Naturally, the election results dominated the programme, including the performance of the Alliance. Freed from the disciplines of the Election campaign, I let fly on the stupidities of separateness and the absolute necessity of the two parties merging without delay. I had not realised that, earlier in the day and, apparently, contrary to a tacit agreement with David Steel, David Owen had held a press conference in his seat in Plymouth, at which he fired what the Independent newspaper next day described as ‘the opening shots in his campaign against merger’. My pro-merger comments on Any Questions were immediately picked up by the BBC news that night and then by the rest of the media the following day, putting Owen and me head to head on the issue in all the Press coverage over the weekend. On Monday David Steel made a statement in favour of merger (and was immediately accused by David Owen of, ‘bouncing him’!). There is a rather good novel by Nicholas Monsarrat called The Tribe That Lost Its Head.
