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House of Commons: Broad bottom politics

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Coalition governments became common in 18th-century Britain, but tended to fail at times of crisis. Jeremy Black draws some parallels with the present day.

In recent weeks commentators have argued over the strengths and weaknesses of coalition governments, usually employing the recent past in order to support their wishes for the present. There has been far less interest in the tensions between politics and government in the 18th and 19th centuries, yet they provide an arresting parallel with the situation today.

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