United front?

On February 22, Tony Blair and William Hague were interviewed on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme, not separately but together.

The thrust of their piece was that we are entering the second industrial revolution and the UK needs to be at the forefront of this. This is a very valid point, but the other aspect that struck me was the instance of two prominent members of opposing political parties speaking in co-operation, not conflict.

From 1995 to 1999 I was a member of Richmondshire District Council.

Though most of us stood under party labels, Liberal Democrat in my case, the council was not then organised on political lines and I sat at the council table interspersed with Conservative and Independent members.

Indeed one of the Independents proposed me as the council’s representative on a national body and I fulfilled that appointment for most of my time on the council.

The criticism of this system was that the council tended to be officer-led but the plus was that councillors generally worked together in an atmosphere of cooperation rather than conflict, though opinions clearly differed on specific issues and we voted accordingly. My point therefore is that people of different political persuasions do not need to be automatically opposing each other's ideas and there is a lot to be said for negotiating agreement where possible.

Was the interview with Blair and Hague a portent for the future?

There is a lot to be said for negotiating agreement where

possible

Gerald Hodgson, sent via email.