1.   Between elections, a government with a sufficient parliamentary majority obedient to its will is absolute and omnipotent.

2.   But he will begin his second term as the third-highest constitutional officer in the government with his political influence significantly diminished.

3.   Even a government with substantial majority support would have encountered the same opposition.

4.   Gripped by the longest recession since the war, Britain needs a government with a clear sense of direction and purpose.

5.   He had shunned the opposition, reshuffled his government with familiar faces and retained the prime minister many wanted out.

6.   He packed his government with nonentities, who would never challenge his leadership.

7.   His critics say he should not sit in government with a party whose military wing holds on to illegal weapons.

8.   However, we should interfere in local government with some trepidation because local democracy and local accountability underpin parliamentary democracy and accountability.

9.   If the talks fail Mr Barak May be forced into a national unity government with Likud.