This is London calling on how we should do it

Has the United Kingdom entered into an era of coalition governments? The question arises after the formation of the first peacetime coalition administration this side of World War II after an election in which practically everybody lost, to some extent or other. Gordon Brown's Labour lost the big apple.

They were thrown out of office after 13 years running the country following the soft New Labour revolution of 1997. They lost many seats, but not enough to give David Cameron's Conservative Party the majority they required and craved to be able to form a government single-handed.

The Tories lost that opportunity and a number of them, including some of their grandees, were very angry at 'young Cameron' for having a 24-point lead whittled down to just six.

Nick Clegg's Liberal Democrats lost the remarkable bounce which its leader's spirited participation in three televised leaders' debates gave it. Although Cameron did not believe him - he said the best joke he knew was 'Nick Clegg' - the Lib Dem leader was exuberant to declare that the election was a two-horse race, the Tories being the other steed with old Labour out of it.

As it turned out the iniquities of the first-past-the-post system once again dealt the party a harsh blow, more cruel than usual. The Lib Dems fell back to 23 per cent electoral support and actually lost five seats, rather than gaining 50 or 60, as the polls had caused them to aspire to.

Contrarily, in the end practically everybody won. The Tories and Lib Dems agreed to form a coalition government. Cameron became Prime Minister, one of the youngest ever. Possibly to his astonishment, Clegg became Deputy Prime Minister and the Lib Dems gained a number of top and secondary posts in the new Cabinet, to sit alongside the new breed of Cameron Tories, sprinkled with old war horses like Kenneth Clarke, the former Chancellor of the Exchequer.

On their part, Labour decided against the temptation to lose their dignity. Initially Brown spoke of a possible motley coalition with the Lib Dems, which would have required the support of at least three small groupings in parliament. It would have been a mish-mash of a government and would have only lasted a few months.

Yet, it transpired that the Labour team, who negotiated briefly with the Lib Dems, never really put their heart into the idea of that coalition. Social democrats all over the world too said thank goodness for that. Now Labour can concentrate on being a strong opposition party as they reconstruct themselves under a new, young leader.

Even loser Brown won in the end. He left office converted into a human being, a husband and father first and foremost. Had he shown that touch earlier, instead of wearing a robotic smile, he might well have won the election.

As it is, losing it and being put out of his misery is good for him and for Labour. He will find some niche in the international financial world and still carry with him global respect for his leading role in stabilising the world financial system when it nearly collapsed two years ago. He was publicly recognised for that after he stepped down as PM by the Governor of the Bank of England in a brilliant media questions-and-answer performance last Wednesday.

I'd say that we too won something out of the UK general election. We won three good examples, if we care to note and possibly follow them. Example one showed, in particular through the three UK leaders' televised debates, that it is possible to confront your adversary strongly but civilly - without insults, concentrating mostly on the argument notwithstanding a very personalised, presidential-like campaign.

Example two was the way Brown exited 10 Downing Street and Cameron entered it. Brown selflessly congratulated Cameron. While Cameron's first sentence in his first address to the media outside Number 10 was dedicated to recognising Labour's better achievements during their period in office.

Example three was the smooth handover of power which rapidly took place once Cameron and Clegg had agreed to coalesce. With the traditional help of the UK's respected civil service, the change took place without a hitch. All that does not mean that UK politics is perfect. But that there is a lot to learn from it.

The imperfections include the first-past-the-post electoral system. As it showed in the election on May 6, it can allocate seats very unfairly, without rational correlation between votes and seats. If the Lib Dems truly exploit their part in the coalition, this election could be the last under that defunct system.

Which would mean that, with the three big parties each having between a fourth and a third of electoral support, it would be unlikely that any single party would be able to form a government.

The British, unlike many other Europeans, are not used to coalitions and it might be the electorate which cements the status quo if a referendum is held.

That would be a bitter democratic irony for the Liberal Democrats, but it could happen.