On Sat, 4 Oct 2008 15:19:16 +0100, Tom Anderson wrote

There was, some years ago, a proposal for there to be a 'shadowing' period
before an election during which each minister was shadowed by his - errr -
shadow, in order that the incoming government had some idea in advance of
the
state of things. A suggested by-product of this was that it would encourage
outgoing ministers to behave more responsibly in the dying months of their
government.

This would, of course, require fixed election dates and fixed-term
governments.

It would also require you to know in advance who was going to win the
election.

Not at all... Either the incumbent party or the opposition will be forming
the government, both of whom would be represented during the shadow period.