Avoiding the question everyone is asking isn’t “treating people like grown-ups”!

Good grief. Nobody is avoiding the question. You’ve been told the answer three or four times in this comment thread alone. This is getting ridiculous. My prediction appears to have been correct.

Or, rather, it isn’t.

Tony Greaves

Yes, but that might be a bit difficult if, say, Labour under Brown wins more seats than the Conservatives in the GE. We should be prepared to at least consider working with whichever party wins the election but, if negotiations fail to bring the changes we would like, reserve the right not to be drawn into a co-operative relationship that isn’t in our interests.

Nick Clegg should be realistic about the possibilities of the Lib Dems holding the balance of power but committed only to considering the possibility of coalition/co-operation with whichever party secures most seats. Saying that we will/will not work with particular individuals in advance of the General Election would be a foolish tactic and would hardly be suggestive of a party of co-operation.

Well then, the party needs to think of a really good answer.

Specifically, one that will make it as hard as possible for the Tories in Lib Dem marginals to say: “The Lib Dems will keep Gordon Brown in Number 10″.

How about the following answer:

“If the conditions were right, we could work with David Cameron. If the conditions were right, we could work with Labour. We could not possibly work with Labour under Gordon Brown’s leadership.”

What I think is tragic for our country is that, in this dreadful time when the chances of a stalled recovery, the chances of a period of deflation, the chances of a lost decade similar to that experienced by Japan still remains the most likely outcome, there is no leader emerging who can build hope, stand for change and inspire us all to believe that together we can turn this country round.

The Saturday night programme on Obama’s campaign showed that when the American public wanted change, they wanted to be able to identify with their leader. They wanted that leader to have experienced what they were experiencing, to define his own journey as that of the journey of the country itself and the citizens of the country themselves.

Compare this quote from Obama to the American public with Nick today, “I am asking you to believe. Not just in my ability to bring real change to Washington … I am asking you to believe in yours.” Phew! That is change with the people and not for the people.

http://www.politics.co.uk/feature/legal-and-constitutional/comment-clegg-appears-baffled-by-2010-s-challenges-$1352560.htm

Well then, the party needs to think of a really good answer.

Specifically, one that will make it as hard as possible for the Tories in Lib Dem marginals to say: “The Lib Dems will keep Gordon Brown in Number 10″.

Here’s a good answer. Don’t pretend that a hung parliament isn’t a probability. It’s far more likely than a Lib Dem victory. Avoiding the question everyone is asking isn’t “treating people like grown-ups”!

Demonstrate that we’re willing to be co-operative with whoever wins, but that we’re not going to do any deals ahead of the election and that we’re not going to prop up a failing government. Say, as David Steel did in 1987, that the new PM will be the leader of the party with the most seats and that our party will only be supportive of that party in the event of a hung parliament if (a) we hold the balance of power and (b) certain concessions are made on policy direction.

This is why Clegg needs to hold onto his best cards and his most unique policies – as bargaining tools. That does not mean that we should be unrealistic in how we hope to achieve them, but it’s going to be pretty hard to sit down with prospective coalition partners arguing for our way on certain issues if those issues are sidelined or omitted from our manifesto.

Clegg has to be aware of how his comments are likely to be perceived by the public (i.e. prospective voters). As Geoffrey Payne points out, he clearly wants to turn the party into a tax-cutting party, which is not my idea of how the Lib Dems should be lpresenting itself to the public. We’re not soft Tories, we’re Liberals and Democrats.

I think Nick Clegg should sit down with Jim Wallace whose experience of leading a credible Lib Dem group into effective partnership in Scotland has shown what can be achieved.

Nick Clegg has confirmed the recession means the Lib Dems will have to shelve some of their best-known policies in a speech on his election “priorities”.

Extending free childcare, free personal care for the elderly and a “citizen’s pension” would have to be “put on hold” and tuition fees ended over six years.
But he said he could not “predict the future” and could only outline the core values his party would retain “in any situation”.

Those were “a complete change in the tax system” – the Lib Dems have pledged to raise the starting rate at which people pay tax to £10,000 and more one-to-one tuition and small class sizes at primary school.

He also said he wanted a “revamped economy weaned off the fascination with the City of London” – with more emphasis on infrastructure and green technology and a “new politics” – reducing the number of MPs by 150, getting “big money” out of politics and changing the voting system.

He said the days of “shopping lists” of spending pledges were over so his party could focus on priorities like schools.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8450863.stm

Very good speech, and I’d say excellent positioning. It’s interesting that there is a gap to be exploited thanks to the rather childish “class war” focus of Labour and “incompetence” focus of the Tories.

Well then, the party needs to think of a really good answer.

Specifically, one that will make it as hard as possible for the Tories in Lib Dem marginals to say: “The Lib Dems will keep Gordon Brown in Number 10″.

I agree that all the evidence suggests these questions are not going to go away, and will continue to be repeated endlessly. Stupidity knows no bounds.