The question on everyone’s lips — how long will the alliance between Mark Latham and Pauline Hanson actually last?

MARK Latham has joined Pauline Hanson’s One Nation party. The question on everyone’s lips now is — how long will this political hook-up last?

ALREADY there are calculations as to just when the extraordinary Pauline Hanson/Mark Latham One Nation hook-up will explode in disaster.

Surely there won’t be enough room for both the former Labor Party, former Liberal Democrat Party maverick and Pauline Hanson in the party she named after herself?

And not just because two leviathan egos are at stake.

He’s articulate, well-read; she speaks in grammatical pratfalls, her most inspiring recent reading was a T-shirt slogan.

It’s got to end in tears, says the prevailing view.

There is an empty chair on the panel next to @PaulineHansonOz this morning as Mark Latham pulled out at the last minute. #Studio10 pic.twitter.com/hJ2x9pxp62

— Studio 10 (@Studio10au) November 6, 2018

But the calculations and associated wishful thinking might be disappointed because this is an alliance of stunning cynicism.

Ms Hanson and Mr Latham have struck a deal based on separate, individual benefit rather than any genuine policy partnership or any issue other than their own wellbeing.

It is based on two elections: the NSW poll in March and the federal election expected in May.

In March, he gets to harness the considerable One Nation support to win a seat in the NSW Legislative Council where he can promote himself, his opinions and media gigs with no electorate to distract him.

She gets a NSW leader who will push the One Nation cause in the lead-up to the May federal general election, and who will not be in federal Parliament cramping her leadership style.

Plus, for Mark Latham there could the enjoyment of a triumphant return.

Mr Latham already is familiar with the NSW Legislative Council. He once sat on it. That’s “on it”, not in it.

Some 30 years ago when he was a young state Labor staffer he was banished to a bare, dark office in the rafters above the chamber.

Outspoken even then, he had somehow offended the state Labor leader Bob Carr and was sent to the attic to complete the outline of a marginal seats campaign.

He is now almost certain to return to Macquarie St with the One Nation ground force expected to give him the numbers he will need.

And he doesn’t need many votes.

Sure, they’re all smiles now but how long is this political alliance going to last? Pauline Hanson and Mark Latham outside the 2GB studio in Sydney. Picture: John Grainger

Mr Latham would require just 4.22 per cent of the votes in a statewide ballot to be one of 21 candidates elected to the state Upper House.

Then it is eight years guaranteed — barring extraordinary events — in parliament at a current salary of $165,000 a year plus a base expenses allowance of $58,000.

Not bad for a chap on a federal MP’s pension.

Not since David Oldfield, Ms Hanson’s one-time adviser, sat in the state upper house from 1999-2007, has One Nation had a NSW presence.

But the anticipation of disaster will not be easily fended off, because of Ms Hanson’s capacity for dumping her own people, and Mr Latham’s proven record of antagonistic behaviour.

In fact the Hanson/Latham connection came — as news.com.au reported at the time — after Ms Hanson fell out with her NSW senator Brian Burston in a row over tax policy.

The speculation of a deal strengthened when Mr Latham voiced robo-calls for One Nation during the Longman by-election. Plus there were earlier signs of an affinity.

Mr Latham has promoted Pauline Hanson in various media outlets, has backed her support for right-wing positions, and in July 2016 told Sky News her return to parliament was a “phenomenal story of human endurance”.

And he interviewed her on her book of speeches, Please Explain.

After a string of controversies, is this a triumphant return to politics for Mark Latham? Picture: Dan Himbrechts/AAP