Most Conservative MPs are reluctant backers of what they see as a grubby deal with the Liberal Democrats when they should be enjoying unfettered power, but none has put the dilemma they face better than this:
We feel the hand of history on our gonads, squeezing very hard.
The line comes courtesy of Gary Gibbon, who reports that senior Tories think an informal agreement (not a coalition) will be reached today, and the framework of a government tomorrow.
Tony Blair, you will recall, used a similar — if less vulgar — formulation in April 1998, ahead of the talks that led to the Good Friday Agreement. Blair said then:
A day like today is not a day for soundbites, really. But I feel the hand of history upon our shoulders. I really do.
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