Nick Clegg came to the Commons today to both praise and bury House of Lords reform, for this parliament at least. In a light-hearted start, Clegg informed the House that he was here to update it on ‘House of Lords reform or what’s left of it’. But this light-hearted mood didn’t last long. Soon Clegg and Harman were trading blows, with the Deputy Prime Minister accusing Labour of having behaved like miserable, little party point scoring politicians’ in refusing to back the idea of a timetable motion.
Things turned really sour when Clegg’s Tory backbench tormentors got to their feet. Malcolm Rifkind, whose speech against had helped sink the bill, told Clegg to embrace Lord Steel’s bill as it is ‘all he’s likely to get’. Clegg responded with disdain for the Steel bill. When Bernard Jenkin rose to ask a question on Clegg’s announcement Lib Dems will vote against the boundary changes, Clegg’s PPS Jo Swinson — sitting incongruously on the Tory row behind the front bench — shot him a contemptuous look.
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