Did Clegg pick the least worst option?
James Forsyth 11:49am
Nick Robinson has a good post up at the BBC explaining why Nick Clegg got himself into such a mess on the Lisbon Treaty. The whole thing is well worth reading but here’s the most important section: “So why did he order his MPs to sit on their hands, to vote neither yes nor no in this week’s referendum vote in the Commons? That is the question being asked not least by those heading today to the Lib Dem spring conference in Liverpool.
The answer is that he feared something much worse. Given a free vote, a vast majority of his MPs – some suggest as many as 50 - would have voted with the Tories to try and force a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty and to defeat the government.
The problem is that a number of key figures would have refused to join them. The former leader Charles Kennedy, the man Nick Clegg narrowly beat, Chris Huhne and above all, Mr Clegg himself.
All passionate pro-Europeans, they believed it would have been irresponsible to risk derailing the EU treaty by forcing a referendum which the government might well have lost.
There was one other big problem. Those voting with the Tories may well have been led by one Vince Cable. The man who made his name thanks to Northern Rock, to Strictly Come Dancing and to being acting leader and who’s proved such a hard act to follow.
So Nick Clegg couldn’t vote Yes to a referendum on Lisbon and most of his MPs wouldn’t vote No. So the parliamentary party agreed to vote neither and to live with the consequences.” The next question for Clegg is what to do about the Lib Dems in the Lords where it is expected that many of their peers will vote against the referendum rather than just abstaining.
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Comments
adrian drummon
March 7th, 2008 12:12pmIn other words, Glegg put himself before his country.
CS
March 7th, 2008 1:16pmThe idea that Clegg is much cleverer than we realise reminds me of the briefings coming from Labour after the election-that-never-was affair. Aha, but it was all a cunning ploy by Brown to flush out the Tories' big policy of inheritance tax. Very cunning, Gordon, on the plus side you get to flush out a Tory policy. And all you have on the minus side is the conversion of a commanding poll lead to a disastrous poll trail and the destruction overnight of any reputation for competence and straightforwardness you had. Sounds like a good deal to me. Where do I sign? I suspect that the benefits of any healing of potential LibDem Europe disagreements (er, could someone explain that to me slowly please?) might be slightly outweighed by Clegg's new image as an incompetent leader who 's lost half his front bench. But what do we know? We're not clever political tacticians.
Mike
March 7th, 2008 1:26pmIn one go they have shredded their credibility and their position as the "none of the above" party
CS
March 7th, 2008 3:54pmBy the way, you can't have a "least worst" option. "Least" implies that there are at a minimum of three options to chose from. But you can only have one "worst" option. You mean the "least bad" option.
David Lindsay
March 7th, 2008 5:11pmIf the Lib Dems go into the next General Election promising a referendum on EU membership, then will columnists such as Simon Heffer (Enoch Powell's biographer), Andrew Alexander (Powell's close friend) and Peter Hitchens do an Enoch, and call on their readers to vote Lib Dem? If not, why not? And if so, then what would the Lib Dems have to say in response to such endorsements?
Will Rees
March 7th, 2008 5:27pmI can't believe he has the nerve to say that he hopes people noticed "that he took a principled stand on something he cares deeply about despite the obvious problems." What I noticed was was 49 "honourable" members sitting in the chamber while the rest of our elected representatives voted on Ian Davidson's clause 8. It was almost as noticeable as Lib Dem's decision the week earlier to side step their manifesto commitment, in persuance of a ballot as perscribed by clause 8. I also noticed http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2003/oct/15/politicalcolumnists.eu
Nick Kaplan
March 7th, 2008 5:46pmv So Clegg did what was best for him and in doing so betrayed the entire electorate and sold our sovereignty down the river. At least one good thing will come out of it; these opportunist liars will no longer be able to claim the moral high ground come the next election.
dearieme
March 7th, 2008 6:02pmI'm so old that I can remember when we said "least bad" rather than "least worst". We had schools in those days, of course.
CS
March 7th, 2008 7:31pmExcuse me, dearieme, but I think you'll find that the correct expression is: "we had schools in them days". Innit.
Max Kaye
March 7th, 2008 7:47pmClegg: resolute in abstention.
After this exhibition of contempt for the voters that elected him, I can only suppose that in the future no-one will be foolish enough to waste their vote on the Lib Dems.