An extract from Liberal Democrats in Government—The Coalition in Full, Nick Clegg
By Monday 16th, it was clear that a coalition deal that both parties could agree to was close to being reached, with most of the parties’ core priorities having been met. Discussions, therefore, began to move towards what shape a coalition government might take. There were two obvious models; the ‘integrated government’ model, in which each department would have a presence from both parties in rough proportion to their representation in the House of Commons, and the ‘primacy’ model, in which certain departments would be assigned in their entirety to one or other party.
Both parties quickly agreed that squabbling over ‘ownership’ of a policy, particularly during an election campaign, was likely to be hugely destructive, and primarily for this reason, we came to favour the ‘primacy’ model. It was decided that three of the departments most corresponding to Liberal Democrat priorities, Innovation, Universities and Skills; International Development; and Health, along with the Scotland Office, would be manned entirely by Liberal Democrat ministers, appointed by the Prime Minister on the advice of Ming Campbell as Deputy Prime Minister. Furthermore, we agreed that both the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, and the new Minister for Constitutional Reform to be created in the Ministry of Justice would be held by Liberal Democrats.