Clegg ushers in the next phase of the coalition

What have the Lib Dems ever done for us? That’s the question that Nick Clegg sets about answering in interview with the Independent today — and he does so with righteous vigour. “Brick by brick, policy by policy, decision by decision, sometimes almost invisibly,” he insists, “we are putting in place good policies that will make a long and lasting difference.” He dwells, and rightfully so, on the pupil premium and raised personal allowance. “All these things will outlive the immediate task of dealing with the deficit.”

This salesmanship is only to be expected from Clegg, speaking on the eve of his party’s spring conference and in the aftermath of their electoral cremation in Barnsley. But he suggests that it is also part of a “new phase of the coalition,” in which the Lib Dems stand up for their cause more definitely and more defiantly. The two coalition parties will, apparently, “not always use the same language,” when promoting the government’s policies. And their differences will receive greater emphasis. As if to illustrate the point, Clegg rather lamely reveals that he chided David Cameron for talking “complete bilge” about AV in PMQs. “We we very good humoured about it,” he adds, hastily, afterwards.  

Whether this next phase of the coalition will be much different from the last phase, I’m not sure. Clegg has been making similar points, with similar force, ever since the bloom started to fade from the Rose Garden. In which case, the most noteworthy part of the interview is probably when he shifts from the coalition to Libya. Like the Lib Dem hawks that Daniel highlighted last night, Clegg talks tough, and suggests that action may have to come even without the UN’s blessing:

“Mr Clegg said that while a UN resolution would be the ‘best route’, lawyers could advise that intervention to prevent a humanitarian disaster would be legal, as in Kosovo: ‘It is not about a piece of paper you sign. It is whether you are acting lawfully. This Government would never act unlawfully in international affairs. There is no question of the Government haring off on its own on some wild adventure without international sanction. We are not there yet. Where we are is unambiguously in the frontline in the international community in saying what Colonel Gaddafi is doing is totally and utterly unacceptable. He is going to war on his own people. We should not sit on our hands.'”