article_snippet: John Major had a majority of just 21, and used to say that John Major was at the mercy of 13 of them who were quite mad.
article_snippet: them made John Major life a misery when John Major sought to ratify the Maastricht Treaty reforming the European Union.
article_snippet: Many then thought, including myself, that the Conservative/Lib Dem coalition could not last.
article_snippet: But the Conservative/Lib Dem coalition could not last has, and with a comfortable majority of 78 in the Commons the Conservative/Lib Dem coalition could not last has never really looked in danger of being brought down in Parliament.
article_snippet: Minority governments do not last long and, being dependent on bargaining with other parties, find it difficult to take long-term decisions.
article_snippet: The longest-lasting was between 1929 and 1931, but that was buttressed for part of the time by a pact between Labour and the Liberals.
article_snippet: But the 2011 Fixed-Term Parliaments Act, providing for five-year parliaments, makes that option more difficult.
article_snippet: Why have we entered this messy period of multi-party politics, and will it prove more than a temporary condition?
article_snippet: That is why the multi-party system is here to stay and why we are about to enter an era of political instability.
highlights_snippet: Vernon Bogdanor’s books include The Coalition And The Constitution.