Today’s Guardian carries an in-depth interview with Nick Clegg (it’s labelled ‘Exclusive’, which seems a rather optimistic boast during an election campaign when the Lib Dem leader gives interviews every day).
Much of what he says will be familiar to readers of his pamphlet, The Liberal Moment, in which Nick made clear that the Tories are our opponents, Labour our rivals. But it may come as a pleasurable surprise for those progressive voters still wavering between Labour and the Lib Dems.
Here are some of Clegg’s quotes:
On the Tories:
What is striking is despite all the blather from Cameron over the past few weeks, he has made up his mind strategically to set his face against any profound reform of the political system. I think this will prove to be the biggest strategic error he has ever made, because one thing you cannot do is set your face against change when the demand for that change is so powerful that it is coming from millions of people. In terms of its DNA, the Conservative party is now the party of entrenched vested interests of politics.”
On tactical voting:
“In an election where the tectonic plates are moving so quickly and so radically, people have got to go with their gut instincts. Once in a while there are elections where people should be released to do what they want, and I think this is one of those elections – I really do.” He denies this shows he is willing to put his chance of overtaking Labour ahead of preventing a majority Tory government. “The Tories are nowhere near getting an overall majority. We are absolutely going for broke so far as the share of the vote is concerned.”
On the prospect of a Lib-Con coalition:
I think if you look at the debate last night, there is just a gulf between what David Cameron stands for and what I stand for – in terms of values, in terms of internationalism, in terms of fairness, in terms of progressive tax reform, in terms of political reform, in terms of simply living in denial, as does Labour, about a major problem of their creation in the immigration system.”
On the prospect of a Lib-Lab coalition:
“I have always accepted the first part of Roy Jenkins’s analysis which says that historically Labour and Liberal Democrats are two wings of a progressive tradition in British politics. … There are some people in the Labour party that now get [it that] progressive politics has to be about empowerment, reducing dependency on the state, increasing social mobility through individual empowerment, releasing power from the centre politically – but it is not where the Labour party lies at heart. Listen to Gordon Brown’s final message last night – it was: ‘You’re not allowed to take a risk on anyone else.’ It’s a very dismal, cramped and depressing message. That’s why polls are putting us ahead of Labour, and that’ll crystallise in the next few days into a two-horse race.”
And, finally, on the Labservatives:
I personally think both the Tories and Labour face profound crises of identity because they are both based on assumptions of mass support that have now evaporated. The arrogance of both the Conservative and Labour party that it’s somehow their birthright to speak on behalf of millions of people. That’s gone.”
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10 Comments
An interesting implication there – sounds like he might be willing to cut a deal with Labour, just not with New Labour (led by Brown). There is quite a significant body within Labour who isn’t fond of the rightwards direction their party has taken, and the embarrassing result they’re about to get just might dislodge something there.
No, not yet! If anything we seem to be sliding backwards in the polls on average. Cameron is benefiting from getting in some useful sound bites, and both trad’ parties are beginning the squeeze of fear on the electorate. At this point we need to be doing three things: 1/ introduce a cabinet in waiting and interrupt the idea that we lack experience compared to, say, the Tories. 2/ we need to use fear ourselves, unfortunately most of the electorate do not have access to (or choose) media that offers an intellectual arguments about the facts. So yes, question what will happen if we have another period of distorted minority voted parliamentary majority having to take the decisions to avoid a Greek tragedy. 3/ attack, attack, attack – we have an awful lot to go at!
“He denies this shows he is willing to put his chance of overtaking Labour ahead of preventing a majority Tory government. “The Tories are nowhere near getting an overall majority. We are absolutely going for broke so far as the share of the vote is concerned.”
It’s bad luck for Clegg that this has appeared on a day when projections based on some polls are showing the Tories within a couple of dozen seats of a majority.
Is Clegg’s calculation that if he can increase his share of the vote across the country and strengthen his parliamentary party at Labour’s expense this time, then in 2014 or 2015 the Lib Dems might actually be in a position to win an election against a Tory government that may be spectacularly unpopular because of the deepest public spending cuts for three generations? Would he actually prefer the Tories to win this time?
The Observer is following its Guardian stable-mate and has written a well-argued leader column calling for its readers to vote Liberal Democrat (with the same Guardian fudge that tactical voting in Labour-Conservative marginals is preferable here).
Labour firming up in the polls. What methodology are they using?
Along the same lines as my musings about whether Nick Clegg might prefer a Tory victory this time, here’s an interesting article by (the admittedly ghastly) Simon Jenkins on what a nightmare a hung parliament might be for him:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/apr/27/nick-clegg-coalition-horror-pr
As best I can make out, his argument is that there aren’t any liberals or people who like Lib Dem policies, and people are only voting for the Lib Dems in protest.
I don’t think it’s much of an argument.
Andrew
I think the crucial point is how difficult it would be to get – and keep – the party behind a deal with either Labour or the Conservatives. I’m sure a hung parliament along the lines the projections are suggesting would be anything but a bed of roses for the Lib Dems.
We have, as a one member – one vote party, had far more debate and consideration of policies and hard decisions than the Tories or Labour. There’s no reason to consider a Lib Dem split more likely than a Tory or Labour split in the event of a coalition or minority government. 65+ years out of power engenders a certain discipline and party democracy, a process.
Well, I doubt we’d be looking at a coalition arrangement with either of them, just a “confidence and supply” deal that would probably be made in exchange for electoral reform, and lets one of them control the executive branch while having no real control over legislation. That’s not so difficult to sell (and the Americans have proved that it is a stable model for government, since they routinely have opposite parties in control of their executive and legislative branches).