Nick Clegg’s triumphant performance in the first televised leaders’ debate has already faded in the public imagination. Back then, Lib Dems spoke breathlessly about overtaking Labour as the nation’s second largest party. But a general election in which they lost more seats than they gained has dampened that optimism, and recent opinion polls have all but extinguished it. Were an election held tomorrow, it is suggested, they would stand to lose a further two thirds of their seats. No longer an insurgent force acting against the Conservatives, Mr Clegg is presiding over a party which fears disappearing altogether.
It’s easy to mock Nick Clegg — it was David Cameron’s favourite pastime in the days when they were in competition, not coalition. But as the Lib Dem leader takes the reins of government (while Mr Cameron relaxes in Cornwall) we are reminded of just how much he has achieved. Asked this week whether he could have foreseen being in power only a few months ago, Mr Clegg gave a one-word response: ‘No.’ His candour is commendable. Though Clegg often argued, in opposition, that he could lead his party into government, it’s doubtful he ever believed it. That he is now deputy Prime Minister, and the first liberal to hold the fort of state since David Lloyd George in 1922, is in itself remarkable.
The British public may have created the conditions for a coalition government, but Clegg can take much of the credit. Under his leadership, the Lib Dems have jettisoned the old tendency towards tax-and-spend policies and placed a new emphasis on fiscal restraint, lower taxes and public service reform. By the time the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives began negotiations this May, there was far more uniting the two parties than dividing them.
One hundred days into the life of the coalition and the result of this unity has become apparent: a more radical government than most voters expected. While it is true that the most exciting policies are Tory ones, Nick Clegg has stoked the flames of this radicalism. In speeches and media appearances, he is one of the few ministers who is truly evangelical about reform. In the corridors of Whitehall, Clegg has battled fiercely in support of Iain Duncan Smith’s plans for making work pay. Liberal Democrat ideas, such as a proposal to lift low-income earners out of the tax system, help to spice up the mix.
Mr Clegg’s copybook is not unblemished. He is still given to the occasional silly outburst. He was rightly criticised for calling the Iraq war ‘illegal’ when deputising for Mr Cameron at Prime Minister’s Questions and it was perhaps foolish of him to use Cameron’s absence this week to challenge the wisdom of replacing Trident. But let’s not forget that the deputy Prime Minister is in an almost impossible position: if he supports Cameron too vociferously, he’s accused by his party of being a sellout. If he criticises him too much, he’s overstepping the mark and endangering the coalition. So far he has steered a reasonably decent course between the two. This week, we will see whether he can resist the temptation to pander to his own party and use high office as a soapbox.
Nick Clegg has one of the most important jobs in the government. If the coalition is to survive the next five years, then it is Clegg who will have to integrate the demands of the Prime Minister, the Cabinet and his own party. It will not be easy. But as Liberal Democrat backbenchers stare glumly at the latest polling figures, they can be assured of one thing: for the first time in decades, their leader has real power.
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