FORMER CONSERVATIVE leader and shadow foreign secretary William Hague heads the Tory team aiming to shape the contours of a powersharing agreement with the Lib Dems.
The Yorkshire man, described by David Cameron as his deputy “in all but name”, is seen as a key figure, with his ear finely attuned to the Tory grassroots.
His involvement will help assuage traditionalists’ fears over what the Cameronite camp, having failed to achieve a decisive victory, might be prepared to sacrifice for a deal.
George Osborne, a close friend of Cameron, oversaw the Tories’ election campaign and has already received some flak for the failure to secure a majority. As shadow chancellor, he will ensure the party’s deficit-reduction plans are not diluted and will jockey with the Lib Dems’ Vince Cable for Number 11.
Tory policy wonk Oliver Letwin will attempt to knit together the two parties’ programmes. An early Cameron supporter, he is considered very much to the right on economic policy.
Cameron’s chief of staff and fellow Old Etonian, Ed Llewellyn, brings some valuable existing Lib Dem links to the table.
Nicknamed “steady Eddie”, Llewellyn worked with Nick Clegg’s wife during his time as adviser to Chris Patten when Patten was Hong Kong governor. He also worked with former Lib Dem leader Paddy Ashdown in Bosnia.
The Lib Dem side is led by the party’s home affairs spokesman, Chris Huhne. A former journalist, Huhne narrowly lost out to Clegg in the contest for party leader. He tilts more to the left within the party. A deal with the Tories could result in Huhne becoming home secretary.
Former investment banker David Laws might help soothe Tory nerves if things get a little heated at the Admiralty House talks. Pro-private sector, he once railed against “soggy socialism”, and is considered on the Lib Dem right. George Osborne once reportedly tried to convince Laws to defect to the Tories.
The only one around the negotiating table who was not Oxbridge educated, Andrew Stunell, is to the Lib Dems what Hague is to the Tories: a gauge of what will go down well with the grassroots.
A trained architect, Stunell was deputy chair of the Lib Dem campaign team and is a former party whip. Clegg’s 30-something chief of staff Danny Alexander is the youngest member of either negotiating team.
An MP in Scotland, Alexander played a key role in drawing up the Lib Dem election manifesto, and is considered to be unwilling to back down on policy detail.