Nick clegg

Is the man who gave us fixed term parliaments now trying to do away with them?

Nick Clegg has written an interesting column for the Evening Standard today about the referendum result. You will not be surprised, reader, that he’s not altogether happy about the outcome. But what’s especially interesting is his insistence that: ‘…there will have to be a general election shortly after the new Conservative leader is elected. The country did not elect a Brexit government last year. The millions of voters who gave David Cameron the benefit of the doubt did so, above all, because they were worried what would happen to the economy if Ed Miliband and Alex Salmond were in charge… And when we vote in that general election, the key

Watch: The Spectator’s Brexit debate

In the largest event in The Spectator’s 188-year history, 2,200 people packed into the Palladium this week to watch our debate chaired by Andrew Neil on whether Britain should leave the EU. Dan Hannan, Nigel Farage and Kate Hoey backed Brexit. Whilst Nick Clegg, Liz Kendall and Chuka Umunna argued that Britain was better off remaining a part of the European Union. Leave won the debate, which was sponsored by Rathbones, with a resounding number of the audience siding with Hannan, Farage and Hoey. But if you weren’t lucky enough to make it to the Spectator’s Brexit debate yourself, then you can make up your own mind by watching the

Leave wins the Spectator Brexit debate at the London Palladium

It was the largest debate in The Spectator’s history: we sold out the 2,200-seat London Palladium for our debate on whether Britain should leave the EU, sponsored by Rathbones. The lineup: Dan Hannan, Nigel Farage and Kate Hoey vs Nick Clegg, Liz Kendall and Chuka Umunna. Andrew Neil chaired. Here are summaries of all the speeches, as well as the full audio: Daniel Hannan for Out. https://soundcloud.com/spectator1828/daniel-hannans-speech-in-spectator-brexit-debate Tonight, I’m inviting you to make me redundant – and, into the bargain, make Nigel redundant. And I wouldn’t be doing if I were not confident that there will be plenty of openings for newly-unemployed MEPs in the boom that would follow our exit from the European Union. Why do

Watch: Dennis Skinner takes a pop at Nick Clegg – ‘what on earth was the Queen doing confiding in him?’

Today’s Mail claims that Michael Gove is ‘clinging to office’ as a result of accusations that he was the source of the Sun‘s ‘Queen backs Brexit‘ story. So, in a bid to keep the pressure on the government over the alleged leak, Tom Watson was granted an urgent question today on the growing row. However, little was achieved in the session as Chris Grayling repeatedly refused to answer questions from angry MPs — claiming that there was no case to answer as Nick Clegg has said that the story is false. Happily there was one noteworthy contribution thanks to the Beast of Bolsover. Labour’s Dennis Skinner asked why the Queen had bothered to confide in Clegg to

Steerpike

Do as I say (not as I do): Nick Clegg’s Privy Council double standards

Last week the Sun roused anger after they ran a front page claiming that the Queen backs Brexit. The paper reports that the Queen expressed concerns about the European Union during a tense exchange with Nick Clegg over lunch in 2011. With Clegg stopping short of completely denying the story, Michael Gove has since been accused of being behind the leak after it was revealed that the pair both attended a lunch with the Queen that year. Clegg has expressed outrage that Privy Council members would dare to divulge details of private conversations with the Queen: ‘I find it rather distasteful to reveal conversations with the Queen.’ So imagine Mr S’s surprise on reading the Mail on

Is a degree worth the debt?

You’ll never get into a good university if you carry on like this.’ A haunting threat from school days past, but since the coalition trebled university tuition fees in 2010, the question is — do you really want to? The decision to increase fees to a maximum of £9,000 a year was met with anger from students and parents alike. Riots broke out with police arresting 153 people at a demo in Trafalgar Square. Widespread fury was particularly directed at Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, who had pledged to vote against any increase in fees — so much so that he was forced to broadcast a public apology: ‘We made

Was Michael Gove present at the Queen’s ‘Brexit’ lunch?

Today’s Sun claims on its front page that the Queen backs Brexit. The paper reports that the Queen clashed with Nick Clegg, who was then Deputy Prime Minister, over Europe at a lunch in 2011. During a heated discussion on the EU, Her Majesty is reported to have declared that the EU was ‘heading in the wrong direction’. While Clegg has said on Twitter that the story is ‘nonsense’, the Sun claim that a ‘highly reliable source’ says otherwise. So, who else was at the lunch? As the BBC’s Nick Sutton points out, a look through the court circular suggests there was only one lunch Nick Clegg attended with the Queen in

Nick Clegg visited dogging site during his time as deputy PM

With Nick Clegg now a mere backbencher, his former staff appear to no longer feel the need to protect the Liberal Democrat from negative publicity. Today Clegg’s former campaign manager Ben Rathe has written a blog in which he reveals what happened when his search for a location for Clegg to give a speech — at the Liberal Democrat conference in 2013 — went spectacularly wrong: ‘It was the Liberal Democrat Conference 2013, and my role back then was planning all of the visits that Nick Clegg was doing over the course of the 5 days in Glasgow. This included finding somewhere suitable to announce a new 5p charge on plastic bags,

In-campaign reveal their secret weapon: iPlayer, abroad

Although David Cameron is said to be planning to scare the nation into staying in the EU, others in the in-camp think they can win voters over with the good. Britain Stronger in Europe have today sent out an optimistic press release revealing a key reason Britons ought to choose to remain in the EU: they can now watch BBC iPlayer abroad! ‘Brits are to gain access to UK streaming services while travelling in Europe following a decision by MEPs today,’ the email reads. To celebrate European Parliament approving a proposal which allows UK holidaymakers in the EU to access shows like EastEnders and Strictly Come Dancing abroad, Stronger In spokesman James McGrory — who is Nick Clegg’s

Miriam González Durántez’s Theresa May interview misses the mark on Today

This week the Today show is being edited by a selection of guests including Sir Bradley Wiggins, Lord Browne and the architect David Adjaye. The Welsh actor Michael Sheen kicked proceedings off on Monday when he managed to upset a number of flood victims as he dismissed calls to cut foreign aid in order to spend more on flood defences at home as a’false dichotomy’. Today it was the turn of Miriam González Durántez — the high-flying lawyer who is married to Nick Clegg — to take the helm. Durántez — who had presenters in a spin last week over whether it was okay to refer to her as Nick Clegg’s wife — gave her edit

Is John Humphrys turning into a ‘patronising old duffer’?

This morning Today show presenters Justin Webb and John Humphrys found themselves under fire after they listed the guest editors that will be taking control of the show as of next week. When it came to name Miriam González Durántez’s upcoming slot, Webb said: ‘you’ll hear from the lawyer Miriam González, also of course Nick Clegg’s wife’. A number of bothered listeners were quick to complain online that she was the only guest editor to be described in relation to her partner. While one could argue that González first came to the media’s attention through her politician husband, this is not the first time the Today presenters have been criticised over their attitude to women. In fact in a recent

Even a ‘Never Kissed a Tory’ t-shirt wouldn’t have helped Nick Clegg during PMQs

There are only two occasions in my life where I have had lengthy, in-depth debates about where grown adults should sit. One was planning my wedding. The other was PMQs. The reason for the second discussion was raised by Nick Clegg on Newsnight yesterday when he said that sitting mutely next to David Cameron at the weekly session may have been his worst mistake (for clarity I suspect he meant in presentational terms rather than his biggest mistake in government as a whole). There is quite a bit of validity to this point. Most people still get their political news from the evening broadcasts, and every Wednesday they saw Clegg sitting

Steerpike

Nick Clegg reveals his biggest coalition regret (and it isn’t tuition fees)

It’s fair to say that during Nick Clegg’s time in the coalition, the former deputy Prime Minister appeared to make a number of catastrophic mistakes when it came to the wellbeing of his party. However, when asked in an interview on Newsnight what he would list as his biggest regret, the former deputy Prime Minister chose not to dwell on policy blunders such as the Liberal Democrat’s disastrous tuition fees U-turn. Instead Clegg said his ‘biggest mistake’ was sitting next to David Cameron at PMQs: ‘I think maybe my biggest mistake was sitting where I did at PMQs and maybe I should have sat somewhere else.’ Clegg says that his seat of choice next to

Sorry Corbyn, Nick Clegg is the expert on snubbing the Queen – not you

Today Jeremy Corbyn has cancelled his attendance at what would have been his first meeting of the Queen’s Privy Council due to ‘prior commitments’. Of course naysayers have been quick to jump on this, with Alan Duncan claiming that Corbyn snubbing his first chance to be sworn in suggests that he is not a serious political figure. As for the Corbynistas praising their leader for sticking to his republican values by giving Her Majesty a miss, they would do well to remember that another politican has a far more impressive track record when it comes to snubbing the Queen. During Nick Clegg’s time as Deputy Prime Minister, he managed to earn himself a reputation for repeatedly snubbing Her Majesty. When

Tim Farron tells Lib Dems to roll up their sleeves and prepare for government

The Liberal Democrats’ autumn conference rolls to a close today with Tim Farron’s keynote address. In light of the party’s humiliating performance in May’s general election, the overwhelming theme of the Bournemouth gathering has been one of comfort and reconciliation. Unlike Labour’s conference next week, which is likely to have more self-loathing overtones, Farron is focusing on the positive side of the Lib Dem years in government and Nick Clegg’s leadership. In his speech today, the new Lib Dem leader will deny it was all a mistake: We are proud of what we did in Government.  Proud of our record and proud of our party. You know, there are those that would like me

Labour should learn from Nick Clegg on how to deal with its history

Nick Clegg has stepped back into the limelight today and he’s been pretty chirpy about his party’s time in government – and its prospects for recovering from its election downfall. In his speech to the Liberal Democrats annual conference in Bournemouth, the former Deputy Prime Minister was full of happy thoughts about his party’s time in government — which resulted in 49 MPs losing their seats and its vote share to just eight per cent: ‘Those achievements in Government, in turn, wouldn’t have happened without you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Each and every one of you. Whether you liked or loathed the coalition. Whether you were exhilarated or

Long life | 10 September 2015

I remember Sidney Blumenthal from my time in Washington in the late 1980s when I was there as the first American editor of the Independent. He was a smartly dressed, agreeable political journalist, handsome in a donnish kind of way, who had a gracious, dignified manner that seemed to put him a cut above most of his fellow hacks. He was also a liberal of strong political conviction, whose purpose was to help rebuild American liberalism so that it could take on and beat the New Right after its long ascendancy under Ronald Reagan and restore the Democrats to power. It was at around this time, in 1987, that Blumenthal

The Tories could be about to drop a manifesto commitment. Good.

Will the Tories scrap the Lib Dems’ silliest vanity project, free school meals for infants? The Daily Mail reports today that they might, amid spiralling costs and with the spending review approaching. Nick Clegg announced this daft scheme at his party’s conference in 2013. It sounded ever so wholesome when the Deputy Prime Minister promised a ‘healthy lunch’ for every child in reception and years 1 and 2. But the scheme – which also cost a lot more than intended to implement – was daft because it didn’t improve life for poor children. Sure, it was a nice ‘retail offer’ to parents who can afford to pay for lunch for their

Coming soon: more Lib Dem advice on how to win an election

Given that the general election proved disastrous for the Liberal Democrats, it’s surprising how many party members seem keen to revisit the experience. With Vince Cable and Norman Baker both bringing out books just in time for this year’s Lib Dem conference, reports have surfaced claiming that Nick Clegg has finally agreed to write a book. Although this is expected to be a serious tome looking into the last government rather than a salacious kiss and tell, this hasn’t stopped users frantically brainstorming ideas online for the title of the book: @elashton @richardkendall He's missing a trick if he doesn't call it I'M SORRY I'M REALLY REALLY SORRY — Patrick Smith (@psmith) August 27,

Nick Clegg turns down Lib Dem job as new spokesmen announced

The Lib Dems have announced their 22 strong ‘spokesperson team’ — or what other parties would call its frontbench. During the leadership election, Tim Farron said the party wouldn’t ‘bother shadowing every single department,’ describing it as ‘a waste of time and resources’. Yet the party has managed to cobble together a long list of spokesman, despite its limited presence in the Commons: Leader: Tim Farron MP Economics: Baroness Susan Kramer Foreign Affairs/Chief Whip/Leader of the house: Tom Brake MP Defence: Baroness Judith Jolly Home Affairs: Alistair Carmichael MP Health: Norman Lamb MP Education: John Pugh MP Work and Pensions: Baroness Zahida Manzoor Business: Lorely Burt Energy and Climate Change: