Catalogue Number
NMLH.2024.73.2
Object Name
mug
Title
'The Coalition Government. A New Era of Hope'
Place
10 Downing Street, London
People
Conservative Party, Liberal Democrats, David Cameron, Nick Clegg, Coalition Government (Conservative-Lib Dem)
Events
Elections, 2010 General Election, 2010 Hung Parliament, 2010 Coalition Government
Description
A white china mug with a blue painting of parliament on the front, and 10 Downing Street on the back. A photograph of David Cameron and Nick Clegg is imposed over the painting on the front. They are smiling, in front of the door to 10 Downing Street. The mug is captioned 'The Coalition Government. A new era of hope'.
The 2010 General Election resulted in a hung parliament, where no party had a majority. The Conservative Party won 306 seats, Labour won 258 seats, and the Liberal Democrats won 57 seats. A government needs at least 326 seats to have a majority. This meant that to achieve this, a coalition needed to be formed between two parties. The Liberal Democrats, led by Nick Clegg, chose to enter a coalition with the Conservative Party, led by David Cameron. The coalition presided over an era of austerity policies, cuts to public services, closures of facilities like libraries and Sure Start centres for young families. This makes the caption 'A new era of hope' on the mug somewhat questionable.
Austerity, and other policies including raising tuition fees for university students directly contradicted the Liberal Democrats manifesto promises prior to the election. Following their participation in the coalition, the Liberal Democrats lost 49 seats and the Conservatives formed the government until 2024.
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