So this is Coalition, erm, four in a row?

The penny just dropped with me that while we have a left-right coaliton just now, we had a centre-right/centre-right coalition in the previous three parliaments due to the Electoral Pact Of Complete Submission between the Labour party and the Co-Operative Party. The Co-operative lot insist they are definitely a real party: I wonder how hard they negotiated their coalition in the days after May 1st 1997?