He said: "There were some people, particularly around the height of the Iraq war, who gave up on the Labour Party and turned to the Liberal Democrats as a sort of left-wing conscience of the Labour Party.

"I totally understand that some of these people are not happy with what the Lib Dems are doing in coalition with the Conservatives. The Lib Dems never were and aren't a receptacle for left-wing dissatisfaction with the Labour Party. There is no future for that; there never was." ...

He pledged that one of the most radical programmes of any government for a "long, long time" would achieve more on political reform, civil liberties and protecting pensioners than Labour did in 13 years, combined with "an impeccably Liberal approach" to the NHS, education and welfare reform.

"This is not some arbitrary menu of rushed proposals cobbled together. They reflect, right across the piece, big, long-standing Liberal aspirations," he said ...

Independent  18 Sept 2010

Nick Clegg: Orange Book Neoliberal

Nick Clegg's 'Fair Society'

LibDems to announce clampdown on tax avoidance

Nick Clegg must now face up to the true nature of his Coalition partner

An intriguing article. Both Cameron and Clegg emerge in a poor light.

Just as 'green' Dave has turned out to be brown, so EU-friendly-Dave is now 'on message' with the UKIP wing of his party.

Clegg emerges as naive, a man more anxious to please Cameron than the more astute members of his own party.

Both men emerge as ideologically vacuous. Or, if you refer, plain vacuous!

Cameron's period in government, and indeed his reaction to the 2008 economic crisis when he was still in opposition, show that in policy terms he is a child of Thatcher, unable to break free from her outdated spell while knowing he must give the impression that he has.

He was trying his best in the Commons yesterday to pull off this agonising contortion once more – the considerate, polite, constructive wrecker of Britain's relationship with Europe ...

On matters ranging from the spending cuts to NHS reforms, the Lib Dems have conflicting views. On Europe, they are united.

A coalition cannot be an end in itself even for ardent advocates of pluralist politics. The ends must relate to policy.

When does acute discomfort move towards an exit strategy? The answer I get from them all in government is that 2015 is still the date.

I suspect that in some form or other it will be earlier. At least it should be.

Ind  13 Dec 2011    Coalition Log    'Divi' Dave Log    Losing Democracy Log

Dave Cameron's Incredible Journey

'The pillars of the establishment are tumbling'

The deputy prime minister senses a rare opportunity in the hacking scandal to carve out a separate niche.

The Liberal Democrats have never wooed or been wooed by the media moguls.

Unlike David Cameron and Ed Miliband, Mr Clegg did not attend Rupert Murdoch's annual summer party in London last month ...

... he is utterly convinced his party will get the credit before the next election.

While he would like to reap the dividend in 2012, he admits it might take longer for far-reaching reforms to sink in and for the economy to recover fully.

He believes the reforms have been "obscured" by fear of the spending cuts.

"We are condemned to govern for the long term. I look forward to us moving into a much more positive frame of mind in the years ahead.

"By 2015 we will be able to show people we have put the building blocks in place on tax, education, the early years, apprenticeships, vocational education and greater social mobility in a way that the Conservatives would never have done on their own and, at the same time, we have put the economy back on course. "

Life in brief

* Nick Clegg was born on 7 January 1967 in Chalfont St Giles, Buckinghamshire, and educated at Westminster School.

* He studied social anthropology at Cambridge University, political philosophy at Minnesota University and completed an MA in European affairs at the College of Europe.

* Between 1992 and 1995, he worked as a journalist before becoming a consultant and moving to Budapest to write about economic reform.

* In 1995, he was employed by the European Commission and worked as chief of staff to Sir Leon Brittan.

* He was elected MEP for the East Midlands in 1999, later acting as the Liberal Democrat spokesman on trade and industry.

* In 2005, he was elected as MP for Sheffield Hallam, becoming Europe spokesman in Charles Kennedy's team, and later the party's spokesman on home affairs.

* He was elected leader of the Lib Dems in 2007 and became deputy prime minister in 2010.

* He is married to Miriam, a lawyer, and has three sons.

Ind  11 July 2011    

The biggest threat to Clegg lies overseas

In the second of the prime ministerial election debates, Nick Clegg startled his opponents by devoting some opening comments to extraordinary rendition and the use of intelligence obtained under torture.

Last year's annual Liberal Democrat Assembly in Liverpool saw a full conference debate.

But the issue is a prime example of a win for the Lib Dems evaporating in delivery.

It was announced with great fanfare at the start of the coalition government that there would be an inquiry into the question of UK complicity in torture.

But then the establishment clawed the ball back by appointing Sir Peter Gibson, the intelligence services commissioner, who every year in that role has reported that MI6 were "trustworthy, conscientious and reliable".

Now the inquiry will take place mostly in secret, and not until court proceedings relating to individuals who had allegedly suffered torture are over.

Worst of all, its terms of reference will be limited strictly to individual cases of torture, rather than whether there was a general policy of collusion with torture by hideous regimes abroad ...

Ind  05 June 2011    Cameron's Libya Resolution    Foreign Policy    Nick Clegg    Torture    War on Terror Log

Oliver Letwin v Paul Burstow

Letwin hails 'deep bonds'

Oliver Letwin, the government's policy chief, has launched a passionate defence of the coalition, hailing "the deep bonds of trust formed" between the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats and asserting that the two parties together have achieved more in the first months than would have been possible under a Tory government with a small majority.

Letwin also says that despite the collapse in the Lib Dems' poll ratings both parties will benefit equally at the next election.

Although he insists he would have preferred a majority Conservative government, he says he has discovered "a huge amount of policy overlap with the Liberal Democrats" ...

Guardian  22 Dec 2010

Cameron and Osborne... you can't trust them

David Heath, the deputy Leader of the House, said the Chancellor had the “capacity to get up one’s nose” and did not appreciate what it was like to lose £1,000 a year – the value of the cut in child benefit for higher earners.

Paul Burstow, the care minister, told reporters from The Daily Telegraph: “I don’t want you to trust David Cameron.” And Andrew Stunell, the local government minister, said he did not know where the Prime Minister stood on the “sincerity monitor”.

Norman Baker, the transport minister, even privately compared the Conservatives within government to the South African apartheid regime ...

Mr Heath and Mr Baker also publicly admit that they oppose the rise in tuition fees, despite voting in favour of the policy in the recent crucial Commons vote ...

Telegraph  22 Dec 2010    David Cameron

Jeremy Hunt's links with Rupert Murdoch empire under scrutiny

Cable and Hunt

Lib Dems ... in Coalition 'boot'

The Murdoch debate: What next?

Vince Cable stripped of responsibility for media competition

Liberal Democrat ministers condemn scrapping of child benefit

No one in the Coalition will trust Vince Cable now

Vince Cable keeps job ...

Robert Peston

I have declared war on Rupert Murdoch

Jeremy Hunt's role in BSkyB decision criticised by shadow minister

John Denham asks cabinet office to investigate whether culture secretary is 'fit and proper person' given previous comments ...

... some of Hunt's comments about the proposed deal, Rupert Murdoch, and Sky have prompted Denham to question whether he, like Cable, has compromised his objectivity.

In his letter to O'Donnell, Denham highlights some of them, including Hunt telling the Financial Times in June:

"It does seem to me that News Corp do control Sky already, so it isn't clear to me that in terms of media plurality there is a substantive change, but I don't want to second guess what regulators might decide." ...

jamescisv
22 December 2010 4:22PM

This is the Jeremy Hunt who also said:

“we should recognise that [Uncle Rupe] has probably done more to create variety and choice in Britain than any other single person...We would be poorer and wouldn’t be saying that British TV is the envy of the world if it wasn’t for him..”

So, yeah, all things considered, definitely the right man for the job!!

Guardian  22 Dec 2010    Rupert Murdoch    

Jeremy Hunt's links with Rupert Murdoch empire under scrutiny

Cable and Hunt

Lib Dems ... in Coalition 'boot'

Coalition 'could not afford' to sack Vince Cable, claims Tory MP

In an emergency statement issued last night, Downing Street said that a large part of Mr Cable's responsibilities would now be transferred to Jeremy Hunt, the Culture Secretary ...

Telegraph  22 Dec 2010    Rupert Murdoch    

The Murdoch debate: What next?

Vince Cable stripped of responsibility for media competition

Liberal Democrat ministers condemn scrapping of child benefit

No one in the Coalition will trust Vince Cable now

Vince Cable keeps job ...

Robert Peston

I have declared war on Rupert Murdoch

The Tories must ask why they failed

Despite 13 years of Blair and Brown, ending in a distinctly Old Labour catastrophe of tax, spend and deficit, the Tories fell well short of a comfortable majority.

Indeed, despite all that “help” from their opponents and all David Cameron’s centre-ground reforms, the Conservatives advanced only 3 percentage points beyond their sorry performance of 2005.

In the fringe meetings and bars of Birmingham rival explanations of what went wrong will be offered.

The right will blame Cameron’s milk-and-water new Conservatism ... [but] ... the evidence suggests otherwise.

Robust rightwing manifestos led the party to massacres in 2001 and 2005.

From the moment George Osborne promised austerity at last year’s conference the party’s poll ratings were shaky ...

Another reason for the disappointing election result suggests itself.

Perhaps two-thirds of the country still found the idea of voting Tory repellent. He must fear the brand is still toxic.

Evidently, the coalition is finding it easier to announce unpalatable economic remedies than a purely Tory administration would ...

FT  03 Oct 2010    David Cameron

Nick Clegg: There is no future for us as left-wing rivals to Labour

"I totally understand that some of these people are not happy with what the Lib Dems are doing in coalition with the Conservatives. The Lib Dems never were and aren't a receptacle for left-wing dissatisfaction with the Labour Party. There is no future for that; there never was." ...

Independent  18 Sept 2010    Nick Clegg's 'Fair Society'

David Cameron's 'nudge unit' aims to improve economic behaviour

Cabinet office team will look at how to create environments that help people choose what's best for themselves and society ...

A "nudge unit" set up by David Cameron in the Cabinet Office is working on how to use behavioural economics and market signals to persuade citizens to behave in a more socially integrated way.

The unit, formally known as the Behavioural Insight Team, is being run by David Halpern, a former adviser in Tony Blair's strategy unit, and is taking advice from Richard Thaler, the Chicago professor generally recognised as popularising "nudge" theory – the idea that governments can design environments that make it easier for people to choose what is best for themselves and society.

Thaler was in London for three days this week advising ministers, and in a speech urged the government to adopt longer term horizons.

The deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg, said he believed the unit could change the way citizens think ...

The initial work of the unit will be focused on areas such as public health issues such as obesity, alcohol intake or organ donation.

Halpern ... has argued that a society of trustworthy citizens is a platform for economic growth and individual wellbeing.

Thaler has focused on how to nurture an individual's better instincts, or how to use nudge methods to persuade people, for instance, to save for retirement or hold back on excessive consumption.

In his speech, Clegg warned of citizens becoming short-termist, one of the traits nudge theory seeks to resist.

He said: "The question is whether our capacity to balance the immediate with the long-term is keeping pace with the expansion of choice.

"In real life, people eat doughnuts, decide not to go for a run, and put off making payments into their pension fund ..."

He said: "The challenge is to find ways to encourage people to act in their own and in society's long-term interest, while respecting individual freedom."

Guardian  09 Sept 2010    David Cameron    Nick Clegg    Plato v Illich

Nudge

Does one Hug, Shove or Smack as well as Nudge?

From Obama to Cameron ...

From Push to Nudge

'Choice architects'

Richard Thaler

Behavioural economics

Behavioral economics

Labour MPs have been hinting at skulduggery over the way Nick Clegg changed his mind about the need for immediate fiscal retrenchment following a chat with Mervyn King, the Governor of the Bank of England, shortly after forming a coalition with the Tories.

However, while Mr King is undoubtedly blessed with political acumen, his evidence to the Treasury Select Committee yesterday that he had simply repeated to Mr Clegg remarks he had made publicly in presenting the Bank's quarterly Inflation Report a few days previously, undermines the plot theories.

The question it does prompt, though, is why Mr Clegg was suddenly converted to the Conservative way of thinking ...

Independent 29 July 2010

The Coalition was under its greatest strain since coming to power on Tuesday after David Cameron and a senior Liberal Democrat Cabinet Minister clashed publicly over the Government’s plan to introduce a cap on immigration ...

Mr Cable, who was in the party, warned that the mission would be futile unless the Government scrapped the proposed annual limit on immigration from outside the European Union.

The Confederation of Indian Business and some British financial leaders have expressed concern that it would prevent entrepreneurs from coming to Britain.

Mr Cable briefed Hindu Business Line that he would fight to have the cap scrapped, saying he wanted as "liberal an immigration policy as it’s possible to have" ...

After hearing of Mr Cable’s remarks, Mr Cameron was understood to have ruled out any watering down of the policy, which was contained in the Coalition agreement ...

Mr Cable ... has said he is "gloomy" about the job he is having to do in the Coalition and Lib Dem MPs are anxious that the party’s poll ratings have slumped alarmingly.

Supporters are demanding that more Lib Dem policies are adopted by the Coalition.

But any sign that Mr Cameron was being swayed by his partners would be seized on by already disgruntled Tory backbenchers ...

Telegraph  28 July 2010

It's one of the biggest political U-turns of all time.

Just six weeks ago, during the general election campaign, Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg was attacking Conservative plans to introduce major cuts in public spending before the economy was secure.

“Do I think that these big, big cuts are merited or justified at a time when the economy is struggling to get to its feet? Clearly not.” he told Jeremy Paxman in April. "Of course I would vote against cuts which would destroy any chance we would have of having a sustainable recovery."

Now, though, it's Clegg himself who is making the case for big, big cuts.

"We have to take action now so that we can still be in control of our future," he says.

Postponing the cuts "would not only be irresponsible, it would be a betrayal of our progressive values".

Could it be that there are really two Nick Cleggs? ...

The First Post  15 June 2010

‘Slasher Osborne’ risks double-dip recession

The Liberal Democrat leader, Nick Clegg, has accused the Conservatives of hiding a “VAT bombshell” that would cost every household almost £400 a year ...

At an event in Glasgow, he said:

“The Conservatives know the only way they can deliver their tax bribes is to deliver a VAT bombshell of £389 on every single household in this country.

"Under Labour your taxes will go up, under the Conservatives your taxes will go up … Only the Liberal Democrats have a plan to deliver fair taxes.” ...

Telegraph  09 Apr 2010

Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg today said that he would reform the immigration system by allowing workers into the country on an area by area basis to address the shortage of workers in the north while clamping down on over-saturation of migrant-workers in south-east England.

Mr Clegg said Conservative plans to introduce a cap on immigrants completely ignored parts of Britain where 'some industries were crying out for people'.

He called instead for an Australia-style area-based immigration policy, which would tie an immigrant worker to a particular part of Britain, and would not allow them to work in a more congested part of the nation ...

Daily Mail  17 Jan 2010

Clegg struggles to give straight answers