officials and Ministers were flooding out of Downing Street and other government buildings like soldiers fleeing a medieval castle before the enemy army come through the gates.
A short time later, after his own meeting with Her Majesty, David Cameron really did come through the gates (of Downing Street) and walked into No. 10 as the first Conservative Prime Minister in thirteen years. Crucially though, he does not lead a Conservative government. Almost 70 years to the day after the formation of the last coalition government, the United Kingdom has two governing parties.
The idea of 'Prime Minister David Cameron' has been seen as a likelihood (at some points even a certainty) for many years, but the words 'Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg' would have seemed ludicrous just a few days ago. Now the Lib Dems are in government with the Conservatives, and the dominate party of the last decade is leaderless and in opposition.
Some may say I should have started this blog before the election campaign, as now all the excitement in politics is effectively over. Personally, I think the excitement is only just beginning.
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