So the love in has well and truly started at Number 10, and the whole of the UK waits to see what the 'partnership' between Dave and Nick will bring.
We started to kick around some thoughts about what we can learn from these, once sworn enemies, who used to describe each other as "a favourite joke".
In August last year, in thinking about how businesses might cope with the recession, we advocated getting into bed with the competition, with no idea it would happen in the UK Parliament; so here, in slightly light hearted spirits, here are our key thoughts:
1) Listen to your customer - the UK voter sent a message to the politicians. We don't really trust one of you individually to govern on your own. The Lib Dems rejected the entreaties of Labour's unelected Mandelson and Campbell to join them and went with the party that the 'consumer' had given the most votes to
2)Embrace change - we heard so much about time for change through out the campaign. The test came with a hung parliament and, judging by the smiles from the Prime Minister and his Deputy in the Rose Garden, they are grabbing it with both hands
3)Have pace and energy - it was pretty tortuous watching the negotiating parties go back and forth across College Green last week and the already fed up electorate were becoming increasing frustrated. We had hoped for a Govt to be formed in three days - it took nearly a week
4)Give ground - there is a significant amount of each party in Senior roles and the announcements this week around income and inheritance tax imply that they are actively listening to what is important to the other party
5)Don't speak too soon - Nick Clegg's promise to introduce the most significant parliamentary reform for 200 years may sound sexy now, but let's see how it is judged in five years time
