Clegg holds no punches
Peter Hoskin 3:46pm
Third time's the charm? Not when it comes it Deputy Prime Minister's Questions
it’s not. Nick Clegg put in an effective performance this afternoon, but – just like the previous two sessions – there was rather more heat generated than light. So far as Labour
are concerned, this monthly Q&A is little more than an opportunity to barrack the Lib Dem leader – and they set about the task with undisguised relish.
Unfortunately for them, though, Nick Clegg bites back. Hard. Answering a question from Chris Bryant – in which the Labour MP referred to coalition housing benefit cuts as a "cleansing" of the poor from city centres – he glowered, "To refer to 'cleansing' will be deeply offensive to people who have witnessed ethnic cleansing in other parts of the world." Later on, Clegg reminded the jeering Labour benches that, "[they] introduced tuition fees, having previously said that [they] wouldn't." This was the performance of a man who is as mad as hell with Labour's caricature of his party, and isn't going to take it anymore.
Elsewhere, Clegg put in a spirited defence of the coalition's welfare policies, and even highlighted some of the good news that has been hidden in the small print. "The OBR," he reminded Harriet Harman, "also say that there will
be over 2 million jobs created in the private sector." On this form, Nick Clegg is easily one of the coalition's punchiest performers – perhaps even, as Tim Montgomerie suggested on
Twitter, the "biggest barrier to future LibLabbery".
UPDATE: Paul Waugh has more on the housing benefit angle, including possible concessions to Simon Hughes, here.
Previous
Paddy
October 26th, 2010 4:24pm Report this commentChris Bryant was an absolute disgrace.
Clegg handled him and Harman extremely well.
Labour haven't a 'cat in hells chance' of a pact with the Libs.
Bloody Bill Brock
October 26th, 2010 4:42pm Report this commentNo wonder the Labour party hate him so much.
They (Labour) are getting a damn sight worse.
Bob Hill
October 26th, 2010 4:51pm Report this commentNick clegg is a liar and a gutless one at that
he will have to join the nasty party soon
Because there won't be anyone who will vote for this turncoat coward in Sheffield!!!
Bob Hill
October 26th, 2010 4:54pm Report this commentlib dems haven't a cat in hells chance of having a party next election after their cowardly u turns on most of their election "lying" mandate
Fergus Pickering
October 26th, 2010 4:56pm Report this commentIsn't Chris Bryant the ex-vicar who posed in his underpants? What do you expect?
Enfieldian
October 26th, 2010 5:11pm Report this commentWhile not one of Cleggs biggest fans he really won the argument this time. I'm staggered at the attempt by Labour to rewrite the history of the last 13 years of their mismanagement and hypocracy.
JohnPage
October 26th, 2010 5:14pm Report this commentDo you mean 'pulls no punches'?
Fatbloke on tour
October 26th, 2010 5:16pm Report this commentPH
Ask Trevor if you can borrow his copy of the "Ladybird Book of Economics" as he doesn't seem to be using it much these days.
You again highlight ONS employment figures without adding in the important caveat that they are in fact apples and oranges due to the BR / Railtrack transformation.
Once is sloppy.
Twice suggests you don't understand the subject matter or you are peddling tripe / propaganda.
Finally thanks to Cleggy for generating the link between "Ethnic Cleansing" and "Economic Cleansing".
Both involve removing people from their home areas for political purposes.
The only difference is the agent involved, force vs penury.
As for Cleegy after the election, he will be part of Dave the Rave's booster club seperate from the new independent LibDem hold outs.
The real question involves the composition of Dave's booster club? Will it include DD, LF and all the other true believers?
We are living in interesting times.
strapworld
October 26th, 2010 5:42pm Report this commentBob Hill and his ilk do make me laugh.
He calls Nick Clegg a liar, after Cleggy exposed the Labour Party lies! He then says he is gutless. Well, actually, I think to participate in a coalition in National politics takes guts! Then he makes the most ridiculous statement only a juvenile, fresh from the labour kindergarden can make. 'There wont be anyone who will vote for Clegg in Sheffield' What total nonsense.
This man Bob Hill? knows the voting intentions of EVERY voter in Clegg's constituency!
Then, this idiot, comes back with the statement that the Lib Dems have not a cat in hells chance of having a party at the next election!
So, he now knows the voting intentions of every voter in the United Kingdom.
What a immature prat this fool is! Does he not recall that other fool, Lord Kinnock promising that the Labour Party will kill off the Conservative Party!
It is this kind of idiotic nonsense that turns people off the Labour Party. Let's face it who would want to be in a party with Bob Hill and Kinnockio in it?
emil
October 26th, 2010 6:17pm Report this commentRants posted at 4:51 and 4:54
reminds me of that Jimmy Cricket bloke "and there's more", bet you probably have a similar outfit eh Bob?
Stroller
October 26th, 2010 6:54pm Report this commentClegg is 'gutless' according to Bob Hill. Whatever you think of his politics, this is the least of his characteristics. Having made the decision to go into coalition (and this had to get approval from the rest of his party remember) he is consistent and robust in defending that position. Unlike some of his LibDem colleagues he doesn't give the impression of wobbling or trying to face two ways at once.
The Left hate him because he didn't roll over and save them as they had taken for granted would happen, even though they treated him and the LibDems with complete disdane when in office.
Paddy
October 26th, 2010 7:14pm Report this commentDaniel Hannan has wrote a lovely piece in the Telegraph today regarding the vitriol and hate of the 'lefties'.
Where is Holly when you need her.
GDT
October 26th, 2010 7:34pm Report this commentKinnochio - lmfao - i love that nick-name.
Ab
October 26th, 2010 7:52pm Report this commentHow dare Labour accuse the coalition of "cleansing". The very party that presided over unprecedented levels of immigration which in turn "cleansed" the white working classes from boroughs such Tower Hamlets and Newham followed shortly by Barking & Dagenham and other parts of the country. If only they had shown the same level of concern for the indigenous population.
davidk
October 26th, 2010 9:15pm Report this commentClegg is a Quisling joke.
Widmerpool
October 26th, 2010 9:29pm Report this commentA former Speccie Editor Dominic Lawson wrote an amusing piece in the Times comparing OE’s and Old Westminsters before the Election. He went to both schools so was well placed to compare the likely styles of Cameron and Clegg.
He got it pretty right IMHO; an OE only behaves like a sh*t when it is absolutely necessary and an OW is often “rebarbative” in debate as Lawson says.
A pretty good combination Ha Ha!
Simon Stephenson
October 26th, 2010 9:36pm Report this commentBob Hill
What are you doing reading Coffee House, Bob? Are you here voluntarily and autonomously, or have you been posted here by your activist masters to replace the unlamented Richard of York, and/or to supplement the annoying and irritative agenda of the equally absurd Fatbloke on tour?
Wreckers, the lot of you.
Rob
October 26th, 2010 10:04pm Report this comment@Strapworld... I likes you I do's (as they say down here)
TGF UKIP
October 26th, 2010 10:32pm Report this commentUPDATE: possible more concessions to the LibDems - well fancy that!
wrinkled weasel
October 26th, 2010 11:13pm Report this commentMr Clegg benefits from the seemingly seamless partnership with DC. It is almost as if they no what the other one would say.
I was going to day they are doing a fine impression of being a double act, but I could only think of Fred and Ginger, and no, I don't see Clegg doing everything Dave does, but in high heels, and backwards.
Holly ......
October 26th, 2010 11:29pm Report this commentPaddy 7.14.
Looking after my great nephew for a few weeks.
He needs to be put back on the right path,
as he has gone a bit wonkey lately.
Love
Holly
xxx
Vote_Nick_Clegg_Conservative_Deputy_Leader
November 10th, 2010 11:34pm Report this commentWhen you hear Nick Clegg, if you close your eyes doesn't it sound like its a conservative? The same for all those on the front-bench. Where the liberals had a lateral way of thinking it now become skewed to the conservatives view point. Bye, Bye Social Democrats, Bye Bye Liberals. I wonder if they will have the same number of members as the Green Party.
To think people voted on principles for the Liberals even though they knew they didn't have the majority. To see their principles trod on, and wiped on the floor mat of conservative HQ seems a shames.
Deficit, Deficit, and they same dead blue Norwegian comes to squawk. The reason their are cuts, is because the don't want to have an increase in tax for high-earners. So, we share it, we cut the benefits of the poor, and tax them more. Middle-class is squeezed. Ah! Makes sense now. I can't or haven't seen anything other than the poor and middle-classes grimace, the millionaires seem to let off Cameron, and Osborne free!
Nice if you have a wealth(welfare) family. But, that is not scrounging at all.
Oh, Nick if you could take your shoes off as well. Shoes, I think he go naked to have the power? Parrot squawks as Nick sucks and blows on a pipe as the air is filled with the fog. Ah, what does it mean to be Liberal? The smoke is now blue, the haze is complete, and the Liberal party slowly falls a sleep - not dead just sleeping says the store owner and parrot, exactly. As they say the principle, vows of the liberals not worth the ... smoke ... paper they are written on. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
LD: Liberal Democrats or Lies and Deceits?
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