Tag Archives: nick clegg

Mark Pack

TV leaders debate set to happen: if Sky keeps its nerve

By Mark Pack | Wed 2nd September 2009 - 9:19 am

I’ve always wondered why the media don’t call the bluff of party leaders when it comes to holding leaders debate at general election time.

Many in the media regularly and sincerely go on the record about believing such debates would be good for democracy, but in the past they’ve always held back from the idea that a debate could go ahead without all the relevant party leaders first agreeing.

That’s a view that has puzzled me because – particularly since the law was changed a few years ago – there are pretty strong legal grounds for being able to hold a debate, …

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The Voice

Nick Clegg publishes his message for Ramadan

By The Voice | Sun 30th August 2009 - 2:45 pm

You can find it as Muslim News – here’s an excerpt:

We in the Liberal Democrats have always championed religious tolerance, and we are proud of the diverse traditions in our country. We recognise the importance of the principle of Zakat to Muslims, especially at this time, and I deeply regret that Islam can be unfairly portrayed in many parts of the media especially when Muslim communities in this country do so much excellent charitable work.

The full article is here.

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Stephen Tall

CommentIsLinked@LDV… James Graham: Nick Clegg – where have you been?

By Stephen Tall | Sun 30th August 2009 - 1:30 pm

Over at The Guardian’s Comment Is Free blog, Lib Dem blogger James Graham has a pop at the Lib Dem leader for squandering the political opportunity presented by a quiet August. Here’s an excerpt:

Where was Nick Clegg when #welovetheNHS kicked off? He did, in fairness, manage to fire off a single tweet – 24 hours late – but the party made no attempt to use this as an opportunity to carve out its own distinctive agenda on health. Four days after his return to Libya, Clegg did manage to squeeze out a press release about Abdelbaset al-Megrahi but while criticising Gordon Brown for not making his own position clear declined to do likewise. Considering Clegg was calling for the summer recess to be cancelled just a couple of months ago, this does smack somewhat of dropping the ball. …

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Stephen Tall

Daily View 2×2: 30 August 2009

By Stephen Tall | Sun 30th August 2009 - 12:05 pm

2 Big Stories


Sunday Times: Lockerbie bomber ‘set free for oil’

Today’s Times has the big story:

The British government decided it was “in the overwhelming interests of the United Kingdom” to make Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, the Lockerbie bomber, eligible for return to Libya, leaked ministerial letters reveal. Gordon Brown’s government made the decision after discussions between Libya and BP over a multi-million-pound oil exploration deal had hit difficulties. These were resolved soon afterwards.

The letters were sent two years ago by Jack Straw, the justice secretary, to Kenny MacAskill, his counterpart in Scotland, who has been widely criticised for taking the formal decision to permit Megrahi’s release. The correspondence makes it plain that the key decision to include Megrahi in a deal with Libya to allow prisoners to return home was, in fact, taken in London for British national interests.

The Lib Dems Ed Davey – who has been leading the campaign for full disclosure over Mr Al Megrahi’s release – is quoted by the paper:

This is the strongest evidence yet that the British government has been involved for a long time in talks over al-Megrahi in which commercial considerations have been central to their thinking.”

Brown’s surprise Afghanistan trip scuppers Cameron

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Stephen Tall

Time to stop wasting money on “frigging ridiculous” health authorities, says Clegg

By Stephen Tall | Fri 28th August 2009 - 7:45 pm

The Guardian big-ups Nick Clegg’s plans to cut waste in the public services, specifically by trying to rein-in hospital trusts using their monopoly position to drive up costs. The paper bills it as “one of the most radical ideas of any of the main political parties to save money”:

Under the Lib Dem plan, hospital trusts would be forced to charge the same rate for operations as the cheapest and most efficient hospitals in the country.

Clegg said: “It is a very specific but rather radical idea, of saying that all hospital tariffs under the ‘payment by results’ system should match the most efficient tariffs in the hospital system. We think that would save about £2bn a year.”

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Stephen Tall

Clegg: Turner’s bank tax is “unworkable”

By Stephen Tall | Fri 28th August 2009 - 7:09 pm

The BBC tells us:

Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg has queried the “workability” of a suggested tax on banks to curb excessive bonuses. Lord Turner, head of the UK’s finance watchdog, has suggested taxing banks’ financial transactions. The Treasury has urged restraint on bonuses but stressed taxation was a matter for the chancellor. Mr Clegg said the idea had practical pitfalls but agreed with Lord Turner’s “sentiments” and said that some banks needed to be broken up. …

Mr Clegg said there were real questions marks about the “workability” of a UK-only bank tax, given that most banks operated across

…

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Stephen Tall

Nick launches ‘In The Know’ to save taxpayers’ money

By Stephen Tall | Fri 28th August 2009 - 1:45 pm

Nick Clegg has today launched the Lib Dems’ ‘Ask the People in the Know’ project inviting public sector workers to help identify ways in which government can cut out waste while protecting services in order to save taxpayers’ money.

Anyone working in the public sector can submit their ideas on where money can be saved at http://nickclegg.com/intheknow. Nick has pledged that ideas submitted via the ‘Asking the People Who Know’ website will help inform the work currently being undertaken by the party to identify areas of waste in public spending:

Hard-working nurses and teachers tell me how frustrated they are by

…

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Stephen Tall

Labour teaches kids the new 3 Rs: Remand, Raw, and Recession

By Stephen Tall | Thu 27th August 2009 - 6:45 pm

Three stories today – see if you can spot the blatant connection.

First up, the first R: Remand. Lib Dem research today revealed that over a million kids have been convicted of a criminal offence over the last decade, with a further million cautioned since Labour came to power in 1997. Here’s the breakdown of figures as revealed in an answer to a Lib Dem parliamentary question:

* 1,033,454 children aged between 10 and 17 have been convicted of a criminal offence since 1997. This includes almost 30,000 10 to 12 year olds.

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Stephen Tall

Clegg: expenses reform is being “swept under the carpet” #mpsexpenses

By Stephen Tall | Thu 27th August 2009 - 9:45 am

Nick Clegg has today penned an article for The Daily Telegraph urging the Labour and Tory parties to take action to reform Parliament in the wake of the MPs’ expenses scandal. Here’s an excerpt:

The new political season is beginning. Spring and early summer were defined by the expenses scandal, but what will the autumn be like? Will demand for change continue or will the political establishment succeed in sweeping it under the carpet? …

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Mark Pack

MPs on Facebook: leading the way or forgetting to change the defaults?

By Mark Pack | Tue 25th August 2009 - 2:20 pm

Cross-posted from The Wardman Wire:

A new studyof MPs on Facebook shows widespread use of the social network by Parliamentarians, but also a range of curious choices about how to use the medium which may in part reflect a failure to change default settings.

The study, carried out by Woodnewton Associates and based on evidence gathered in May this year, found that:

  • 26% of MPs have a Facebook presence (a page or profile).
  • Liberal Democrat MPs lead the way in Facebook usage, with 65% being on Facebook. 25% of Labour MPs and 21% of Conservative MPs are on Facebook.

Whilst a static presence in …

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Stephen Tall

Brown’s silence on Megrahi: “absurd” says Clegg, “right” says Steel

By Stephen Tall | Mon 24th August 2009 - 1:45 pm

Nick Clegg has today condemned Gordon Brown for issuing no statement following the release on compassionate grounds of convicted Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali Al Megrahi:

Although the decision to release Megrahi was a Scottish one for which Gordon Brown was not personally responsible, the fallout puts the UK at the centre of an international storm.

“In these circumstances, it is absurd and damaging that the British Prime Minister simply remains silent in the hope that someone else will take the flak.”

He went further on this lunchtime’s BBC Radio 4 World at One, openly criticising the decision of the Scottish Executive, saying, “I find it difficult to accept that someone convicted in a British court of law should be released as he was.”

But speaking on this morning’s BBC Radio 4 Today Programme his predecessor Lord (David) Steel – a former presiding officer of the Scottish Parliament – defended the Prime Minister’s stance:

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Duncan Brack

Ask questions at conference – even if you’re not there!

By Duncan Brack | Sat 22nd August 2009 - 9:44 am

Party members not going to the Bournemouth conference still have a chance to input to some of the discussions. The conference features three Q&A sessions:

Sunday 20th September (afternoon) – with Rt Hon Nick Clegg MP, the Leader of the Liberal Democrats

Monday 21st September (morning) – Crime Policy: Panel including Chris Huhne MP (Shadow Home Secretary), Jan Berry (Independent Reducing Bureaucracy Advocate), Juliet Lyon (Director, Prison Reform Trust) and Professor Larry Sherman (Wolfson Professor of Criminology, University of Cambridge)

Tuesday 22nd September (afternoon) – The Economy: Panel including Vince Cable MP (Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer), Jeremy Purvis MSP …

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Alex Foster

Top MP blogs published

By Alex Foster | Tue 18th August 2009 - 3:49 pm

TotalPolitics (in association with Iain Dale) now have published their list of top MP blogs, as voted for by over 1500 readers.

In the top 30 are Lynne Featherstone, Willie Rennie, John Hemming, Steve Webb, and John Barrett.

Only one party leader features in the list, and that’s Nick Clegg.

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Alex Foster

Second day for #welovetheNHS

By Alex Foster | Thu 13th August 2009 - 6:36 pm

Yesterday we brought you news about the bizarre battle between American rightwingers spreading misinformation about the NHS, and British users of the NHS who were actually quite proud of it.

24 hours later and Tweetminster (which monitors the twitter updates of MPs and PPCs and provides a service where you can search them) reports

65 #welovethenhs tweets from MPs & PPCS. 8 from @UKLabour MPs & 4 PPCs, 3 from @LibDems MPs & 3 PPCs, 1 from @Conservatives PPC

Our own Nick_Clegg was amongst them, as was Prime Minister Brown (whose tweet looks like it’s had help from …

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Alex Foster

Clegg impresses MoneySavingExpert.com

By Alex Foster | Wed 12th August 2009 - 5:57 pm

MoneySavingExpert is reporting that Nick Clegg answered an open letter to David Cameron before the Tories managed to get their boots on:

It came about in an unusual way. Clegg (pictured, right) is one of the 3.5 million recipients of the MoneySavingExpert.com (MSE) weekly money tips email. In it, three weeks ago, he spotted an open letter to David Cameron where MSE asked the Tory leader to back the campaign for automatic refunds.

While Cameron has not replied, Clegg, and his Shadow Chancellor Vince Cable, in a letter to MSE this week (see full text below), have promised to table a

…

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Helen Duffett

Liberal Democrat General Election Team announced

By Helen Duffett | Wed 5th August 2009 - 3:27 pm

Nick Clegg has announced today the team that will advise him on strategy, resources and communications, as well as the planning and delivery of the Lib Dems’ General Election strategy.

From the Liberal Democrats’ website:

Nick Clegg said:

“I am delighted to announce the team that will lead the planning and delivery of our General Election campaign.

“I have asked John Sharkey, my adviser on Strategic Communications and the former MD of Saatchi’s, to Chair the Campaign, supported by Andrew Stunell MP as Vice Chair.

“John’s extensive experience managing major communications businesses combined with Andrew’s campaigning expertise will be a formidable combination steering the

…

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The Voice

CommentIsLinked@LDV… Nick Clegg: If they drag McKinnon to America, he will never come back

By The Voice | Sat 1st August 2009 - 5:30 pm

Over at the Daily Mail, Nick Clegg mounts an impassioned attack against the decision to allow Gary McKinnon – the man with Asperger’s Syndrome who has admitted to being an amateur computer-hacker – to be extradited to the USA. Here’s an excerpt:

If he boards the plane to the U.S., it is almost certain he will never set foot on British soil again, doomed to pass out the rest of his days in shackles on a foreign shore. This is nothing short of a disgrace – and yet there is still one tiny glimmer of hope. Even now the courts have

…

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Stephen Tall

A look back at the polls: July ‘09

By Stephen Tall | Sat 1st August 2009 - 2:30 pm

We tend not to be too poll-obsessed here at LDV – of course we look at them, as do all other politico-geeks, but viewed in isolation no one poll will tell you very much beyond what you want to read into it. Looked at over a reasonable time-span and, if there are enough polls, you can see some trends.

Here, in chronological order, are the results of the nine polls published in July:

Tories 39%, Labour 26%, Lib Dems 19% – YouGov/Fabians (unpublished, 1st July)
Tories 41%, Labour 27%, Lib Dems 20% – ICM/Guardian (14th July)
Tories 42%, Labour 25%, Lib Dems 18% – YouGov/S. Times (18th July)
Tories 38%, Labour 23%, Lib Dems 22% – ComRes/S. Independent (19th July)
Tories 38%, Labour 26%, Lib Dems 20% – Populus/Times (21st July)
Tories 40%, Labour 24%, Lib Dems 18% – Mori (unpublished, 21st July)
Tories 40%, Labour 25%, Lib Dems 20% – YouGov/S. People (26th July)
Tories 42%, Labour 24%, Lib Dems 18% – ComRes/Independent (29th July)
Tories 41%, Labour 27%, Lib Dems 18% – YouGov/Telegraph (31st July)

Which gives us an average rating for the parties in July as follows (compared with June’s averages):

Tories 40% (+2%), Labour 25% (+2%), Lib Dems 19% (+1%)

All three main parties can take a little consolation from this month’s figures, which sees a slight recovery for each at the expense of ‘Others’ (chiefly Ukip, Greens and BNP), who were boosted by their increased exposure during the run-up to June’s local and Euro elections. However, both Labour and the Tories have yet to return to their pre-‘Expenses-gate’ support of 28% and 43% respectively.

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The Voice

CommentIsLinked@LDV… Nick Clegg: Don’t leave the Liberal Democrats out of it

By The Voice | Fri 31st July 2009 - 5:45 pm

Over at The Independent, Nick Clegg (under a slightly unfortunately whiny headline not of his creating) puts the case for a televised debate between the leaders of the main political parties. Here’s an excerpt:

A debate wouldn’t advantage a party; it would advantage the people. It would be the voters’ opportunity to see the leaders competing to be Prime Minister promoting their policies and answering difficult questions about how they’d change the country. It would bring in a wider audience than leaders could reach otherwise, giving more people the opportunity to make up their own minds based on the facts.

If Gordon

…

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The Voice

Clegg on Chilcot: Blair and Brown must not escape Iraq inquiry spotlight

By The Voice | Thu 30th July 2009 - 5:15 pm

The man charged with heading the inquiry into the UK’s decision to go to war with Iraq, Sir John Chilcot, has today held a press conferenece to explain the timescales and the process under which it will operate:

The “huge job” of going through vast amounts of material and evidence means the Iraq inquiry could continue into 2011 says chairman Sir John Chilcot.

Launching the inquiry he said it would be “as open as possible” with hearings televised and streamed online. But he said some hearings would be held in private for national security reasons or to allow “more candour”. Sir John said Tony Blair would be among those asked to give evidence and he did not expect anyone to refuse to do so.

There have been complaints that the inquiry, which will cover events from the summer of 2001 to the end of July 2009, will not report back before the next general election.

Nick Clegg wrote to Sir john Chilcot last month setting out the Lib Dems’ wishes for the inquiry, and has reponded to today’s announcement:

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Stephen Tall

Time for a heated, televised debate?

By Stephen Tall | Wed 29th July 2009 - 2:20 pm

De facto Deputy Prime Minister Lord (Peter) Mandelson has hinted that his boss might be ready to debate Nick Clegg and David Cameron in the run-up to the general election. The London Evening Standard has the story:

In an exclusive interview, the Prime Minister’s most powerful ally suggested that Mr Brown would become the first incumbent of No10 to agree to the idea.

“I don’t think Gordon would have a problem with that,” he said. “While Cameron is good with words, he doesn’t have the ideas or policies to back them. I think people would see through the smile.

“The more the public sees of them, the more they’d realise that Gordon is the man with the substance.” …

A TV debate would expose the Tory leader’s weaknesses, he argued. “Cameron lacks substance and he might come across as someone who exudes effortless superiority in public, but loses his rag in private.”

It would be highly risky for Mr Brown to agree. Tony Blair and John Major both refused to give their opponents the chance to score points on live TV. In America, such candidates’ debates are a fixture and President Barack Obama’s strong, calm performance was key to winning the trust of voters.

Nick Clegg’s office has welcomed the idea:

The Liberal Democrats would welcome a televised debate with the other two leaders. Since he became leader Nick Clegg has been taking part in open town hall meetings around the country and we look forward to giving people the chance to see who really has the vision for a fairer country.

“Open debates are good for politics and good for the public. Anything that inspires more people to get out and vote should be encouraged.”

But alas it seems as if Lord Mandelson might have mis-spoken – The Times reports:

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Stephen Tall

Which TV show cheers Nick up? And which public intellectual does Vince most admire?

By Stephen Tall | Mon 27th July 2009 - 6:00 pm

Ever wondered which TV programme helps our leader to unwind chez Clegg? Well wonder no more, for The Guardian has asked Nick and an eclectic range of others in the public eye:

Nick Clegg, leader of the Liberal Democrats

Jerry Seinfeld. His stories often don’t have a point or a punchline, but they’re effortlessly witty, quirky and original.

I feel compelled to report that Margaret Beckett nominated Last of the Summer Wine. This choice alone should have been sufficient to preclude her from being elected Speaker.

Meanwhile Lib Dem deputy leader Vince Cable answers a range of readers’ questions in the Independent, though …

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Stephen Tall

Accio voters! Harry Potter star Dan Radcliffe backs the Lib Dems

By Stephen Tall | Fri 24th July 2009 - 10:15 am

The Sun reports an interview with Daniel Radcliffe, the actor who portrays Harry Potter in the film franchise, in which he gives his support to the Lib Dems – and dismisses Labour and the Tories:

The actor – who battles soul-sucking Dementors as the boy wizard and is currently starring in Harry Potter And The Half Blood Prince – said he supports Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg because the other parties offer nothing to young people.

He said: “I rather like Nick Clegg. At the next election I will almost certainly vote Lib Dem. If all the people who liked them

…

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Stephen Tall

Clegg: public has been “betrayed” by Parliament’s response to #mpsexpenses

By Stephen Tall | Thu 23rd July 2009 - 7:30 pm

Nick Clegg has been putting the quiet days of summer to good use, attracting considerable media coverage. Yesterday saw the launch of the party’s pre-manifesto A Fresh Start for Britain. Today Nick fired a broadside in the Telegraph against Labour for failing to address the real problems underpinning public anger over the MPs’ expenses scandals:

If you had said to me two months ago that we would go on a three-month recess and all we would have was this insipid Standards Bill, and that nothing substantial had been changed, I wouldn’t have believed it.

“The whole momentum for change was so great after what The Telegraph did; I think people are entitled to feel betrayed.

“This was a pledge that all political leaders made – to clean up our act. But all the signs are that it was hot air.

“The sum total of it is this little Bill which is a mouse compared to the real task. It is a baby step; it needs to be followed up by far, far more radical reform. If we don’t go further, the political scandals will be back in the future.

“I am so dismayed by the lack of progress of the last few weeks and so disappointed that Gordon Brown is trying to hype up this small measure as the be all and end all.”

“The Bill is fine as far as it goes, but the idea that Gordon Brown has that this has been done and dusted is patent nonsense. It is one piece of the jigsaw, but we need to change the rotten culture at Westminster for good.”

It’s worth remembering what could by now have been achieved if Labour had chosen to adopt Nick’s 100 Day Action Plan to Save Britain’s Democracy, announced almost two months ago. If Labour had the vision and courage we could by now be celebrating:

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The Voice

CommentIsLinked@LDV: Alix Mortimer – Why is Clegg picking this quarrel now?

By The Voice | Thu 23rd July 2009 - 4:34 pm

Lib Dem blogger and LDV-editor-on-sabbatical Alix Mortimer writes for CiF about tuition fees and the Lib Dems.

I wish people would let go of this idea that the pre-tuition fees era was some sort of egalitarian utopia. No system ever is.

Even so, Nick Clegg’s suggestion that scrapping tuition fees be downgraded from a firm Lib Dem policy commitment to an “aspiration” makes me uneasy, and not just because of the Labour-flavoured wording. I cannot imagine why he thinks this particular quarrel is worth picking now.

Read the piece here.

Alix says: “Please note that the headline and byline are, as customary with …

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Danny Alexander MP

Danny Alexander MP writes… “We have a different, radical message about the change our country needs”

By Danny Alexander MP | Thu 23rd July 2009 - 1:45 pm

Yesterday Nick launched ‘A Fresh Start for Britain’ – a document which outlines the values upon which our manifesto for the next General Election will be based. You may have seen some of the media coverage; I hope you have also visited Nick’s new site on it – www.freshstart.nickclegg.com.

This document is the first part of a two-part paper which we will be taking to Autumn conference. It promotes a vision that was agreed by both the Federal Policy Committee and the parliamentary party; which shows how our party would do things differently from Labour and Tories. The second explains in more detail our existing policy portfolio.

The next election is our opportunity to show the British people we have a different, radical message about the change our country needs. The two old parties don’t really want to change a political system that keeps them in power or challenge the bankers who got the economy into such a terrible mess.

‘A Fresh Start for Britain’ explains how our values – the basis upon which we will reach our choices on what should be in our manifesto – are fundamentally different from those of the Conservative and Labour parties. In the unprecedented economic situation that the country faces, only the Liberal Democrats are clear that the choices we make will be driven by a clear set of values and principles.

This policy paper does not prejudge what those choices might be, but it does emphasise the uncertain and difficult economic context against which these choices will be made and the real constraints that will place on our own manifesto when it is drawn up next year. It makes clear that we will treat the British people like grown ups; we will be honest about the tough choices ahead – both for the country and for ourselves.

This policy paper, which is going to conference in the place of a more traditional pre-manifesto, highlights three key priorities – a sustainable economy, a fair society, clean politics – that will drive the choices that we will make when we come to draw up our manifesto. Each of these is illustrated by two policy examples that form a key part of our current narrative.

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Posted in Op-eds and Party policy and internal matters | Also tagged , and | 9 Comments
Alex Foster

Daily View 2×2: 23 July 2009

By Alex Foster | Thu 23rd July 2009 - 8:00 am

Good morning. You join us here on LDV as we wish happy birthday to Philip Seymour Hoffman and Michael Foot, and as the nation of Egypt and the Rastafarians commemorate the birth of Haile Selassie.

It’s also polling day in Norwich North. Will April Pond become the 64th Lib Dem MP? Will we make our second by-election gain in the 2005 Parliament? Find out first on twitter – as the blogosphere’s reporter on the spot Nich Starling will report, live from the Norfolk Showground.

Two big news stories

Kingsnorth tactics criticised
The Guardian reports the report into police behaviour at …

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The Voice

CommentIsLinked@LDV… Nick Clegg: MPs’ holiday betrayal

By The Voice | Wed 22nd July 2009 - 5:31 pm

Over at The Guardian’s Comment Is Free website, Nick Clegg argues that a Westminster stitch-up has seen both main parties dodge reform demands in the dash for the recess door. Here’s an excerpt:

If someone had told me two months ago, in the middle of the expenses scandal, that MPs would go on their summer break without having rewritten the rules of British politics, I wouldn’t have believed it. I thought the public demand for change was, for once, overwhelming. Yet, scandalously, that’s what’s happened. …

It is easy to understand the resistance to reform from the Conservatives. Maintenance of the status

…

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Stephen Tall

A Fresh Start for Britain website goes live

By Stephen Tall | Wed 22nd July 2009 - 10:45 am

To chime with Nick Clegg’s launch today of the pre-manifesto ‘A Fresh Start for Britain’ document, there is a smart, fresh website: www.freshstart.nickclegg.com.

For those who prefer just text, the document is reproduced in its entirity, below:

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Stephen Tall

Clegg’s Fresh Start for Britain: education, ‘green jobs’, political reform

By Stephen Tall | Wed 22nd July 2009 - 9:30 am

There’s an in-depth interview with Nick Clegg in today’s Independent trailing the launch later today of ‘A Fresh Start for Britain’, a document outlining the principles on which the Lib Dems will build our general election manifesto.

Here’s how the article starts:

Nick Clegg will today jettison many of the Liberal Democrats’ long-standing policy pledges in an attempt to convince voters they would make the deep spending cuts needed to fill the hole in the public finances.

In an interview with The Independent, Mr Clegg revealed that many of the promises cherished by his party will be downgraded from official policy to “aspirations” since there would be no money to fund them. They are expected to include flagship pledges to scrap university tuition fees, provide free personal care for the elderly, and bring in a higher basic state pension.

The Liberal Democrat leader will ask his party’s conference in September to make firm commitments in just three areas at the general election: a boost for education, the creation of “green jobs”, and constitutional reform.

Here are Nick’s quotes from the interview:

The circumstances are utterly different from anything in the last 15 years. Our shopping list of commitments will be far, far, far, far, far shorter. We will have to ask ourselves some immensely difficult questions about what we as a party can afford. A lot of cherished Lib Dem policies will have to go on the back burner. They will remain our aspirations. They will remain our policies. But we are not going to kid the British people into thinking we could deliver the full list of commitments we have put to them at the last three or four elections.

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