Most Conservative MPs are reluctant backers of what they see as a grubby deal with the Liberal Democrats when they should be enjoying unfettered power, but none has put the dilemma they face better than this:

We feel the hand of history on our gonads, squeezing very hard.

The line comes courtesy of Gary Gibbon, who reports that senior Tories think an informal agreement (not a coalition) will be reached today, and the framework of a government tomorrow.

Tony Blair, you will recall, used a similar -- if less vulgar -- formulation in April 1998, ahead of the talks that led to the Good Friday Agreement. Blair said then:

A day like today is not a day for soundbites, really. But I feel the hand of history upon our shoulders. I really do.

Special offer: get 12 issues of the New Statesman for just £5.99 plus a free copy of "Liberty in the Age of Terror" by A C Grayling.