The case for Nick Clegg
Peter Hoskin 2:04pm
Ok, this won't be one of my more popular opinions, but here goes ... Nick Clegg is a
Good Politician. And I don't mean that in some Machiavellian sense – although, for all I know, that might be true. But, rather, that he's got some decent ideas and ideals, and he
presents them convincingly. This is why he deserved his victory in yesterday's TV debate. It wasn't the novelty factor, as Fraser claimed last night. It wasn't even really his plague-on-both-your-houses positioning. No,
last night was the culmination of two years in which – politically speaking – Clegg has kneaded and pulled his party into one which can stand, unashamed, on a platform beside the Big
Two.
I've been fighting an insurgency struggle inside 22 Old Queen St, on this very point, for some time now. The naysayers point to all the gaffes and all the inconsistencies – and I can see where they're coming from. There are several heavy caveats which need to be attached to any praise for Clegg, and they'll run through what follows. But I still think his opponents have been all too blithe, all too casual about the Lib Dem leader. In which case, here's my brief five point guide to why Clegg is worth taking seriously:
1. Public service reform. Sift through his speeches and articles, and Clegg is often the party leader who sounds most evangelical about public service reform. His beat
is decentralisation, choice and competition. And, crucially, he has consistently pushed the fiscal case for reform – that you can get better services for less money – since even
before the full horror of Brown's debt binge came into view. I mean, howabout this passage from an article of his on the NHS:
"We've reached the end of the line for the Labour approach. Investment was desperately needed in 1997, after years of Conservative neglect. But it came with centrally dictated reforms, Whitehall restructuring and ministerial targets that made little sense on the ground.
So, although we now spend as much as our European counterparts, health outcomes lag far behind, and inequality is worsening. Cancer survival is below the European average; we have the worst outcome for stroke patients in western Europe; and a baby born in the poorest ward of Sheffield will die 14 years before a baby born in a wealthier ward. The centralised system has failed the people who need it most."
And there are plenty more examples besides. Yes, there are question marks about whether the Lib Dems have the policies to back this up – but in several areas, from education to welfare, they stand on solid reforming platforms.
2. Low taxes for low income earners. Since Gordon Brown ditched the 10p tax rate, there has been a economic and moral space for politicians to stand up for low-income earners. Frank Field has done it, IDS has done it – and so too has Nick Clegg. He talks about low taxes for low income earners at basically every other PMQs – and in amost every speech. And, in the Lib Dems' plan to make the first £10,000 of income tax free, he has a policy to back up his rhetoric. Yes, it may be expensive, the sums may be optimistic. But it's an important proposal, and perhaps the best doorstep policy of this election.
3. Spending cuts. The Lib Dems have muddied their position on spending cuts recently, by claiming that they shouldn't be made this year. But there's an abiding sense that Nick Clegg is more honest about the need for cuts than most of his parliamentary colleagues. I point you in the direction of his "politics of priority" speech in January. Or his talk of "savage cuts" last September. Or, last February, when he was dropping spending pledges and talking about an "age of austerity". Even in 2008, he was displaying the logic which would lead to cuts. A speech of his in November 2008 has the line:
"We hear talk of tax cuts emerging from Downing Street, but they are likely to be small, and short term. Funded through borrowing, the money will have to be paid back later. So it's meagre tax cuts today, giant tax rises tomorrow from Brown."
Throw in the Lib Dem's plans to cut big ticket items like Trident, and there's a rich vein of hawkishness on the public finances. Pretty astonishing, really, when they've traditionally been a tax-and-spend bunch.
4. Non-partisan tone. Ok, Clegg does attack Labour and the Tories. He has to. And he frequently does it from a achingly sanctimonious vantage point. But I'm frequently struck by how non-partisan he can be. For instance, he often uses PMQs for something close to what it's designed for: asking the Prime Minister a question, rather than Party Propagnada Hour. But what I more have in mind is how he makes statements which make life easier for the other parties, as well as for his own. The "politics of priority" speech was a classic example of this: while Labour and the Tories can dwell on "U-turns" over spending , Clegg just comes right out and says that "of course we'll have to ditch commitments – everyone will have to". This is a message which benefits the Tories and Labour just as much as the Lib Dems.
5. Established himself. Maybe it's just me, but he seems to have established himself fairly well in just two years. And that despite a political class which seems to lazily obsess over that one GQ interview. The Gurkha campaign and last night's performance will have helped in this repsect.
Ok, that's enough of that. I know what you're all thinking – you're thinking about that silly walkout over the Lisbon Treaty; about that declaration that Parliament shouldn't go on holiday over the summer (it did); about the fantasies in the Lib Dems' fiscal projections; and so on. And you're right. I'm not saying that Clegg is perfect. And I'm certainly not endorsing his party. My point is simply that Clegg is, in many respects, a severely underrated political figure. Many of the good apsects of his party seem to be down to his leadership. And many of the bad aspects are either a natural function of the Lib Dems, or, to my mind, a result of Vince Cable's more questionable instincts.
Even if you don't sign up to the above, then let's hope Clegg's victory in the TV debate achieves one thing: to stop the laughter and the jeering when he stands up in PMQs, often just before paying his condolences to our fallen troops in Afghanistan. As I've written before, that kind of thing says far more about Parliament than it does about Nick Clegg.
Previous
ollie
April 16th, 2010 2:18pm Report this commentI still say Clegg is liberated by the freedom of a man who speaks knowing he will never become PM, and I still say his policies are not being scrutinised properly.
Is Clegg really offering "change"? No - he's offering more government, more redistribution, further EU integration, a greatly weakened Armed forces, a mad immigration policy, etc, etc. In other words, a purely Left wing vision.
This is great for the media, because it ties into the hung parliament narrative - and we all know how obsessed they are with that.
This hysteria surrounding Clegg will die down very quickly once the public see through his little ruse.
John Ionides
April 16th, 2010 2:26pm Report this commentPeter,
Who am I to play gooseberry with your latest love? But the policies that Nick is presenting have a couple of fundamental flaws.
The first is that they explicitly and fundamentally support a high tax state. Now, you can make a case for this (many do), but this is deeply at odds with the "liberal" bit. The larger the stake that the state has in everyday life, the more it will tend to interfere.
Secondly, once you look under the bonnet a lot of the policies have evidently been assembled for show, rather than for purpose. For instance, I have been trying to find out more about the policy of equalising VAT on new build and refurbishment. What (roughly) will the VAT rate be? What will be the impact on the price of a newly built family home?? They simply have no idea.
The Liberal Democrats are a very useful catch-all for disaffected "independents" at the local government level, but in terms of putting together a coherent set of policies for governing the whole country they are still a mile off.
Right On
April 16th, 2010 2:27pm Report this commentOh look, a bandwagon.....
Mazza1230
April 16th, 2010 2:27pm Report this commentWhat actually needs investigating and then highlighting is the way that Clegg and St Vince's munificence will be paid for.
Lib Dem Tax and National Insurance policy makes Brown look positively sensible.
A spotlight shone in this direction should quieten Nick down a bit.
Pete Hoskin
April 16th, 2010 2:30pm Report this commentRight on: I know it may look like that, but my colleagues could tell you that I've been saying this for a while now...
Greenslime
April 16th, 2010 2:34pm Report this commentThere isn't a case for Nick Clegg. He is a European Federalist and his prospective chancellor is Captain Dangerous.
It is quite terrifying that the British paper may decide to vote for a party on the basis of how Clegg performed yesterday, he had nothing to lose so he could afford just to go for it, but his policies are all over the place.
Knights move I know, but I was looking at Caroline Lucas' bio on Wickiwhati yesterday. Was she really born in a university at 18 or are there things she doesn't want to tell us?
toco
April 16th, 2010 2:34pm Report this commentHe wants to dismantle our military capability!Thank goodness Nick Clegg was not around when Adolf Hitler was stomping all over Europe.By telling Iran and North Korea he will not fight would sideline us from any small influence we may have on the international stage.Add the voting change which ensures we have perpetual minority governments and you have a recipe for doomed economic activity,high unemployment and a substantially reduced standard of living.
Nicholas
April 16th, 2010 2:36pm Report this commentIf Nick Clegg's televisual canonisation in the Court of Public Opinion pushes Labour into third place I'm all for it.
But what happened to the phone-in lines for the votes to kick out one of the entrants for the next debate? I was going to vote Gordon off but there were no phone lines.
Chris lancashire
April 16th, 2010 2:37pm Report this commentYou are being totally carried away by one TV performance and that was built on "you two sound the same - I'm different" which won't have a long shelf life.
Clegg, the Twickenham Sage and, now, Pantsdown (on TV last night) all say that they have a "fully costed" programme and the Tories' and Labour's sums don't add up. Oh, and yes, they all saw the crash coming AND they warned about Parliamentary expenses.
What T O T A L rubbish.
They have used the same fag packet to come up with their "Budget" and, try as I might, I can't recall all these warnings.
Clegg did well, got lucky and will slowly sink into the same political obscurity as every other LibDem leader since Jeremy Thorpe (and he only survives because someone shot a dog.
Irene
April 16th, 2010 2:39pm Report this commentFor God's sake - what case? - there is no case.
Chris W
April 16th, 2010 2:39pm Report this commentYou might also mention how well he did in the Paxman interview last week. It was his coolness in that, which made it no surprise to me that he did well in the debate. He also has a good officer in Danny Alexander.
HFC
April 16th, 2010 2:43pm Report this comment'We can be anything you want us to be...'
Like all LibDems, Clegg is an engaging fantasist. He seems well suited to be the next leader of the 'give us your money becausee we khow the best way to spend it' Labour party...
Whig
April 16th, 2010 2:44pm Report this commentYou might argue that Clegg isn't a bad statesman (let's avoid using the charged term politician). However, as you observe, his party is the problem. There are plenty of good politicians in the Labour party - in that they're virtuous, if misguided. So what? Some more specific points:
1. The Lib Dems - Clegg or not - don't go nearly far enough on public service reform with policies such as e.g. school vouchers, welfare reform and returning most of the public sector to the private sphere
2. It's all very well to have a £10k threshold, but at the moment that will just throw a greater burden onto hard-pressed tax-payers above that line. Better to reduce the size of the state, cut taxes and then simplify them
3. Cutting trident is the last 'big ticket' item that should go. Trident is cost-effective, as it's the only possible system that achieves its stated role (a deployable, permanent 2nd strike capable nuclear force) and for relatively little cost compared to all those 'smaller ticket' but in aggregate more expensive items which don't achieve their stated goals throughout government. Why cut something that acutally works!?
sean martin
April 16th, 2010 2:46pm Report this commentRight on,
To be fair Pete has been very consistent over his admiration for Clegg for a long while. Look back over his posts in the archive and you will find the confirmation
Ed
April 16th, 2010 2:51pm Report this commentClegg deservedly stormed the debate last night. For all the talk of a victory of "style over substance", the Lib Dem manifesto was the heaviest on detail and the only one with any attempt to calculate savings and expenditure.
Labour and the Conservatives may have had to suffer scrutiny on their personalities in the media but they are still being evasive about subjecting any real policy details to the public eye.
Clegg has worked hard, avoided cheap point-scoring politics and the approach is finally paying off.
Osred
April 16th, 2010 2:52pm Report this commentPeter,
Theres no doubt that Clegg had a good show and benefited hugely from the equal time allocated to him. I wonder though how much, if at all, his party has been transformed. It seems to me (at the local level) that they still fall into 2 main camps; the 'we're not Tory or Labour but we're not sure what we stand for' or the 'knit your own muesli, green, progressive brigade'.
Outside London HQ they are still the usual mish-mash.
it has to be said that their tax ideas for the lower paid are a great idea and would actually have a positive social multiplier effect by embedding the benefits of working for those on the work/benefits margin.
We mustn't forget though that the main reason he pushes the Trident issue is not money (despite what he claims). It is to keep on board the unilateralist majority of LibDems.
His keenness for decentralisation (but not local reform) must surely have something to do with the calculation that those in charge locally are overwhelmingly of the liberal 'Guardianista' camp and so they'll grasp the reins of power ever more firmly.
He does fake sincerity extremely well though.
Craig Strachan
April 16th, 2010 2:55pm Report this commentThe stress on personal liberty in the Lib Dem manifesto convinces me that a Tory/Lib Dem coalition would be no bad thing - and maybe a very good thing indeed.
Danko
April 16th, 2010 2:56pm Report this commentPeter,
I can see where you are coming from, however, as you say he leads the LibDems, who count amongst their number one St. Vince Cable. Clegg has allowed Cable to get away with far too many flip-flop moments, far too many self promotion tours of TV studios and newsroom interview rooms, and has generally not kept him under control as a leader should. Yes, alright Cable is the star, but Cameron sort of had that with Hague at the beginning. Cameron however lay the rules out at the beginning and ensured that people understood he was leader.
Clegg certainly made a good showing last night, I will be the first to admit that, however, that does not mean that he is some fantastic Politician whom we had all, up until now, underestimated, it just means he had a good 90 minutes where he was able to use the format to his advantage.
If Clegg is what you say he is, he needs to first reign Vince in, or else publicly fire him, and then he needs to form a solid team which can really represent the things they believe in and sell that to the public. At the moment it simply appears to be Super Vince and his trusty, but perky, sidekick Cleggover.
If Clegg can do this, if he can find the talent to sell his ideas and to stick to the script he writes, then yes perhaps he could be what you say he is. However, until that day, I think it is stuff of dreams (albeit not very nice ones for me).
Martin
April 16th, 2010 2:59pm Report this commentLabour and the Tories care more about slinging mud at each other than putting forward policy and installing a sense of trust in the electorate. I mean look at the disgraceful billbourds they have produced. I think Clegg has picked up on this and combined with his friendly face he has a fantastic chance to make some headway on the 2 main parties.
Yam Yam
April 16th, 2010 3:07pm Report this commentThe LibDems may well harp on about tax and spending cuts when canvassing in their southern middle-class constituencies. However, I bet their candidates in deprived northern cities are peddling a rather different message.
Easy
April 16th, 2010 3:08pm Report this commentThe case for Cleff is simple really:
Vote Clegg and get Brown
Nicholas
April 16th, 2010 3:08pm Report this commentI wish the LibDems wouldn't flirt with New Labour. I think Tories and LibDems as two major parties with New Labour third where they belong would be a very healthy result for Britain.
THX1138
April 16th, 2010 3:08pm Report this commentI met his ex girlfriend on holiday this Easter and she wasn't so complimentary!
GeoffH
April 16th, 2010 3:09pm Report this commentThe case for who?
Oh you mean the chap who proposes raising the income tax threshold to benefit the lower-paid but thinks raising the IHT threshold benefits only the rich? Either the incidence of raising thresholds benefits those at the margins or it doesn’t. It can’t be one thing for one tax and one thing for another.
Tiberius
April 16th, 2010 3:10pm Report this commentAll this hype over Clegg must be to do with all those birds he says he shagged. Put him in a Batman cape for the next debate and he'll poll 70%.
Sir Graphus
April 16th, 2010 3:18pm Report this commentNow that he's overtaken Labour, he won't have Brown trying to kiss his arse next time. That was a considerable advantage.
Rory the Deplorable
April 16th, 2010 3:21pm Report this commentI think you are quite right. Clegg has tapped into the mood. I didn't get it till last night! An to help prove the point, we have today's little tobacco story. The good old super ethical CO OP doesn't look so clever now. Capitalism has a problem, and me, a free marketeer, middle class, middle aged lifelong Tory voter accepts the status quo is unacceptable. Then again so is the Euro and scrapping Trident. Hey ho. Going to be an interesting three weeks.
paul holdstock
April 16th, 2010 3:30pm Report this commentaccording to Clegg last night, the trident cost is £100 billion, over 25 years.
i.e. £4 billion a year, which represents less than 1% of the annual government spend.
whilst being no fan of nuclear weapons myself, i feel that as no nuclear power has ever, or will ever, be attacked by another nation, this cost represents conspicuously good value for our collective safety.
Clegg, and Cameron, for that matter, failed to point out to Brown that when labour reduced VAT before christmas, it was done to 'boost the economy'.
i.e.less tax take, = more money IN the economy rather than OUT of the economy.
no doubt the debate has improved Cleggs profile, but once the lib-dems policies, and contradictions, are given much closer scrutiny, it will in all probability make little, or no, difference to the election results.
in fact, Browns crude attempts to cosy up to Clegg, might have a negative effect on some voters, as they will rightly assume that a vote for Clegg, would in effect be a vote for Brown.
as for Clegg trying to paint his party as 'honest', one might like to bear in mind, that irrespective of what the law might say, knowingly retaining £2.4 million of stolen money, stolen from private individuals, is hardly the action of a moral organisation.
whatever one might fell about Ashcroft, or the Unions, their cash is not stolen money.
Osred
April 16th, 2010 3:48pm Report this commentCalling someone a Good Politician is a bit like calling someone a Good Burglar.
denis cooper
April 16th, 2010 4:03pm Report this commentClegg is a liar, but the Tories are no longer in a position to upbraid him for that even in polite terms and so he'll probably get away with it.
Sacre Bleu
April 16th, 2010 4:14pm Report this commentThe great unknown in this election is the details of the true financial position of the country. The details from Clegg suggests he has all this data and knows exactly how to sort out the deficit AND the debt of the country. How come? it appears that even GB has no idea of the state finances. Cameron is clearly waiting to access the books to see the depth of the problem, should he become the next PM, but not so Clegg. Perhaps Brown has shown him the books as part of a deal to stitch up the Conservative party after which Clegg will be out on his arse. Trust Brown? never.
roger slade
April 16th, 2010 4:20pm Report this commentCameron was not aggressive enough but Clegg was playing to the gallery having been allowed to play with the big boys. His manifesto is full of holes and the other two will be gunning for him next time. I also expect his "success" will go to his head and that this will prove to be his downfall. He should learn the meaning of hubris before he goes any further.
Dorothy Wilson
April 16th, 2010 4:45pm Report this commentSo we should all rejoice at an amnesity for illegal immigrants and the prospect of a federal EU should we?
General Zod
April 16th, 2010 4:55pm Report this commentRoger, given that he's a Wykehamist, I'd be amazed if Clegg doesn't understand the concept of hubris. Whether he discerns it amidst the response to his performance last night, is another matter.
Ghengis
April 16th, 2010 5:43pm Report this commentIts got to be "the ash effect", denial of the appalling position we face in the future has replaced common sense. Face it we're nigh on bankrupt and here we are even considering the continuing employment of the management responsible. We are telling the rest of the world that we believe in the money tree.
Vulture
April 16th, 2010 5:48pm Report this comment@ THX II8
Oooooh YOu are a tease! Do tell us a little more abt Clegg's sexual deficiencies..
@Zod: Clegg isn't a Wykhamist: Winchester is an intellectually distinguished school, but an Old Westminster.
Ian C
April 16th, 2010 6:04pm Report this commentIf we accept for a moment that you are right Pete, and you are certainly not ALL wrong, this would affirm those who believe that Cameron has not beeen radical enough to date, and is thus paying the price now because he has let the Lib Dems in.
So let us see. Last night's debate was not about who won. It was about each establsihing themselves as 'non-dorks'. Brown failed, Cameron took a continued low-key approach and Clegg came out of his heretofore wooden-box. If he had not he would have failed and the Lib Dems would be toast. That is the extent of his so called 'win'.
Now we have a level playing filed. Cameron can get more incisive, Clegg and the L/Dems can be held up to the light (Europe, global warming, and appalling local gov't and much more!!), Brown slips off into the mire and we move into an era for British politics that has moved past the Labour Party.
Yippee. I am all for that. We can grow up again and be told the truth once more and not complain when something is done about the very real problems we have. With Labour lying their way through the past 13 years, and somehow getting away with it for so long, we have forgotten what it is like to live in a real world.
Beer Moth
April 16th, 2010 6:17pm Report this commentThis is truly a historic shift in the UK political landscape.
The decrepit system whereby two parties urged us on with words whilst they undermined us with their deeds, has passed.
We now have three parties to do that same job.
Sir Graphus
April 16th, 2010 6:18pm Report this commentAre you a Wykemist, Vulture?
David Galea
April 16th, 2010 6:30pm Report this commentClegg spouts fallacy after fallacy and the public love it? Yuck!
What is Nick Clegg's version of "fairness"? How would it translate into law? How would it affect my money?
In2minds
April 16th, 2010 6:33pm Report this commentWell done, a report that does not mention the EU following a fake TV debate in which Clegg and the other two goons did not either. Avoid the real issues eh?
Vulture
April 16th, 2010 6:49pm Report this commentSir Graphus : No, I'm a Stoic.
oldtimer
April 16th, 2010 7:24pm Report this commentThe Clegg quote above that caught my eye was this one:
Clegg just comes right out and says that "of course we'll have to ditch commitments – everyone will have to".
Last night I thought he started very well, but became somewhat obvious, repetitive and tedious as the session went on. But overall he came ahead. No doubt the others will now pick apart and attack his policies next time round eg to join the Euro (what with the only sure solution for Greece to exit the Euro?) and to grant asylum to all illegal immigrants (I do not recall that coming out during answers to the first question).
Brown and Cameron do not need to be aggressive to attack Clegg, they only have to state their policies and contrast them with LibDem polices. Clegg will then be forced to seek to justify them.
My wife and forced ourselves to watch it from start to finish. Whether we have the willpower to do so again is a matter of some doubt.
2trueblue
April 16th, 2010 7:45pm Report this commentThe guy has been given too much airtime. I have six lovely grandchildren, the eldest is 8yrs., bright, witty, intelligent and she is given too much airtime. I need to feel that I can trust the person elected to have some ideas about how it should go.
We have had 13yrs of Liebore and they have wrecked our pensions, education, the economy, ( the global recession, ha ha ) and taken away our liberties in every walk of our lives. Apart from that they have spent everything that was in the kitty and renaged on most of the things that they promised in their manifesto.
So let us all get gooey eyed and vote for the next schmuck and allow Liebore to use him to really sink the UK.
Right now we have holes in the boat but we can stay afloat... just. Let Liebore in again with support of any sort and we SINK.
Follow the money. The markets are not interested in our petty squabbles, they are interested in whether we can sort it out. If we can not pay our way, we will pay for it big time. This is not about whether we look good it is about whether we can get it together. We have a massive debt, thank you Gordo, and we need to pay our way. That is reality, so grow up and see how to do it.
Steve Tierney
April 16th, 2010 9:53pm Report this commentJust imagine that the next two debates went the same way. We're already hearing of polls where the Lib Dems are ahead of Labour. What if the bandwagon carried on rolling - dragging in the press as the power of the media become a leviathan.
I know this is unlikely - but we really are in uncharted territory here. Just imagine that history was made as the emperor put on one set of colourful new 'clothes' after another....
If the Liberal Democrats won - they'd have Vince Cable to deal with the current economic climate. Can you imagine how that would turn out....
We live in interesting times.
daniel maris
April 17th, 2010 2:12am Report this commentGood - and brave - article (respect!).
Yes, Clegg was far more than style and anti-politics (although he made good use of both, of course).
But essentially we have to thank him for raising the tone of the debate.
Having established himself now, though he does have to survive the laser scrutiny that will follow. I frankly admit that I can't support anyone that is so pro Eu, pro immigration and relentlessly PC. But he has performed a valuable contribution to British democracy.
The Laughing Cavalier
April 17th, 2010 8:23am Report this commentFrom the way in which Brown and his cronies are talking up the vainglorious Cleggy it would seem that Labour have conceded already that they cannot not win. Their only hope of stymieing a Conservative government is to make a temporary alliance with the Liberals and shaft them later (as per usual).
Fergus Pickering
April 17th, 2010 11:20am Report this commentSurely Clegg's policy on immigration - no limits and send 'em all up North or anywhere there are no Lib dems - and his policy on Europe - pay up, get shafted
, it's all good - will be enough, by themselves, to sink him. We don't want that, do we? Do we?
Beer Moth
April 17th, 2010 1:49pm Report this commentFergus Pickering.
What has 'what we want' got to do with any of this perished husk of a political system?
We need substance not style
April 21st, 2010 11:26pm Report this commentI find Nick Clegg's recent arrogant attitude, resulting from the surge in support for the lib dems, quite nauseating.
His personal attack on Gordon Brown today was the final nail in the coffin for me. He comes across as being very manipulative by spinning half truths. Shameful.
Why oh why oh why, did the lib dems select this man as their leader? He is a carbon copy of David Cameron. All style, no substance. All negative attack, no positivity. Vince Cable effortlessly manages to come across as a man who can be trusted and who knows his stuff, without attacking his opponents in the very superficial style of Clegg and Cameron.
How have we ended up with this unhappy situation, two phonies (Clegg and Cameron) and man who (for a reason I don't personally understand) everyone loves to hate (Brown)?
Richard
July 1st, 2010 2:18pm Report this commentThe writing is on the wall...
Since the Government are to cut Police budgets and expect the Special constabulary (50,000 at the last count) to take up the slack, they need to think about how they would impliment this as Special Constables are not required (unlike the TA's) to respond.
So if a Public Order incident kicks in, Specials need not respond; not to mention the fact that they are not trained for such eventualities.
Unless of course they place Special Constables on an 'oncall' system like the TA's including a bounty.
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