Tag Archives: muscular liberalism

Opinion: Muscular liberalism works, but only if you exercise the muscles

By Lee Dargue | Sun 3rd July 2011 - 4:21 pm

Nick Clegg had a visit to Birmingham on Wednesday, and members had the chance to question him in a private location. He invited the “vitriol” of people, as well as hopefully some positive questions, as he accepted, as leader, he has to take the flak.

He gave some interesting responses to questions ranging from the interventions in Libya, education policy and what people should do to help hold and increase support for the party.

It was this last point that struck a chord with me, because Nick espoused a view that I’ve held for months – we cannot allow …

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged nick clegg | 24 Comments

Opinion: Clegg is right on multiculturalism

By Fiyaz Mughal | Mon 7th March 2011 - 4:35 pm

A matter of hours after his party finished a humiliating sixth in the Barnsley Central by-election, Nick Clegg’s ‘Muscular Liberalism’ speech gave him an opportunity to appease disillusioned party members ahead of the spring conference. Amid the continuous onslaught of accusations of ‘selling out’, Clegg’s defense of multiculturalism showed clear water between his policy and that of the Conservatives.

In this speech, Clegg highlighted an indisputable split in the Coalition Government’s approach to tackling extremism. The deputy prime minister showed that he is unwilling to compromise on the communities agenda that remains the Liberal Democrats’ strongest suit amongst the inevitable compromises …