Who is Clegg closer to?
James Forsyth 8:40am
Nick Clegg’s interview with the New Statesman is well worth reading for an insight into how he sees relations with the two main parties. Clegg describes himself as “an anti-Labour northern MP” and explains why he thinks that the Lib Dems' room for growth comes from taking seats from Labour: "Something like 85 per cent of our MPs are in former Conservative seats. I want to hold on to those gains and improve on them. Look at the political map of Britain: the places where we are going to win the most seats in the next few years are in the Labour heartlands. One of the reasons I'm keen to be leader is that I think I can lead the charge against Labour."
Yet, Clegg is aware of the dangers of being labelled a closet Tory. So he stresses that he has no plans to do a deal with the Tories if Gordon Brown loses his overall majority: "It's an unbelievably far-fetched attitude from senior Conservatives that somehow the Liberal Democrats are condemned to do deals with them. It's phooey."
But the essential dilemma for the Lib Dems is that they will only get into government as a minority partner. So, however, robust Clegg is now in his views of Labour and the Conservatives he will have to decide who he wants to do business with at some point.
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Comments
Lee Jakeman
November 16th, 2007 9:21amThere's a certain amount of sense in this. The party that started out as the champion of the British working class has ended up as the oppressor of the English working class. There's a vacuum that needs filling. If the Tories don't fill it, someone else will. More likely the straight talking BNP than the wishy-washy Liberals.
David Lindsay
November 16th, 2007 10:18amI think that Chris Huhne had a point on Question Time last night: hatred of the Lib Dems among Labour and the Tories in their respective heartland areas (which would account for the great majority of their respective MPs in a hung Parliament) is so visceral that they are more likely to do a deal with each other. Such arrangements are of course routine in local government; and there is currently just such a coalition at national level in Germany. Let's face it, who would be able to tell the difference politically between the present situtaion and either a New Labour-New Tory coalition, or indeed a New Tory majority government? So, although Huhne might not have meant it like this, even in the event of a hung Parliament, the Lib Dems still wouldn't matter.