Nick Clegg's self-defeating Scargillian rhetoric

toco

Now the scrutiny has started Clegg and Cable are showing just how very lightweight and irrelevant they really are-a hung parliament is generally recognised by everyone as the worst possible result from the country's financial perspective.Having Clegg and Cable meddling in serious issues would be totally damaging and send a terribly negative message to our trading partners.

Beer Moth

"The electoral system works the way it does. It has many inbuilt problems - particularly for the Tories - but until it is reformed it produces lawful and legitimate governments."

Tautologous innit?

Justicia

Your post on majority sizes confuses legal legitimacy with political legitimacy Daniel.

Of course a majority however small is legally in its right to rule the country. I think it is politically too. You must accept however that this doesn't change the fact that it can very often result in government being formed from the votes of less than a quarter of the people, which is unfair.

As for the fact that because its institutionalised its somehow okay, I doubt very much whether conservative bloggers would have raised such an argument when they were carping on about Brown being unelected, despite the complete absence of such a concept in our constitution.

Interesting how now that the Liberals are competitive in the marginals (which according to the conservative bloggers have been the touchstone to the campaign over a UNS, the guns are being levelled at the supposedly irrelevant party.

sonic

You mention Scargill and the Poll tax riots and then try and say there is "no English tradition of political violence"

You also forget that most of that violence has historically came from the government side.

Perhaps Clegg has better instincts than you think, especially when those who thought they were safe find themselves on the scrap heap (with a mortgage to worry about)

Woody

What an insult to the (vast marjority) of law-abiding people of this country.
Did our great-grandparents or grandparents take to rioting in the streets when times were bad, no they didn't, they just got on with it getting by the best they could.
What a stupid, patronising, silly little twerp.

Tim W

In my opinion, all this media attention Clegg is getting is going to his head. He suddenly thinks that because he's constantly got a camera crew with him he is an authoritative voice and a Presidential candidate. He's even advertising his private jet! I could say the same for Cable too. He's too smug for his own good.

He's getting too carried away with it all and saying things that sound good in the mirror but which I think he'll later regret. For example to call £150 a year "Patronising drivel" and "meaningless" will surely backfire if Cameron uses it in the debates. Despite Cameron currently being made out as the 'priviledged one', he could actually be the only man in the TV debates who says £150 is a lot of money.

AndyLeeds

One assumes Cleggy would think a Labour Party small majority equally illigitimate. Lets remind him that the Tories got more votes in England in 2005 than Labour.

LibDems are really a waste of space and time.

Stevie

Labour-Vote for us or die of cancer
LibDumbs-Vote for us or there'll be riots

NOTHING.TO.OFFER.

Simon Stephenson

It's astonishing, isn't it? The absolute, unmistakeable truth is that if the incoming government doesn't implement much swifter deficit-reduction measures than any of the parties are willing even to talk about, the international bond market will take actions to force us to be even harsher than they would have tolerated if we had acted voluntarily.

There is no getting away from this - we were once a powerful country, with numerous "get out of jail free" cards, but in the economic absurdity of the last 13 years we have used them all up.

So thanks Mr Brown and Mr Blair, and all your ministers, for everything you have done. Now go forth and multiply off - we never want to see the likes of you ever again.

In2minds

From to; "from moderate Europeanist to a populist". Are we being told that to be an EU fanatic is unpopular in the UK? Gosh!

J H Holloway

My friends in pink tell me that there wasn't a single hunt sab in the countryside on the day of the riots. They were all up in Trafalgar square.

The real problem was the poll tax required everyone to register with the local council so they got their own bill for their share of local council spending.

The sabs and the black economy lurkers didn't want to be put on the government radar and were prepared to cause serious damage to derail the scheme.

The real problem with the poll tax was the rising costs of administration because they found that around 30 percent of the population moved around once a year.

Taxing a house is much cheaper because houses don't move.

But don't think the riots were a popular uprising. They weren't. They just exposed the bums and swindlers for what they were. Parasites who didn't see why they should make a contribution.

Andrew Baker

This article is merely another example of how the Tories fear the growing popularity of the Liberal Democrats and the Clegg-Cable duo. The Spectator and other conservatives are well aware that n increase in Lib Dem support endangers their chances of winning key seats in the south such as Richmond Park therefore denying them of a majority. Another pathetic attack.

TrevorsDen

'Liberal leader stands on his head to get votes' ??

Is this news/

sonic

"They just exposed the bums and swindlers for what they were. Parasites who didn't see why they should make a contribution"

Who says the class war is dead, wait until our side realises it too.

John Jones

Stop trying to smear his with Scargill mentions.

We all know Britain will riot again if the Tories get in, the man is telling the truth.

Y Rhyfelwr Dewr

The silliest thing about all this babble of "Greek-style unrest" is that it ignores the radically different democratic histories of our countries.

Democracy may have originated in Greece, but they haven't respected it the way we have -- it's not so long ago that Greece was a military dictatorship. Plus, the Greeks have a track record of violent social protest. Football excepted (and soccer riots have little if anything to do with politics), our traditions are very much based on peaceful protest and democratic resolutions.

Could this all change? Well, Zimbabwe recently had an economic collapse, and in the face of hunger and cholera, everything remained remarkably peaceful, despite wide-spread predictions of civil war.

Zimbabweans' understanding that violence could only make their dreadful situation worse and their belief in democratic parliamentary government -- even an undermined one -- proved immensely durable. I believe that Britons' are also, and that a Zimbabwean rather than a Greek response is far more likely.

Nick

Seeing as all three parties have said there need to be significant cuts then whoever wins, and with whatever majority, will have a mandate from the country to implement those cuts.

BC

There's an election underway, the gloves are off, anything goes and in a close run election with a lot of underlying personal animosity between the leaders expect it to get a lot worse.

Yosemite Sam

Daniel, whilst generally agreeing with your piece, I think you understate the English capacity for violent protest. There was a tradition, noted on the Continent, of the English taking to the streets. Dating as far back as the peasants revolt, or when Peter the Great came to London to work in the dockyards and noted the surly, insolent and violent disposition of the workers. One can mention the Chartists or the Luddites in the 19th century. A common feature was a strong feeling that they were being ignored or badly treated by 'their' rulers. Violent protests declined with the spread of the franchise. And, except for a few one-off incidents - like the Poll Tax riot, do not happen. Generally, people accept that, for all its imperfections, we have a democratic system. But there are dangers, the flawed devolution settlement will encourage cries of illegitimacy from Scotland if the Conservatives win (with whatever majority). That could stir up trouble there. Clegg talks about resentment in Sheffield, but what about resentment in vast swathes of England if this discredited government is kept in power by the Lib Dems and the votes of scottish labour MPs? It is a time for some calm heads and measured talk. Clegg did not display such restraint, and he is diminished by that lack.