Nick Clegg: "Sometimes we've got to be a bit awkward"

Comments

[robert]

Clegg should tell the Liberal Democrats that they should work to the Coalition Agreement and govern in the National Interest.

[john parkes]

The Conservative element of the coalition seem to have signed up in greater part to the dictum that it is unwise to rock the boat just now. The present government is, by more or less common agreement, the best and indeed only option for dealing with the deficit bequeathed to the country by Labour. Hearing Balls speaking now and counselling `more of the same`. there is it seems no credible alternative.

However the foot soldiers in the Conservative Party in Parliament are having to grit their teeth and put up with an increasing and wide-ranging number of policy declarations by Liberal Democrats, in and out of the government (Huhne and Hughes in particular), that have little relevance to agreed policy. What is more they are made in parallel with some pretty disenchanting descriptions of Conservatives who, for perfectly understandable reasons, disagree with Liberal Democrat dogma. It seems crass, tactless and downright stupid of the Liberal Democrats to take this line and if they persist, they may well find the coalition will no longer operate and they will face a general election at a time that is not of their choosing and not in their interest either. While they take comfort from the idea of a fixed term Parliament, they must also bear in mind that if the arithmetic is right, that arrangement can be overturned before it expires by natural causes.

The time is already past when the Liberal Democrats need an unequivocal reminder that they are not the only Party that can play at politicking in their own sectional interest. It shows their political immaturity when they seem prepared to act in a reckless fashion while believing themselves to be invulnerable to the consequences. The electorate are now quite well aware of what they are up to and while such bravado might cut ice with their Party faithful, current opinion polls are making clear what the uncommitted voter thinks of their posturing.

Cameron`s patience is understandable if becoming dangerous in his and the country`s interests. It is fatuous to discard sensible and much needed policies purely to continue to offer an electoral lifeline to the Liberal Democrats whose policies now carry the aroma of impracticality. (`Greenery`, Human Rights, the Eurozone according to Huhne to name but three). They should pull themselves together and put electioneering in its proper place, and time scale, if they wish to be taken seriously next time. Such a line will draw more sympathy not least from their coalition fellows, than do their present antics.

[Patsy Sergeant]

Well said John @ 01.15pm. Regarding your comment on Hughes and Huhne, neither of these two politicians, seem entirely reliable, and 'ego' seems to play an important part in their modus operandi.

Listening to both Mr. Fallon, and then Mr. Clegg, being interviewed by Andrew Marr today, what struck one was how much they WAFFLE! Trying to remember now, what they actually said - anything, apart from Mr. Fallon being rather anxious to try and emphasise the importance of looking after the 'poor', and then suddenly realising that there are rather a LARGE number of people in this country that are not poor and are not 'rich'!!! That lead to desperate waffle to try and extricate himself, and quite frankly it was unintelligable and boring!

Mr. Clegg does try these days to appear other than a rather immature student-type, but he does not really convince, however hard he tries.

[Daniel]

If the Lib Dems had stuck rigidly to the coalition agreement then the Free Schools policy would have been rejected, the NHS policy rejected and lowering the 50p rate wouldn't even be considered. Instead they've tried to work constructively with the Tories and compromise to make these policies work.

Some of the posters here seem to think that "coalition" and "national interest" should simply mean supporting Tory policies without question or compromise.

[john parkes]

Daniel,
Perhaps you have missed the rhetoric that is being spouted by senior Liberal Democrats from Clegg downwards. If you read their approach as constructive and showing a will to compromise, then I fear you have missed the point. Take the proposed NHS reforms as a case in point. There was cross-Party, intra-coalition agreement and acceptance of the Lansley plan until the Liberal Democrats decided to change their line completely, the moment the Unions and some of the medicos decided they were threatened by the proposals. This is despite the fact that the NHS will be financially broke if reform cannot be agreed on the lines proposed. It is quite clear that your Party`s objections are political (electoral!) rather than related to the technical merits of the plans which they originally supported. I think you ought to wake up to reality because this is not the only example of Liberal Democrats reneging on what they had previously agreed.

[moncler vest]

If you wish to be the best man, you must suffer the bitterest of the bitter.