Throughout most of the interview Clegg comes across as the voice of sweet reason, as befits a Liberal Democrat. But then he goes and ruins it when launching into a diatribe about David Cameron. He concludes...
He hasn't even changed the Conservatives.
I doubt whether even David Cameron's worst enemy could say that with a straight face. Candidate selection, economic policy, policy on green issues, role of women, shall I go on?
30 comments:
policy on green issues = hug a husky and not do a damn thing about cap and trade when he gets into power.
women = er, where are they all exactly in the New Model Tories ??
Clegg has a point - the Expenses Files investigation has pointed up how little has really changed under the bonnet of 'slick brand marketing'
You're right, Iain, and Clegg is wrong. Cameron has indeed changed the Conservatives.
I just wish he would change his policy on Grammar Schools and reform the NHS once he's Prime Minister.
Reason number 184 why the LibDems' are never going to enter Number 10.
Clegg needs to check his green-wasahh Euro airmiles first.
Iain,
One has to admit that Cameron has changed the Conservative Party - the question is, has that change been for the better?
Cleggy really is so very humorless.
As a Lib Demmer, I have been trying to get through to others in the LDP that their poisonous attitude towards Cameron is actually counter-productive. Particularly while coalition is even a remote possibility.
To me, it seems as though Clegg, purportedly an Orange Booker, is pandering to the lunatic left, SDP wing of the party.
But by doing so, he (they) irretrievably damage electoral credibility and guarantee 3rd place (or worse) ad infinitum.
I think Clegg is possibly kicking himself very very hard that Cameron has been able to take a lot from the LibDems and make the headlines with it.
Okay, so Cameron is a bit iffy on PR, but how better to twist some marginal voters' arms when it comes to choosing a candidate who could beat Labour in the seats which matter?
(it must be a coincidence that the word verification of this message is "PR O NO")
Where is MacAvity?
Old Cleggy seems to have a blog, which allows comments.
http://nickclegg.wordpress.com/
Why not go on over and tell him what you think? For a start, I suggest asking about
- why he shouldn't be prosecuted for falsely claiming travel expenses to use on his office
- whether he is paying back the Michael Brown donation
- whether he is making Rennard pay back his fiddled allowance
- what action he has taken against Andrew George
- why he has lied about holding a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty
- could he survive on a £30 pension
After this lot maybe he's right:The Shadow Cabinet: Who’s who of Thieves.
You can see Labour's sins in the righthand sidebar.
Clegg claiming that Cameron has not changed the Tories is just another LibDem big lie.
Perhaps what he meant to say was that Cameron hasn't yet quite managed to change the Tories into New Labour and so isn't fulfilling LibDem/Notting Hill hopes and dreams.
There's a fair bit of research that shows the views of Tory PPC's in winnable constituencies are way to the right of Cameron. It'll be interesting to see, to what extent Cameron is able/willing to maintain his modernising 'paintjob' after an election.
Economic policy? Cameron has economic policies?
Oh wait, I see. That's how he's changed them! They used to be economic libertarians, and now... they don't have an opinion on the subject.
None of those changes has actually happened yet and I remember before when the tories made promises in opposition that were contradicted by secret recordings of speeches...
Clegg is right. Cameron has not changed the Conservatives that is why we conservatives can not stomach his views on Europe, third runway at Heathrow, grammar schools and taxation, to name but a few.
There was a Conservative MEP chappy on Question Time last night, now he WAS a Conservative. Any chance of him taking over from Cameron and Cameron going over to front New Labour?
Liam said...
Okay, so Cameron is a bit iffy on PR...
No he's not; he's unequivocally against it, and quite rightly so.
you have to laugh when Smegg says the Tories are nutters - then promptly declares he has a chance of becoming PM.
you couldn't make it up.
stick to the warm beer, roll ups and sandals, Smegg, you vacuous oaf.
He's currently getting torn a new one on his unmoderated blog
Cameron's uneqivocally against giving England parity in the devolution stakes, either. Let the nightmares of West Lothian, the Barnett Formula and Health Apartheid continue and sooner or later the so-called UK will break.
Perhaps that's what old "Scots blood in my veins" "Sour Little Englanders" Cameron really wants?
Clegg's call for Westminster politics to be cleaned up is jaw dropping.
Lib Dems refuse to return stolen goods of £2.5 million. Clegg's fatuous reasoning "We did our due diligence to establish that it was was 'within the rules' to take money from Michael Brown.
It was subsequently proven that the money was stolen.
Why Clegg is allowed to get away with this using and enjoying the proceeds of theft is beyond me. Why is there now outcry?
The sheer hypocrisy of his position is blatant yet he is allowed free rein to pontificate. What the hell is wrong with us/
Well Clegg in his short time as leader has achieved far more than Cameron. The first scalp of a speaker in 300 years and the right of loyal Gurkha soldiers and their families to resettle into Britain when they have finished serving our country, to name just two tremendous achievments. what has Dave done?
Whilst I am sure that an analysis of the liberal democrats will bore everyone shitless (including the liberals) , Clegg to my mind perfectly sums up the ‘problem’ with the liberals – their LEADERSHIP is to the left and their VOTERS are to the right (as can be seen in their victories in old conservative seats) .
However……
A Conservative /Liberal Democrat alliance is not as outlandish as it may seem. Witness the Conservative/Liberal Democrat alliance, which used to govern the borough of Walsall ( a con/lab mixture of MP's -Richard Shepherd, Bruce George and David Winnick) quite happily (the liberals detested labour through and through). I wonder if this attitude will ever permeate the liberal hierarchy?
I remain yours
Lavendon
Clegg wants to be Prime Minister ? That should automatically bar him from the job.
Remember the wee Scots chappie who sat in David Owen's top pocket on Spitting Image ? "Go to your constituencies and prepare for Government !"
Some things never change ! I used to dream of playing for West Ham and dream of winning the lottery now - I'd have still got better odds on both than Clegg could for being Prime Minister.
Can anyone tell me why Liberal Democrats always come across as so pious, sanctimonious and self-righteous? Listening to Nick Clegg's recent contribution to 5 live made me feel quite nauseous.
Quite - he has changed, for the worst.
Candidate selection - centralised quotas instead of merit.
Role of women - apparently the party that gave us 10 years of Thatcher has something to prove to two parties that have never even elected female leaders. Again, the policy of merit that gave us the great Thatcher is replaced by socialist quotas that returned god awful 'Blair Babes' like Jacqui Smith and Blears. The whole 'Tories dislike women' thing is little more than a smear invented by their opponents. The Tories have the best record on putting women in high places, were the ones who brought in full Womens Suffrage in 1928, and are disproportionately voted for by women. Implicitly accepting this smear was an enormous strategic mistake and selling out to a horrible socialistic quota system was an ideological surrender.
Economic policy - Free markets are bad? (Or, not as good as we thought they were?) Again, this was an enormous strategic mistake. Only 2 years before socialism destroyed us yet again the Tories decided to go with Socialism. So now they can't really even attack Labour, because they decided to agree with all the debt and spending! Another calamitous strategic move and ideological surrender.
Green issues - See above. 'Green issues' are basically just a code for renationalising the economy. No one in public life even seems to be aware of solutions based on property rights.
If you want change that's actually good, get rid of that bloody Cameron.
We're are just a few days off an important election in which all the indications are that UKIP, aka the BNP in blazers, will do well at the expense of all the major parties. But here you are having a go at the LibDems again. A lot of people suspect that there are a good many UKIP fellow travellers in the Conservative Party, and the absence of any serious attempt by you or your party to confront the nonsense peddled by UKIP seems to bear that out.
Perhaps Clegg is right - underneath the glossy coat of paint, Tory Villas is still inhabited by the same old people and prejudices.
Err, duck houses, servants' quarters, moats?
ClIs it just me or is Nick Clegg imitating David Cameron he is copying him he speaks like him and he acts like him so he must think David Cameron has something even down to speaking without notes infront of a question and answer audience Cameron has been doing this for months and months.
UKIP is not in any way like the BNP.
BNP is labour with racism
UKIP is thatcherism. I would say 'with euroscepticism,' but, err, that is Thatcherism.
So if you're saying "there are Thatcherite fellow travellers in the Tories"... are you sure you're in the right party? Maybe Labour or the Communist Party of Great Britain would be more your style?
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