Country twiddles thumbs as Lib Dems, Tories and Labour discuss coalition deals
Nick Clegg has given himself 24 hours to come to a decision over whether he'll form a coalition government with the Tories, team up with a number of other parties to form a rainbow coaltition deal with Labour or let the Conservatives' Queen's speech go through but tackle individual legistation on a day-to-day basis.
Clegg has held personal meetings with both David Cameron and Gordon Brown while, behind closed doors, negotiating teams for each party are attempting to form agreements.
Over the weekend, protesters met outside the building where talks were talking place between the Lib Dems and Conservatives, to demand Nick Clegg doesn't back down on electoral reform as a condition of any coalition. Labour has offered a full reforendum on voting if the Lib Dems team up with them but David Cameron wouldn't have the backing of his MPs if he attempted to make a similiar offer. The Independent reports that Cameron's "dangled the prospect of several cabinet jovs to the Liberal Democrats, but both sides believe a looser government is more likely as they edge towards a deal."
The Guardian says Gordon Brown's been told it's time to go by a number of his MPs. Before the election, the Lib Dems made it clear that no long-term coaltion deal could be done with Labour with Gordon Brown at the helm. Pressure is on Brown to announce that he'd only be a transitional figure in any Lib-Lab pact.
Channel 4 News reports that Clegg and Brown may have met face to face this morning.
Some timings from The Times: The Conservatives and Lib Dems restarted talks at 10am today; the Liberal leadership meets at 1pm; the Tories gater at 6pm.
This venn diagram from The Telegraph shows where the three main parties overlap on policy. 
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