Nick Clegg is prepared to put principles to one side in his shameless pursuit of a share of power, writes Ian Hernon
“Nick, 43, multilingual, former ski instructor, son of tsarist nobility, seeks exciting new partnership and spring-summer romance. Applicants should have shared interests in additional costs allowances, long-distance telephone calls, power and electoral reform. They should not have slept with more than 30 women.”
Such qualifications aside, Nick Clegg expects to get responses in the months ahead from David Cameron, Gordon Brown and/or the Prime Minister’s successor.
He wants to be, if not wined and dined, then thoroughly wooed in the event of a hung parliament or a government with a narrow majority following the general election.
Over the past year, the Liberal Democrat leader has done his best to make himself as attractive as possible to both sides: a bit of slap here, some rouge there, sticking plaster to smooth out the wrinkles. This is mixed in with a bit of coquettish playing hard to get. In an interview this month, he accused Brown
and Cameron of “playing politics with the airbrush”.
Yet Clegg has ditched cherished policies which might have hurt his chances of getting into bed – politically and platonically – with whoever emerges as the leader of the largest party after polling day.
Extending free childcare to all 18-month-olds is “no longer possible”. Free personal care for the elderly and a citizen’s pension –“put on hold”. Scrapping student tuition fees? You’ll have to wait six years on a year-by-year basis. Spending cuts? Certainly. Tax cuts? Maybe.
Even on immigration, he is prepared to swing both ways – to the horror of grassroots Lib Dems. He is considering a plan to channel incomers to certain areas, presumably the north of England, and away from the “high pressure” south-east. Such dodgy thinking would be a gift to the British National Party, but presumably that’s a price worth paying.
The question for Lib Dem voters and those Clegg hopes to lure is whether that is a price worth paying for short-term benefit or to fit in with a scenario which might not happen.
In the current climate of disillusionment, nothing should surprise us on the morning of May 7. It is just about possible that Brown can pull off a bounce-back on the basis of a low turnout and split oppositions in the constituencies. More likely is that Cameron will triumph – if not by a Tony Blair-style landslide.
At present, a hung parliament, with the Tories the largest party, is looking a good bet. But Cameron won’t deliver the electoral reform the Lib Dems want as the price of their compliance.
In any case, a pact would not last long as the Tories show their true colours – which would make two general elections this year a possibility.
Clegg is aiming to present himself as the only real “conviction” politician – and by that he doesn’t mean his teenage conviction for burning the rare cacti collection of his German professor.
In his new year message, he said that voters do not want politicians clinging onto power for its own sake – which is a funny mantra for someone who seems prepared help them do just that.
If voters recognise this, he may have to put another advert in the lonely hearts columns very soon.
