to think Nick Clegg has sunk to new lows during this interview?

[NotFromConcentrate]

Jeremy Vine has just played the audio of Nick Clegg's election campaign video during which he categorically stated no more broken promises. He then went on to outline the lengths Clegg went to to drive home his promise not to allow the raising of tuition fees.

Asked to explain himself, Nick Clegg said (petulantly) "Well, we didn't win". So basically he's saying "Thanks for the votes, suckers, but I'm not in Number 10 therefore you can whistle for whtever crap I promised"

Apologes for the lack of coherence, but I am still spitting feathers!

P.S. Be gentle; this is my first AIBU (I think!)

Asked to explain himself, Nick Clegg said (petulantly) "Well, we didn't win".

But he did win! He was the leader of the third party, and the hung election result catapulted him into government with more power, influence and ministerial posts than the Lib Dems could ever have dreamed of.

The Lib Dems thought that their success in the tv debates in the run up to the election would translate into seats. It didn't. Instead they were squeezed out as people saw that there was a real prospect of getting Labour out.

As a result they didn't get enough seats to force the Tories to make any concessions. If they had won enough they could have played Labour and the Tories off against each other. Instead, even if you add the Lib Dem and Labour seats up it's only 310 to 305 (apologies if figures aren't current) and you would have the Ulster Unionists votes added to the Tories which would make it 310 to 313. Then Plaid Cymru and the SNP etc would actually have the power as their votes would swing it.

The Lib Dems opted to get a seat at the table- even though they're not allowed to speak when the grown ups are talking- rather than take their seats on the opposition benches and vote according to their policies.

allnew - yes there would be stalemate. But that would also be a breach of the coalition agreement so would effectively mean the end of the coalition government. Basically that is the only real power the Lib Dems have. However it is such a drastic step to take as would force another general election and throw the country into political and economic turmoil that they cannot really do it. Nick Clegg is truly between a rock and a hard place and I wouldn't be him for the world.

"ccpccp there is, AFAIK, nothing to stop him voting against Tory proposals and making it clear that he is completely against them."

There is if LDs want some of their other pet projects through. Its a negotiation, and they clearly see tuition fees (labour introduction when they said they wouldnt) as less important than some of the other bigger goals.

mumwithadragontattoo that's what I suspected. It's all very well to say that NC and other libdems should vote against the tory policies, but with the mess the country is in that would indeed create (more) utter turmoil

"Nick Clegg is truly between a rock and a hard place and I wouldn't be him for the world."

You can't have sympathy for him. His pursuit of power overwhelmed him and he danced with the devil (as far as many of his pledges are concerned) so no sympathy required.

Missed it but he sounds extremely pettish.

that thing about "well if more of you had voted" is just pure crap - to a Libdem voter!!! How rude! I'm sure the caller only had the one vote to bestow and she gave it to the LDs, what more do they want from her FFS?

He thinks that voting reform is worth the huge gamble. It isn't.

I knew the minute they started the negotiations that the LDs were going down the pan. The big boys in the party (yes they are boys) are utterly wet and yet power-hungry. Nauseating combination. There are still some good ones in the party but I agree they will lose most/all seats next time.

And who needs a bloody two party system again?

"There is if LDs want some of their other pet projects through. Its a negotiation, and they clearly see tuition fees (labour introduction when they said they wouldnt) as less important than some of the other bigger goals."

Exactly, ccpccp. They've sold out on their princles in pursuit of their 'bigger' goals.

i have never liked him, he gave an interview at the start of the credit crunch explaining how his wife was cost cutting by shopping at sainsburys instead of waitrose, boo bloody hoo.

Yes, and unfortunately he is gambling on voting reform. Problem being that once you have lost trust you can't regain it, and also no-one gives a shit about voting reform, sorry, the only people who give a shit about voting reform are the lib dems.........and they are dead in the water.

POints for long term strategy - nil

They are so down with the people them Cleggs.

i care about voting reform but i imagine they are going to be shafted over that too.

They have always made outlandish promises knowing that there won't be any chance of them ever actually having to deliver. I don't even think they really know who to pitch their policies to.

Coalition governments can be a force for good but while Clegg is prepared to accept a few scraps from Davids table he'll hang on. If he had a larger pair he would have resigned and held his corner on the back benches.

He's not wrong though is he. The Liberals are the junior partner in a coalition so although some of their policies are being implemented, the majority of policies will be Conservative ones. Its the nature of coalition politics

It's not a shit argument to say 'I wish we'd had a majority government, then I wouldn't be breaking promises'. As ccp says, they're a minority party: if all the Lib Dem MPs vote for the things they promised in their manifesto, there are still more Labour and Tory MPs. How is it reasonable to accuse a minority party of betrayal for not having enough MPs to vote through the things they wanted to achieve?

All the people who are ranting and raving about Lib Dem betrayal: would you rather the Lib Dems could stayed in opposition, making unworkable and idealistic promises, or would you rather they wielded the power they have to moderate the excesses of the Thatcherite end of a Tory government?

It's a coalition. That means compromise. I get that it's not quite what the Lib Dem voters wanted, but surely a partly Lib Dem government is better than a purely Tory one? Or do we all prefer the purity of a powerless moral high ground to the reality of compromise?

pottonista I disagree. I think it is beyond rude to make that remark (If more people had voted...) as a response to a disillusioned voter. In isolation, the remark is reasonable, but not in the context it was made.

Perhaps Nick Clegg ought to have considered the possile outcomes of the election (the political commentators had the foresight to antcipate a coalition) before making a film condemning the other parties for broken promises and categorically stating that he will no follow suit.

My original point is still that petulance and chldishness are neither appropriate or becoming of our so-called Deputy Prime Minister.

Excuse my crappy typing typos, my bloody keyboard is sticking

The problem is that there is no money left and the LDs have to work out which battles to fight. They don't have enough power to fight them all.

And if they had won the election they would have brought in a graduate tax - and some aspects of the fees etc is like tax eg certain % of earnings above x. If the tax had been too punitive then best and brightest would have left country to avoid paying it.

When there were speculations of a tax I told DH that I would not let my DC go to university if they had that hanging over them - both DH and I in well paid jobs with degrees but it would be possible to do our jobs without degrees.

Notfromconcentrate I think the answer to all your questions regarding Nick Cleggs Promises, Policies and Lies can be neatly answered by consideration of Jimmy Carr's razor sharp observation that "David Cameron's dick wasn't going to suck itself!"

What else reamins to be said?

Jimmy Carr is a twat?

Nope, I think you've got him confused with Nick Clegg, ccpccp.

HTH :)

That may well be true but I honestly think that the reason Nick Clegg is doing massive U-turns on all his promises is because he's dick sucking, sucking up, brown nosing call-it-what-you-like to David Cameron.

Very sad state of affairs!

Hes playing a careful game - balancing what his party needs to stay in power with what the country needs to stay afloat.

While all the time, Labour are battering away trying to paint him as insincere, a liar, knowing full well they arent under the microscope themselves. There is more nick clegg attack coming out of them than there is policy.