The Sunday Telegraph says:
In an article for this newspaper, Chris Huhne aims the first personal shot at Nick Clegg – claiming that his rival risks being seen as little more than a “Tory twin”.
You can read the article here and make your own mind up. While in the Observer a saccharine, though at times revealing, interview with Nick Clegg brings such revelations as:
He wields politics’ deadliest weapon, charm. There is also a sprinkling of stardust. Next week he will meet Halle Berry at a film premiere of his mate Sam Mendes’s Things We Lost In The Fire
And you’ll find that here.
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15 Comments
Is it just me or is Chris wearing eyeliner in that picture? Nick looks quite weakly-gooseberry-eyed by comparison, someone needs to sort his make-up out. Of such minutiae is my decision-making process composed.
I wish people would stop banging on about how dreadful it is that they both went to Oxbridge, as if it was some sort of dark mark. I know it indicates a whole range of undesirable social and economic factors in their upbringing but it also might, just might, indicate that they are both quite clever.
[Puts arms over head and waits for backlash]
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/10/21/nlibs121.xml
Let the scorched earth policy – begin !
In the World at One last Friday (25 minutes in if you want to hear it on the website), Clegg is asked whether he is a Tory.
A question like that is a great opportunity to point out, for example that you are pro-EU, against the war in Iraq, a genuine Green rather than a token Green, in favour of redistributing wealth, a whole number of things that could not possibly make him a Tory.
Instead he just said “No, I am a Liberal”.
I am also irritated by his insinuation that the Tories were economically competent in the 1980s. Whilst it is true that some of their privatisations were successful, some of them were not (notably the railways). In addition this period included times of mass unemployment and a substantial widening of the gap between the rich and poor.
Perhaps I am being thick but I have followed all the links from that story and nowhere can I find Chris saying that Clegg is a Tory twin. What he does say is that Lab and Con are Tory twins and there is no future for us going for the same ground.
After all these years and recent experience you would have thought that we would learn to read everything in the press with our bullshit radar on. This is just another media wedge story. They’ve had enouhg of “there isn’t room to put a fag paper between them” and want to start a slanging match.
Let’s not geet conned by the Tory press.
Geoffrey Payne – I saw it too and was left muttering the answers I wanted to hear.
The party is in for a few rough months ahead. Even if there is a boost in the polls because of the recent exposure, the squeeze will inevitably bite on some occasions as the press indulge in the Tory/Labour sluggfest.
Under such pressure, there will always be a danger, in any political party, of finger pointing and blame, which is potentially disasterous.
It is absolutely vital that the active membership feel the new leader represents them, if such turbulent times are be survived.
“We are at our best, when we are at our boldest”- Tony Blair
“I want to take the Liberal Democrats out of their ‘comfort zone'” Nick Clegg
Prepare to be shafted and have your principles sold to the highest bidder…
Oh Bonkalot, you do catastrophise so! 😀
Yes, where are all the political leaders of today calling for timidity and hesitation?
Bonkalot,
The difference of course being that Blair has replaced Socialism with Conservatism in the Labour Party. Sure they call it being “centre left” but damned if I can tell the difference. Blair dressed up his working-class conservative policies with the language of middle class liberals then promptly ditched any and all liberalism once elected.
Cameron has tried the same trick – dressing up his ‘center right’ Conservative policies with liberal language only to discover that, of all groups, no-one hates liberalism or liberals more than the hardcore ‘victorian dad’ types in his own party. He’s had to beat a hasty retreat to avoid divisions in his party utterly undermining his credibility with the public.
Nick Clegg is offer liberal language to sell actual liberalism. And, because he’s a liberal and because this is a liberal party, then this represents the real deal, an authentic appeal to the British public who have actually been voting for this decades but every time being disappointed by the Tories and Labour who could only talk the talk but never walk the walk.
Oops.. that last paragraph is full of typos. “offering” instead of “offer”, “voting for this for decades” instead of “voting for this decades” and “every time been” instead of “every time being”
Wish you could edit comments 🙂
Alix, on a lighter, tongue-in-cheek note; which of the two, Nick or Chris, do you find more fanciable ? A personal question I know, but the yanks seem to think that this is a vital determining factor in the choice of presidential candidates.
I can’t see that many women would prefer George Bush to Al Gore, but then Gore did get more votes.
Difficult as it is for me to judge who women would prefer, I can’t imagine the rather dull, suburban bank manager type Huhne trumping the metrosexual europhile Clegg. His French is meant to be pretty good. And he can speak many languages as well..
“Bonkalot Jones Says: Prepare to be shafted and have your principles sold to the highest bidder…”
And perhaps win three elections with decent majorities?
Yup, Chris says Labour and the Tories are ‘Tory Twins’ so the Telegraph turns it into an attack on Nick.
I imagine there’s nothing the Torygraph would like better than Chris and Nick having an acrimonious campaign.
I posted this on the members thread.
Regarding some of the points raised above, watch this from Andrew Marr’s programme this morning.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/player/nol/newsid_7050000/newsid_7055100/7055141.stm?bw=bb&mp=rm&asb=1&news=1
Nick was much better than on the World at One and Chris was asked about the Torygraph story and confirmed my interpretation above.
@3 – just for accuracy, the railways were privatised in the 1990s, not the 80s.
I know. I was there!
10. Are you saying 8.’s defence of Clegg is because he is more attractive? You sexist git. Grow up.
And as for 6. I am sure you are right. Lets not be bold, lets be timid. Surely thats the sort of leader we want, someone who can get even less press coverage than we are used to.
Are you an idiot or a troll?