Tag Archives: nick clegg

Alex Foster

Radio Alert – Phone Clegg

By Alex Foster | Mon 15th June 2009 - 1:30 pm

Eagle-eared listeners will have just heard BBC Radio 4’s consumer whingefest magazine Your and Yours announce that tomorrow’s Call You and Yours will be an opportunity for the Radio 4 listenership to quiz the Lib Dem leader.

A reasonably fair introduction told us that the recent election results were OK but could have been better; and the worrying statistic that whilst people generally like Nick Clegg when they know him, up to 30% haven’t even heard of the name.

The programme will be 12-1pm tomorrow, Tuesday, and available afterwards as a Listen Again / iPlayer item. There are …

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Posted in Lib Dem TV | 1 Comment
Helen Duffett

Daily View 2×2: 15 June 2009

By Helen Duffett | Mon 15th June 2009 - 9:55 am

2 Big Stories

Further outbreaks of violence in Tehran last night as Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s disputed victory crushes reform hopes in Iran.
Hossein Mousavi, the opposition candidate, is appealing against the results and has called on the international community not to recognise the official outcome. Western governments have expressed reservations about the poll but so far stopped short of outright rejection.

From the Times:

“Mehdi Karoubi, another reformist candidate, said he refused to recognise the “illegitimate” President, but Mr Ahmadinejad compared the protests to those of football supporters whose team has lost. “They are not important,” he said, adding that Iran’s form of democracy

…

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Posted in Daily View | Also tagged , , and | 1 Comment
Costigan Quist

Opinion: Replacing Labour in four easy steps

By Costigan Quist | Sun 14th June 2009 - 2:30 pm

A few days ago, a dashing young Liberal Democrat leader suggested that Britain’s third party could overtake Labour. Clegg (for it was he) affirmed his belief that “the Liberal Democrats can replace Labour as the progressive party in British politics”.

Nick talks of the Lib Dems as the dominant political party of urban Britain – debatable, but we’ll give him the benefit of the doubt. He speaks of the Lib Dems winning the battle of ideas across a range of areas, something most Lib Dems at least are likely to concur with, even if our opponents might not …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged and | 24 Comments
Rick Muir

The Independent View: Restore trust to reform democracy

By Rick Muir | Fri 12th June 2009 - 11:40 am

The crisis over MPs’ expenses has shattered trust in politicians. Trust in Parliament has never been particularly high – it has now plummeted to new depths. Our long-standing scepticism as to the motives of politicians has turned into a strongly held conviction that ‘they’re all at it’.

The silver lining is that the crisis may have opened the way for much needed constitutional reform. The Lib Dems in particular have proposed a raft of constitutional reforms as a solution to the crisis. But are we really at a constitutional turning point? And is institutional reform …

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Posted in The Independent View | Also tagged , , and | 4 Comments
Stephen Tall

Nick takes ‘The Toynbee Test’

By Stephen Tall | Thu 11th June 2009 - 11:44 am

Over at the Guardian website, there’s a 16-minute video conversation between Nick Clegg and political commentator Polly Toynbee. You can watch it in full here.

Posted in News | Also tagged | 8 Comments
The Voice

What Nick said to Gordon about political reform

By The Voice | Wed 10th June 2009 - 5:45 pm

At 12.30 pm today, Gordon Brown stood up in the House of Commons to make what was billed as a “wide-ranging statement on proposed changes to Britain’s constitution and voting system.” As so often, the feature didn’t match up to the trailer. Here’s Nick Clegg’s response, as recorded by Hansard, to Mr Brown’s statement:

Mr. Nick Clegg (Sheffield, Hallam) (LD): I thank the Prime Minister for his statement. Of course everyone agrees that the political crisis requires big changes in the way we do things, so I welcome this deathbed conversion to political reform from the man who has blocked

…

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Alix Mortimer

PMQs: social housing and repossession

By Alix Mortimer | Wed 10th June 2009 - 12:23 pm

Cameron and Brown wrangle over the various parliamentary reform proposals. Cameron uses the election of two BNP MEPs to support his contention that a proportional system lets in extremists, and accuses Brown of only becoming interested in reform when he faces losing the next election. Brown looks somewhat less like a punchbag this week – that Monday night meeting of the parliamentary Labour party must have pepped him up a bit. In fact, his righteousness waxes so great that he proclaims Cameron “doesn’t deserve” to be Prime Minister.

Clegg asks about repossession rates, which he says the government is failing …

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Posted in News | Also tagged , and | 4 Comments
The Voice

CommentIsLinked@LDV: Nick Clegg – The torch of progress has passed to us

By The Voice | Wed 10th June 2009 - 10:54 am

Over at The Times, Nick Clegg argues that Labour has run out of steam and of ideas, and that its supporters are turning to the Liberal Democrats. Here’s an excerpt:

have heard people claim that the local and European elections were a missed opportunity for the Liberal Democrats. I disagree.

Of course, as in all elections, there were losses as well as gains. In a contest when the voters wanted to give the Establishment a kicking, it is hardly surprising that we suffered some losses in the South West, where we have been the governing party for 20 years.

And in a

…

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The Voice

CommentIsLinked@LDV: Nick Clegg – Governments that can’t be scrutinised will always turn oppressive

By The Voice | Tue 9th June 2009 - 11:10 am

Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg’s speech to celebrate the 75th anniversay of Liberty is excerpted over at the Independent. Here’s his sombre conclusion:

for all the complaining Liberal Democrats and other liberty campaigners do about the misuse of power by government, the truth is, nowhere near all of the powers available to police and government are used – yet. Legal instruments with devastating potential are ready and waiting, all of which have been passed by a supine Parliament that misguidedly assumes government will always be benign. These powers are like the silent machines in a darkened factory, waiting for the

…

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Darrell Goodliffe

Opinion: Time for a U-turn on Lisbon Treaty

By Darrell Goodliffe | Mon 8th June 2009 - 4:30 pm

Let’s call a spade a spade: given the BNP electoral successes I think this is probably one of the most important things we can do in politics right now. Last night was not a good set of results for the Lib Dems; anything that places our national vote share behind Labour’s simply is not good enough.

Rather than do an exhaustive analysis I intend to do something novel, something that has not been done much during this electoral cycle, and focus on a European issue.

I remember one of the first blog posts that I wrote critical of a position …

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Posted in Europe / International and Op-eds | Also tagged , and | 31 Comments
Stephen Tall

Nick Clegg in conversation with Iain Dale

By Stephen Tall | Sat 6th June 2009 - 3:20 pm

Everyone’s favourite Tory blogger Iain Dale interviewed Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg on Friday morning about the party’s performance in the English local elections – you can listen to the 7-minute podcast version below:

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Posted in News | Also tagged and | 1 Comment
Helen Duffett

Video: Nick Clegg on the European Elections

By Helen Duffett | Thu 4th June 2009 - 12:56 pm

Nick Clegg gets a lot of questions via Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, Friend Connect, as well as through his website, NickClegg.com.

He’s just made a new YouTube video with answers to some of the questions he’s received through his social networks:

What does Nick think of compulsory voting? The Lisbon Treaty? Watch and find out:

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Posted in Europe / International, Online politics and YouTube | Also tagged and | Leave a comment
Alix Mortimer

We would be “suicidal” to do a deal with Labour

By Alix Mortimer | Thu 4th June 2009 - 10:10 am

So say “senior party strategists” to the Guardian today:

Nick Clegg would resist overtures from a new prime minister as strongly as he would the current one, senior Liberal Democrat figures have told the Guardian.

The Lib Dem leader believes Labour is finished regardless of who leads the party, and as one close aide put it: “The sort of discussions they need to have can’t take place in government – they need to go into the wilderness to reflect where they stand.” The view damages the hopes of some on the centre-left who believe a change

…

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Posted in News | Also tagged , and | 17 Comments
Helen Duffett

Nick Clegg: at home in more ways than one

By Helen Duffett | Mon 1st June 2009 - 1:57 pm

More positive press for the Liberal Democrats today: following yesterday’s Observer editorial, sister paper the Guardian today has an interview with Nick Clegg.

His first interview in his family home, with his wife and children around, the G2 piece is a mix of lifestyle and political issues.

Clegg had never allowed access to his family home before, but from what I saw he could give WebCameron a run for its money when it comes to cuteness. Deep in leafy Putney, the front door opened on to a vision of middle-class domesticity – a newborn baby dozing in a basket, and

…

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Stephen Tall

That Staggers / Clegg interview in full

By Stephen Tall | Sat 30th May 2009 - 3:30 pm

This week’s New Statesman has an in-depth interview with Nick Clegg by James Macintyre – courtesy the Staggers, there’s a full transcript below, in which the Lib Dem leader confesses/proclaims he’d like to be Prime Minister, relates how Michael Howard and the Tories “kicked in the face”, and admits that his GQ interview with Piers Morgan was perhaps the lowest point of his “bumpy first year”.

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Posted in News | Also tagged | 3 Comments
The Voice

Clegg: quitting MPs should say goodbye to their golden goodbyes

By The Voice | Fri 29th May 2009 - 10:41 pm

The BBC has the story:

MPs who stand down after expenses revelations should not be entitled to large tax free pay-offs, Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg has said. Since stories about expenses claims began, 13 MPs have said they will stand down at the election, although three say they are going for health reasons. They will be entitled to a pay-off worth up to a year’s salary of £64,000 depending on their age and experience.

Mr Clegg said there was “no reason” some should get the tax free reward. Under current rules, Conservative MP Julie Kirkbride could receive a pay off

…

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Posted in News | Also tagged | 21 Comments
Mark Pack

Royal Marine congratulates Nick Clegg

By Mark Pack | Fri 29th May 2009 - 10:46 am

From the Oxford Mail:

A ROYAL Marine seriously wounded in Iraq collared Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg in Oxford today to applaud him for pledging action to clean up Parliament…

Mr Johnstone, of Salter Close, Grandpont, told Mr Clegg: “This is the first time I’m going to be voting for you.”

The 46-year-old suffered severe shrapnel wounds to his right leg when a roadside bomb exploded as his unit patrolled close to Basra Airport in August 2003.

He told the Oxford Mail: “What’s impressed me is he’s been on TV and he said he’s asking that every MP across the political divide

…

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Posted in News | 16 Comments
Chris Fox

Chris Fox writes … Help Nick Reform British Politics

By Chris Fox | Thu 28th May 2009 - 5:20 pm

Hopefully over breakfast this morning you will have seen the Guardian’s front page splash on Nick Clegg’s call for MPs to spend the next 100 days in Parliament radically reforming our political system. Other papers and the broadcasters are picking up this story and it is clear that Nick’s demand that MPs curtail their lengthy summer holidays to stay and sort out the problem has been very well received.

Later tonight you will be able to watch on TV our Party Political Broadcast which Mark Pack has already linked to. And Liberal Democrat members should have received an email …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged | 11 Comments
Helen Duffett

Voters sceptical about Cameron’s talk of reform

By Helen Duffett | Thu 28th May 2009 - 4:13 pm

In his speech at the Open University this week, salesman Cameron called for “Progressive goals through Conservative means” as he merely rearranged the contents of his political shop window.

Analysis by PoliticsHome shows that voters aren’t buying David Cameron’s rhetoric about “massive, sweeping, radical distribution of power.”

“Do you think that if David Cameron became Prime Minister, he would carry through such a radical redistribution of power, or would he be more cautious than this?”

This was the question put to non-aligned voters as well as supporters of the Liberal Democrats, Conservatives and Labour.

“Overall, a strong seventy per cent majority felt that

…

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Posted in News | Also tagged | 3 Comments
Mark Pack

Change politics for good: PPB preview

By Mark Pack | Thu 28th May 2009 - 10:42 am

It’s all go on the political reform front today. Apart from Nick Clegg’s op-ed in The Guardian, front page newspaper coverage, detailed policy proposals and new campaign website, there’s also the little matter of today’s party political broadcast, also on the same theme. It’s appearing on TV screens this evening, but you can watch it now:

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Posted in Lib Dem TV and News | Also tagged | 8 Comments
Stephen Tall

Clegg’s 100 Day Action Plan to save Britain’s Democracy IN FULL

By Stephen Tall | Thu 28th May 2009 - 9:20 am

No, you weren’t dreaming – you really did wake up to news headlines dominated by the leader of the Lib Dems promenading the party’s proposals to reform the UK’s democratic processes. Full marks to the party’s media operation today – it’s a long time since an article by a Lib Dem has made such a splash.

There will be some – I see them already appearing in the LDV comments threads – who argue that what Nick Clegg is calling for is hopelessly Utopian. I disagree. What Nick is doing (successfully, in my view) is:

(1) setting the bar high for what is needed for genuine reform to improve democracy in the UK – unlike David Cameron he isn’t merely “seriously considering” fixed-term Parliaments, Nick is putting forward a legislative programme which will achieve them;
(2) putting clear gold water between the Lib Dems and the Tories – there is little wrong with what David Cameron has proposed (bar his knee-jerk opposition to electoral reform and an elected house of lords), it’s just that it’s wholly inadequate;
(3) demonstrating that if the political will is there, change can be achieved – if politicians are serious and united about the need for real reform, there is no reason why legislation cannot be expedited swiftly. As Anthony Barnett noted on open Democracy yesterday, “You could not have found an expert in the land who would have said that Labour could have passed the amount of very far-reaching constitutional reforms it pushed through in its first term. What matters is the will to change. That’s why Cameron’s careful let-out clauses speak louder to me than the fine words.”

For those who wish to devour the Lib Dems’ constitutional reforms in full, glorious, technicolor detail, they’re re-printed IN FULL below:

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Posted in News | Also tagged and | 25 Comments
Alex Foster

Daily View 2×2: 28 May 2009

By Alex Foster | Thu 28th May 2009 - 7:44 am

2 big stories

LDV’s daily glimpse into the world of media and views.  Our biggest story today has already made the news here at LDV, but it’s too good for us not to trail again: Nick Clegg has launched a campaign for 100 days of proper discussion about real reform.

It’s the front of the Guardian: the main story; the article by Clegg himself, and the version of the story where Clegg mocks Cameron’s pathetic attempts at real reform.

There’s been a wide variety of responses to the article here and in the comments over at the Guardian – …

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The Voice

Clegg unveils 100-day plan to abolish Lords and reform voting

By The Voice | Wed 27th May 2009 - 10:39 pm

The Guardian splashes with the story:

Britain’s politicians should be barred from taking their summer holidays until the constitutional crisis sparked by the expenses row is resolved and “every nook and cranny” of the political system is reformed, Nick Clegg declares today. …

Clegg, who regards the proposals floated by the two main parties as too timid, attempts to assume the mantle of Britain’s boldest reformer when he sets out a week-by-week, 100-day plan to achieve the “total reinvention of British politics”.

In the first two weeks parliament would agree to accept the recommendations of the review into MPs’ expenses and allowances

…

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Posted in LibLink and News | Also tagged | 20 Comments
Stephen Tall

Clegg to clamp down on Lib Dem Lords’ allowances

By Stephen Tall | Wed 27th May 2009 - 1:50 pm

Mea culpa, gentle reader, this is definitely not breaking news… After a bank holiday of back-breaking gardening and a Tuesday of work-fuelled meetings (my colleagues can add their own excuses), LDV failed to bring you news of Nick Clegg’s plans to clamp down on allowances claimed by members of the House of Lords – an issue of more-than-passing-interest to Lib Dems following the resignation of party chief executive Lord (Chris) Rennard amid allegations that he had profited personally from the scheme by designating his Eastbourne flat (rather than his London house) as his main residence.

This from Sunday night’s …

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Posted in News | Also tagged , , , and | 15 Comments
Alix Mortimer

Daily View 2×2: 27 May 2009

By Alix Mortimer | Wed 27th May 2009 - 9:34 am

2 big stories

Much of today’s coverage is summed up perfectly by the Independent’s headline Brown v Cameron v Clegg, under which all three leaders set out their visions for the rebuilding of Britain’s broken politics. They are due to take party in cross-party talks according to the Guardian, talks to be led by that famed bastion of reform, Jack Straw. Perhaps that’s who Nick Clegg was thinking of when he said (to the Times): “There are prominent people in government who recognise that the game’s up.” Our friends in the Lords are

…

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Posted in Daily View | Also tagged , , , , and | 6 Comments
Stephen Tall

LDV Members’ Survey – MPs’ expenses (5): how Nick Clegg’s performed

By Stephen Tall | Sun 24th May 2009 - 10:30 am

On Tuesday evening, LDV emailed those Lib Dem party members signed-up to our private discussion forum inviting them to take part in a survey focusing on MPs’ expenses. Many thanks to the 240+ of you who have so far completed it; we’ve been publishing the results on LDV over the last few days. You can catch up on the results of all our past exclusive LDV members’ surveys by clicking here.

Today we’re publishing the result that always prompts a bout of nerves in the leader’s office – how LDV’s party member readers view Nick Clegg’s performance. LDV …

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Posted in LDV Members poll | Also tagged | Leave a comment
Stephen Tall

Papering over the crack of the elephant in the room

By Stephen Tall | Fri 22nd May 2009 - 2:11 pm

Yesterday was a sad day for the Lib Dems. First, because we lost as chief executive a proven successful campaigner, Lord (Chris) Rennard, who helped save the post-merger Lib Dems from near extinction. And, secondly, because the way in which he was forced to announce his resignation resolved nothing, and was entirely lacking in dignity.

It has been clear to everyone since the News of the World alleged that Chris had claimed £41k in Lords’ allowances after designating his Eastbourne flat as his main residence (rather than his London house) that Chris and the party would need to make a …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , , and | 46 Comments
Stephen Tall

Clegg: Labour U-turn “a great victory for the Gurkhas”

By Stephen Tall | Thu 21st May 2009 - 2:30 pm

Here’s what the BBC has to say:

All Gurkha veterans who retired before 1997 with at least four years’ service will be allowed to settle in the UK, Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has said. Ms Smith told MPs she was “proud to offer this country’s welcome to all who have served in the brigade of Gurkhas”.

It comes after a high-profile campaign by Joanna Lumley and other supporters of Gurkha rights – and an embarrassing Commons defeat for the government.

Some 36,000 Gurkhas who left before 1997 had been denied UK residency. Ms Lumley, the actress who has been the public face

…

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Posted in News | Also tagged | 2 Comments
Stephen Tall

“Touché, Mr Speaker!” (It’s pronounced ‘Touchy’)

By Stephen Tall | Wed 20th May 2009 - 6:57 pm

If you haven’t seen it, here’s the moment the outgoing Speaker Michael Martin forgot to call Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg – the man who last Sunday called for him to quit – for his traditional supplementary question at today’s Prime Minister’s Questions:

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Posted in News | Also tagged and | 3 Comments
Stephen Tall

LDV readers say: 85% wanted Michael Martin to quit

By Stephen Tall | Tue 19th May 2009 - 12:50 pm

Well, y’know, I’m personally convinced that Michael Martin must have been finally convinced to quit when he saw the overwhelming result of LDV’s over-night poll showing 85% of readers thought he should quit now. So much more likely than that the Prime Minister instructed him to resign voluntarily.

Here, for the record,is what you said in response to the question, “Do you think the Speaker of the House of Commons Michael Martin should resign over his handling of the MPs’ expenses row?”

>> 85% (137 votes) – The Speaker should resign now – reform cannot wait until the general election.
>> 9% (15)

…

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Posted in News, Parliament and Voice polls | Also tagged , , and | 4 Comments
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