Tag Archives: nick clegg

NewsHound

In Full: Nick Clegg’s remarks at inter-faith event in London: A message of hope over fear, of community over division

By NewsHound | Fri 24th May 2013 - 2:38 pm

Nick Clegg attended an inter-faith event in North London, designed to show solidarity between the diverse communities in the capital, in the wake of the murder of Drummer Lee Rigby. He didn’t have a script, but thankfully someone was taking notes. Here is the full text of his remarks:

Can I thank you all very, very much for being here and can I thank, particularly, everybody at the Centre, all the – all the volunteers here, everyone from the Peabody operation.  You – you’ve helped us to organise this at very, very short notice indeed.

It was a suggestion made to me

…

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NewsHound

Nick Clegg: Terrorism has no religion

By NewsHound | Fri 24th May 2013 - 2:08 pm

The BBC reports that Nick Clegg has been speaking at an interfaith event in London set up after the murder of Drummer Lee Rigby in Woolwich on Wednesday. He told representatives of a number of faiths:

Terrorism has no religion because there is no religious conviction that can justify the kind of arbitrary, savage random violence that we saw on the streets of  Woolwich.

He concluded his remarks by quoting a verse from the Koran:

If anyone slays a human being, it shall be as though he killed all mankind; whereas, if anyone saves a life, it shall be as though he

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Stephen Tall

“Is the coalition government doing enough to encourage social mobility?”

By Stephen Tall | Thu 23rd May 2013 - 8:45 am

social-mobilityThat was the question I was asked to answer for a new magazine, The New Idealist (available online here). Here’s what I said…

Social mobility: it’s a phrase much-beloved by politicians from all three parties. Who, after all, can possibly disagree with the fine sentiments of Nick Clegg in his social mobility strategy paper, Opening Doors, Breaking Barriers (April 2011)?

In Britain today, life chances are narrowed for too many by the circumstances of their birth: the home they’re born into, the neighbourhood they grow up in or the jobs their

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Caron Lindsay

Nick Clegg says coalition “staunch opponents” will work together till 2015

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 22nd May 2013 - 6:30 pm

Much attention has been given in the news to Nick Clegg’s and David Cameron’s remarks on the future of the Coalition. Both were keen to emphasise that the Government would stick together until 2015.  I’m never sure it’s wise to assert these things so strongly when there was never a realistic prospect of a split anyway. The attempts of some in the Conservative Party to deflect attention from their own torrid internal relations by spreading nonsense about a plot to unseat Nick Clegg, or suggesting his jacket is on a shoogly peg if the European elections don’t go well are …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged and | 5 Comments
NewsHound

Nick Clegg and Paddy Ashdown win the argument on Afghan interpreters

By NewsHound | Wed 22nd May 2013 - 8:00 am

The BBC reports:

Up to 600 Afghan interpreters who worked alongside British troops are to be given the right to live in the UK, government sources have confirmed.

The plan marks a climbdown from ministers who had decided they should not get the same UK resettlement rights as interpreters in the Iraq conflict.

Afghan interpreters who worked on the front line for a year or more will initially be offered a five-year visa.

This is something, as we reported 3 weeks ago, that Nick Clegg and Paddy Ashdown have been arguing for.

Earlier this week, Paddy Ashdown said that it was Downing Street …

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Mark Valladares

ALDE Party Congress venue for 2013 announced… welcome to London!

By Mark Valladares | Mon 20th May 2013 - 4:51 pm

The Liberal Democrats are proud to announce the hosting of the ALDE (Alliance of Liberals and Democrats in Europe) Congress in London at the end of November this year.

The ALDE Party Congress is the biggest annual event gathering Liberals across Europe:

  • over 650 members of liberal parties from around the continent;
  • top politicians including Prime Ministers, European Commissioners, Ministers, Members of the European and national Parliaments, Members of the Committee of the Regions, and many other delegates
  • an event with European visibility, acknowledging the role of the supporting party within both a European and the national political context
  • topical debates, high level speeches and

…

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Posted in Europe / International, Events and News | Also tagged | 1 Comment
NewsHound

LibLink: Tim Bale – “The biggest effect of the Lib Dems holding their nerve has been to help the Conservatives lose theirs”

By NewsHound | Sun 19th May 2013 - 3:25 pm

tim baleTim Bale is professor of politics at Queen Mary, University of London, an an historian of the Conservative party. And this week, to mark the third anniversary of the formation of the Coalition, he’s turned his attention to the Lib Dems.

The article begins by dissecting that ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ verb — compromise — to highlight the problems posed by the Coalition for both its parties: ‘Used actively, it’s a good thing – you want something; I want something different; we talk it over; we come to an arrangement; …

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Caron Lindsay

In full: David Steel’s lecture on the centenary of Jo Grimond’s birth

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 19th May 2013 - 11:49 am
Liberal Democrats including Alistair Carmichael (ok, so he lives there), Willie Rennie, David Steel and Nick Clegg have headed to Orkney this weekend to celebrate 100 years since the birth of Jo Grimond, the man credited with building up the Liberal Party after is demise. David Steel gave a lecture in the Firth Church at Finnstown and Nick Clegg spoke at a dinner last night.
Steel’s lecture, outlining Grimond’s  crashes through our normal word limit, but I think it’s worth reading the whole thing to get an insight into the history of the Liberal Party and into both Grimond’s and Steel’s

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Stephen Tall

Nick Clegg’s Letter from the Leader: “Of course the EU has to change”

By Stephen Tall | Sun 19th May 2013 - 10:45 am

No prizes for guessing which subject Nick Clegg tackles in his latest weekly letter to supporters: Europe. He rattles through the three positions: ‘calamitous outers’, ‘inconsequential renegotiators’ and ‘achievable reformers’. No prizes for guessing which he identifies with the Lib Dems. Over to Nick…

libdem letter from nick clegg

I’m writing this week’s Letter to you from Kirkwall in Orkney. Alistair Carmichael and Jim Wallace have been trying to persuade me to make the trip for a while and I’ve finally made it in order to join the celebrations of the centenary of Jo Grimond’s birth.

The big debate this week in British politics, which featured strongly in PMQs – where I was standing in for the PM (you can watch it here) – has obviously been about our future role in Europe. An issue on which Jo Grimond was a pioneer and leader.

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Duncan Hames MP

Duncan Hames MP writes… Must we continue to use food for fuel?

By Duncan Hames MP | Fri 17th May 2013 - 8:25 am

The European Union is currently committed to ensuring that 10% of each Member State’s transport energy will come from biofuels by 2020. This originated as a well-intentioned attempt to combat climate change, but time has shown that using food for fuel can have devastating impacts on hunger and the environment. I’ve come to accept that it is time for a re-think.

In addition to concerns over their green credentials, biofuels are now recognised to be a key cause of hunger, affecting millions of people in developing countries. The World Bank, OECD, WTO, IFPRI, IMF, and five other UN agencies recommended …

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Caron Lindsay

“Feisty” Clegg in Groundhog PMQs

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 15th May 2013 - 3:17 pm

So, the Commons had the weekly panto half hour to ask Nick Clegg lots of awkward questions. MPs limited themselves, though, to asking several questions many times over. Nick looked as if he was thoroughly enjoying the encounter and took every opportunity to promote Liberal Democrat coalition wins like fairer taxes and the single tier pension. Strangely,  though, he didn’t once mention the words stronger economy or fairer society. Not once.

Harriet Harman’s strategy was strange.  She wasted 3 questions on the fact that Cameron wasn’t there and that he’d only answered questions on one week in the last eight. Well, …

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Posted in News and Parliament | Also tagged | 29 Comments
Stephen Tall

How Nick Clegg should deal with Tory Eurosceptics at PMQs today

By Stephen Tall | Wed 15th May 2013 - 11:30 am

Caron’s already given you the 70 minute warning that Nick Clegg is standing in for David Cameron at PMQs today at 12 noon. The Mail’s Matt Chorley has a suggestion for his best approach to the head-banging wing of the Tory party:

The Lib Dem press office took him at his word:

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Posted in PMQs | Also tagged | 9 Comments
The Voice

Clegg v Bone: The Rematch

By The Voice | Wed 15th May 2013 - 10:52 am

Just so you all know, Nick Clegg is doing Prime Minister’s Questions today as David Cameron is in the US. He will face Harriet Harman and no doubt a fair few of the Tory right wing Eurosceptics.

I doubt Peter Bone will be as friendly as he was last time Nick did PMQs, in November. And Ms Dorries has restored from the wilderness.

Nick has usually performed very well at PMQs. I expect his weekly phone in and regular town hall meetings make a Commons full of baying MPs much easier to tame. I’m tempted to make a comment about the …

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NewsHound

Clegg on UK and EU relationship with Africa: “more trade, fairer tax and greater business transparency”

By NewsHound | Tue 14th May 2013 - 2:47 pm

Nick Clegg gave a speech at the Africa Jubilee Business Forum which celebrated the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the Organisation for African Unity. Here are the highlights:

Political rights must go in tandem with economic growth

Everybody, of course, wants growth – the key decision is how you achieve it. More and more African countries face a choice between the economic models of authoritarian capitalism, on the one hand, and liberal democracy, on the other.

In countries like China, authoritarian capitalism argues the case for economic growth ahead of political freedoms. And it’s a seductive argument in view of surging growth

…

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Posted in Europe / International and News | Also tagged , , , and | 2 Comments
Stephen Tall

Clegg leadership plot: Gove’s ‘crazy grenade’ detonates, briefly, before Tories revert to arguing about Europe

By Stephen Tall | Sun 12th May 2013 - 11:05 am

Hats off to Mr Gove! With the Tory party in its customary state of internecine warfare over Europe, the education secretary used his interview this morning on The Andrew Marr Show to allege a leadership plot to overthrow Nick Clegg. Here’s PoliticsHome’s account:

Michael Gove has suggested Nick Clegg’s opposition to increasing childminders-toddlers ratio is due to an internal Liberal Democrat plot to unseat him as leader.

Mr Clegg said last week that he was “yet to be persuaded” by the case for allowing staff to look after more children.

However Mr Gove today said the reforms, which were defended by

…

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Stephen Tall

Nick Clegg’s Letter from the Leader: “Lib Dems remain focused on the things people really care about”

By Stephen Tall | Sun 12th May 2013 - 8:55 am

Nick Clegg isn’t one for the pomp and pageant of parliament (he’s rather keen to let you know). He’s also keen to let you know that this week’s Queen’s Speech was “designed to build a stronger economy and a fairer society in Britain, enabling everyone to get on in life” (to quote Her Majesty). Over to Nick…

libdem letter from nick clegg

Fair pensions. Decent care in your old age. A tax cut for small businesses taking on staff. A major new high speed railway. Energy investment to keep lights on and bills affordable. Shared parental leave. Rehabilitation of prisoners to set them back on the straight and narrow.

Just a few highlights from the Government’s plans for legislation this year, outlined this Wednesday in the Queen’s Speech, designed to build a stronger economy and a fairer society in Britain, enabling everyone to get on in life.

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Caron Lindsay

Praise for Nick Clegg and Liberal Democrats from both sides – should we be worried?

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 11th May 2013 - 12:16 pm

I remember hearing Nick Clegg saying that if he was being attacked from both left and right, then he felt reassured that he was doing something right. He may be feeling slightly worried now, as there have been a couple of not entirely unpleasant pieces in the New Statesman and Daily Telegraph in the last few days.

From the left, we have Rafael Behr, the political editor of the New Statesman, arguing that it’s Nick Clegg, not Nigel Farage, who has shaken up Westminster:

For Lib Dems, the distinction is between two styles of politics. There is the managerial one, laden with

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NewsHound

LDVIdeo: Nick Clegg on pensions and carers’ reforms

By NewsHound | Wed 8th May 2013 - 2:30 pm

From the Guardian, video of Nick Clegg talking about Liberal Democrat inspired pensions reforms and help for the elderly and their carers.

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The Voice

LDVideo: Nick Clegg and Simon Hughes comment on the Lib Dem performance in the local elections

By The Voice | Sat 4th May 2013 - 5:20 pm

The Lib Dem leader and deputy leader on the outcomes from Thursday’s elections…

Nick Clegg on the Lib Dems’ local election performance

Local elections: Simon Hughes defends Lib Dem result

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Posted in YouTube | Also tagged and | 6 Comments
The Voice

Clegg defends Coalition: “We inherited from Labour an economy teetering on the edge”

By The Voice | Wed 1st May 2013 - 8:58 pm

Nick Clegg was interviewed while on the campaign trail in Lewes today for Channel 4 News by Gary Gibbon — here’s a 6-minute excerpt in which Nick explains the steps the Coalition has taken to rescue the economy since 2010:

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Posted in YouTube | Also tagged , and | 13 Comments
Stephen Tall

“We cannot afford it” – Cameron on raising income tax threshold to £10k. In 2010.

By Stephen Tall | Wed 1st May 2013 - 7:05 pm

With a hat-tip to Ed Stradling, here’s a reminder of what David Cameron told Nick Clegg about raising the income tax threshold in the first leaders’ debate:


(Watch it on YouTube here.)

I think it’s fair to say the Tories have since had a change of heart. Apparently it was their idea all the time:

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Caron Lindsay

Nick Clegg and Paddy Ashdown say that Afghan interpreters should have the right to live in the UK

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 1st May 2013 - 1:30 pm

Almost exactly four years ago, Nick Clegg, as an opposition party leader, led a debate in Parliament in which the Labour Government was defeated on its plans to restrict the rights of Gurkhas to settle in the UK. David Cameron was keen to get himself into the photos with Joanna Lumley at the time.

Four years on, and Clegg and Cameron have opposing views on whether Afghan interpreters who helped our soldiers in that country should be allowed to settle here. Today’s Times (£) reports that the Prime Minister, along with Theresa May and Philip Hammond are against allowing …

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Posted in Europe / International and News | Also tagged , , and | 3 Comments
The Voice

Nick Clegg grilled by Martha Kearney: Lib Dems “the voice of fairness” in government

By The Voice | Tue 30th April 2013 - 8:35 pm

Nick Clegg fared better than Ed Miliband in his pre-local election grilling today by Martha Kearney on BBC Radio 4’s World at One. You can watch the 18-minute interview here:

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Caron Lindsay

Nick Clegg talks economy, snoopers charter and human rights with Andrew Neil

By Caron Lindsay | Mon 29th April 2013 - 9:25 am

Yesterday, Nick Clegg did a long and quite technical interview with Andrew Neil on the Sunday Politics. They talked about the fragility of the economy, measures taken by the Coalition to boost construction and manufacturing and  the Green Investment Bank. They also talked about Nick’s decision to kill off the so-called Snoopers’ Charter. Neil showed him quotes from senior police officers and he said quite unequivocally that the Police had enough powers already. You can watch the whole interview here and for a quick summary, I’ve done a collection of my tweets on Storify.

 

–>

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Caron Lindsay

Call Clegg 25 April 2013: the highlights

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 27th April 2013 - 9:06 am

Our reports from this week’s Call Clegg have concentrated on Nick’s unequivocal announcement that the so called Snoopers’ Charter, which would have obliged companies to store details of websites visited and social media contacts, will not be enacted while the Liberal Democrats are in Government. However, that only took up a small part of his half hour session. Here are some of the other highlights:

Abu Qatada

Nick was asked several times about the idea that Britain should temporarily pull out of the European Convention on Human Rights. While he did not explicitly rule the idea out, I do not think …

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Stephen Tall

Clegg threat to block any further welfare cuts unless Cameron agrees to tax wealthy pensioners’ benefits

By Stephen Tall | Thu 25th April 2013 - 8:35 pm

It’s 18 months since Nick Clegg first publicly aired the idea that some universal benefits given to better-off pensioners should be means-tested — an idea that’s found favour with two-thirds of Lib Dem members.

There have always been three problems with the idea.

The first problem is that means-testing is bureaucratic and potentially expensive. However, there is an easy way around that: treat their cash value as income, and tax this income at the appropriate marginal rate, as proposed by CentreForum last year. Pensioners with annual incomes below the personal tax threshold would be wholly unaffected; those …

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Caron Lindsay

LibLink…Nick Thornsby: The snooper’s charter has reminded Nick Clegg, finally, he is a liberal

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 25th April 2013 - 6:55 pm

Yes, I know, it is Snoopers’ Charter Central here on Liberal Democrat Voice today. I hope you will forgive us for being relieved and delighted that Nick Clegg has made sure that the Government will not be bringing forward an illiberal, unnecessary and intrusive measure.

Over at the Guardian’s Comment is Free, our Nick Thornsby has given his take on the issue, going back through the events of the past year since the idea first emerged. At that point the Party was furious that we could even contemplate such a thing:

 Their anger was such that a hastily arranged conference call with

…

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Helen Duffett

Fairer Taxes – Preview tonight’s Lib Dem Party Political Broadcast

By Helen Duffett | Thu 25th April 2013 - 3:51 pm

Tonight’s Party Political Broadcast by the Liberal Democrats repeats the message that we have delivered a rise in the tax threshold, showing how people will benefit from this.

Nick Clegg says,

If you earn the minimum wage we have halved your Income Tax bill. And if you work tirelessly in a low-paid job, you’ll no longer pay any Income Tax at all.

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Posted in Lib Dem TV | Also tagged | 11 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Nick Clegg: Snoopers’ charter is not going to happen with Liberal Democrats in Government

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 25th April 2013 - 12:35 pm

Julian Huppert has already joyfully welcomed Nick Clegg’s decision to veto Tory plans on web snooping. However, I thought I’d give you the chance to hear Nick Clegg’s words from Call Clegg this morning. I certainly wasn’t expecting such an unequivocal statement. He has given himself no wiggle room at all. This is what he said:

What people have dubbed the snoopers’ charter, I just have to be clear with you, that’s not going to happen. In other words, the idea that the Government will pass a law which means there would be a record kept of every website you visit,

…

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Stephen Tall

Relief as 0.3% GDP growth shows economy flat-lining not shrinking. Has the Coalition’s mid-term slump bottomed out?

By Stephen Tall | Thu 25th April 2013 - 11:35 am

Reading too much into quarterly GDP figures is, of course, a mug’s game. They’re noticed mainly by avid Westminster-watchers and frequently revised both up and down.

None of that means they don’t matter, though. They frame the way politics is reported in the here and now. And that can affect what happens in the future. They can create momentum, or they can stop it dead.

A triple-dip recession, against market expectations of a modest 0.1% increase in GDP, would’ve been a severe blow to the Coalition’s message that, surely but slowly, the medicine’s working. As it is, the actual 0.3% …

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