UK Politics-The Coalition
UK Politics: Nick Clegg, Deputy Prime Minister
Yes I did choose a picture of Nick wearing a blue tie on purpose
Nicholas William Peter "Nick" Clegg MP PC (born 7 January 1967) is a British politician who is the Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Lord President of the Council and Minister for Constitutional and Political Reform in the coalition government[1] of David Cameron. Clegg is the Member of Parliament (MP) for Sheffield Hallam and the leader of the Liberal Democrats.
Clegg's first major elected position was as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the East Midlands from 1999 to 2004. He was elected Member of Parliament for Sheffield Hallam in the 2005 general election and became the Liberal Democrats' Home Affairs spokesperson in 2006. Clegg defeated Chris Huhne in the party's 2007 leadership election. Clegg became Deputy Prime Minister following the 2010 general election, when the Liberal Democrats formed a coalition government with the Conservative Party, led by Prime Minister David Cameron. As well as his parliamentary roles, Clegg has contributed to many pamphlets and books on political issues.
Clegg was educated at Caldicott School in Buckinghamshire and Westminster School in London, followed by Robinson College at the University of Cambridge, where he studied Social Anthropology; he later studied at the University of Minnesota and the College of Europe in Belgium. He is married to Miriam González Durántez; they have three sons.
(The above comes from Wikipedia)
The day Nick Clegg succumbed to David Cameron's political seduction, there was a record surge in Labour membership, from disillusioned Liberal Democrats. Labour claims he sold out, for a chance to ride in a ministerial car, and sit beside Cameron in government.
Well the car's out, since new government legislation encourages ministers to take a tube, or walk, shock horror!
Anyway, if you want my opinion....
He didn't sell out, he took the only viable choice. If he had gone with the progressive alliance of Labour, SDLP, Welsh and Scottish Nationalists, it would have dissolved within weeks, as the Nationalists pursue their own agendas and hold the government to ransom via votes, and the divisions within the Labour party begin to tear it apart.
So going with the Conservatives, while not his natural allies I will admit, was the only chance for a truly sustainable government. It is far easier to rule, while satisfying one partner, than try to rule while satisfying multiple partners who all pull in different directions.
He's already beginning a radical programme of political reform, including more transparency, constituencies of equal sizes, AV (Not a fan personally) the right to sack MPs who fail their constituents and a heck of a lot more.
As a passionate advocate of political reform, I truly see no better man to see through those reforms than Nick Clegg. Mostly because he's as stubborn and unyielding as a bulldog.
Some like to paint the Clegg/Cameron relationship as a kind of political civil partnership, and maybe in a way it is. Whether they like it or not, they are both very similar men with similar backgrounds and privileges, they've just gone down different ideological paths.
And if David Cameron is the most left-wing leader the Tories have ever had, then Nick Clegg is certainly the most right-wing Lib Dem leader we've ever seen.
So in a way, it's a match made in heaven.