History Film / Coalition

* ThanatosGambit : Brown's trump card to win the Lib Dems over involves his own political death. Realizing that he himself is a big obstacle for Clegg, he offers (and announces his intention) to quit soon into the term in exchange for a coalition. When that doesn't work, he ups the ante and resigns as PM with immediate effect, knowing this would force Cameron into forming an unsustainable minority government and likely calling another election before year's end. That might have worked if the Tory-Lib Dem deal weren't basically already finished by the time he did it.

* TheChessmaster: They're all politicians, but George Osborne and Peter Mandelson in particular fill this role for the Tories and Labour, respectively, coming up with different shrewd strategies to try and convince the Lib Dems to side with their parties and subsequently reading and countering each other's plays.

* DownerEnding : This was broadcast in March 2015, after the final prorogation of the 55th parliament. By this point, the viewer already knows that Nick Clegg's career after the events of this film was a disaster.

* EveryoneHasStandards: Ed Balls is nothing if not a party loyalist, but he's unnerved (if not impressed) when Peter Mandelson tells him that the so-called Lib Dems protesting outside the party's headquarters are actually Labour plants under his direction.
-->'''Ed Balls (shocked):''' ...Jesus, Peter.
* EvilOldFolks: The closest the film has to a villain is the leader of the Tories' far right faction, who is very old and very unpleasant, and in charge of similar people.

* ForWantOfANail: The first Labour-Lib Dem meeting on the prospect of a coalition goes badly due to the Labours not taking the meeting seriously, being poorly prepared for the talks and using body language that ranges from aloof (Peter Mandelson) to hostile (Ed Balls). Ed Balls, especially, starts outright arguing with the Lib Dems over policy. When Brown (ironically famous for his own social awkwardness) finds out he furiously berates them for it, with Ed Balls protesting that it's not as if history is going to change because of their posture. However, it looks as though that's exactly what may have happened.

* InsistentTerminology: Harriet Harman has to remind Gordon Brown to call Nick Clegg's party "The Liberal Democrats" instead of just "The Liberals".

* EveryoneHasStandards: Ed Balls is nothing if not a party loyalist, but he's taken aback when Peter Mandelson tells him that protestors outside Lib Dem headquarters are actually Labour plants under his direction.
** Ed Balls (shocked): "...Jesus, Peter."

* EarlyBirdCameo : Ed Miliband and Ed Balls briefly appear.

* ForWantOfANail: The first meeting with Labour on the prospect of a coalition goes badly due to the Labours not taking the meeting seriously, being poorly prepared for the talks and using body language that ranges from aloof to hostile. When Brown finds out he furiously berates them for it, with Ed Balls protesting that it's not as if history is going to change because of their posture. However, it looks as though that's exactly what may have happened.
* FunnyBackgroundEvent : When Gordon Brown is on the phone to Nick Clegg, Mandelson and Harman can be seen frantically writing cue cards. Brown then angrily brushes them away.

* TheGreatPoliticsMessUp : Perhaps not on a global scale, but it was a shocking turn of events for people in Britain.

* NotSoDifferent : When meeting Nick Clegg, Cameron suggests that Westminster School isn't too different from Eton, suggesting both leaders come from similar backgrounds (as many political commentators have since loved to point out).

* AboveGoodAndEvil: Gus O'Donnel is the political equivalent; as Cabinet Secretary he doesn't give a damn about part politics, he just wants them to sort out ''something'' before the country's economy and global standing completely implode.

* TheOtherWiki : Party officials print out the Wikipedia pages of the men with whom they'll be negotiating.

* WereStillRelevantDammit : In-universe. On the phone to Gus O'Donnell, Lord Mandelson insists that Gordon Brown has to be allowed back into Number 10 because he is still Prime Minister. When they arrive, they sit down at their usual desks but cannot log onto the computers because the Civil Servants have already deleted all their accounts.

Coalition is a 74-minute long televised film by Channel 4, first broadcast on 28th March 2015. It depicts the series of political events following the General Election 2010 which led to the formation of the United Kingdom's first peacetime coalition government. It features lookalikes (of varying quality) for all of the major political figures of the time.

* BritishPoliticalSystem: In all its grubby glory.

* CassandraTruth : The woman who warns Clegg that a coalition with the Tories could destroy the Liberal Democrats forever.
* DealWithTheDevil: Many LibDems have this view of going into Coalition with the Conservatives.

* GoodCopBadCop : Cameron worries that the Liberal Democrats will take credit for all the warm cuddly stuff while blaming the Tory party for the spending cuts.

* WereStillRelevantDammit : On the phone to Gus O'Donnell, Lord Mandelson insists that Gordon Brown has to be allowed back into Number 10 because he is still Prime Minister. When they arrive, they sit down at their usual desks but cannot log onto the computers because the Civil Servants have already deleted all their accounts.

[[quoteright:618:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/e7384554b8ba2020c7ad15080505b5de.jpg]]
[[caption-right: We agree with Nick.]]

[[caption-width-right:618: We agree with Nick.]]

* DealWithTheDevil: Many LibDems have this view of going into Coalition with the Conservatives
* InsistentTerminology: Harriet Harman has to remind Gordon Brown to call Nick Clegg's party "The Liberal Democrats" instead of just "The Liberals".

* AstroTurf : Lord Mandelson reveals that the supposed Liberal Democrats protesting against a possible deal with the Tories are actually Labour partisans whom he hired.

* WereStillRelevantDammit : On the phone to Gus O'Donnell, Lord Mandelson insists that Gordon Brown has to be allowed back into Number 10 because he is still Prime Minister. When they arrive, they sit down at their usual desks but cannot log onto the computers because the Civil Servants have already deleted all their accounts.
* EarlyBirdCameo : Ed Miliband and Ed Balls briefly appear.
* CassandraTruth : The woman who warns Clegg that a coalition with the Tories could destroy the Liberal Democrats forever.
* Downer Ending : This was broadcast in March 2015, after the final prorogation of the 55th parliament. By this point, the viewer already knows that Nick Clegg's career after the events of this film was a disaster.

* GoodCopBadCop : Cameron worries that the Liberal Democrats will take credit for all the warm cuddly stuff while blaming the Tory party for the spending cuts.

* WeAreStrugglingTogether : Coalition negotiations lead to substantial infighting among different factions of each of the three parties.

- Repeated by the Tory/Labour politicians when they realise that Nick Clegg is negotiating with the other party.
- The Liberal Democrats themselves have a try to hide this reaction when they read the Treasury statistics.

* WereStillRelevantDammit : On the phone to Gus O'Donnell, Lord Mandelson insists that Gordon Brown has to be allowed back into Number 10 because he is still Prime Minister. When they arrive, they sit down at their usual desks but cannot log onto the computers because the Civil Servants have already deleted all their accounts.

* OhCrap : The reaction of the whole country when they find out there is a hung parliament.