To think Nick Clegg would of made a great PM

[brexitstolemyfuture]

He's speaking such common sense on brexit and how much of a mess it will be and most people who voted to exit have no clue. It's such a shame his career is over :(

but no one can forgive a u turn on a pledge on university fees ... People have certainly got peculiar priorities.

That cost my family an extra £24,000. Do you really expect me to forgive and forget that amount of money? If you've got that sort of cash going spare send it my way please.

Will read the thread later but 100% agree with the op.

Yes I agree. I really like him.

But Sukey they had positioned themselves as a centre-left party. So by forming a coalition with the Tories they destroyed their brand and their party. This was a huge strategic error on Clegg's part. Who can trust him again after that?

The Tories shafted them on the PR issue which was entirely predictable, and the only thing the LDs realistically could have got from the coalition.

For the LDs it would have made more sense to offer to support the Tories in a minority government on a case by case basis (as they did with Labour in the 70s). But then they would not have got any of those ministerial jobs...

The tories are political psychopaths and david cameron is an entitled arse with no principles. I think that Nick Clegg is a decent and intelligent person. His party was in a position of weakness against the tories. No-one would have emerged in a good light. Also it goes to show that people of principles are held to far higher standards. Students now have to pay a higher graduate tax (that's what tuition fees are in all but name) and Clegg is called wet, useless, etc. etc, and can't be forgiven. But the tories slash spending on health, police, schools, elderly, disabled, you name it, apart from their mates, and they get voted in for a second time! Because everyone, even those who vote for them, know deep down that the tories are scum every man for themselves.

Hahahahahaha. No.

Doyouwantabrew tell us how he could have made a coalition with Labour (and why that would have been seen as preferable).

I agree.
If an election was called tomorrow I would struggle to vote with conviction. I have never not voted and I'm in my late 40s. If Nick Clegg was on offer, I would vote for him like a shot.

Nick Clegg is dreadful. When he got into power the first thing he did was to demand a referendum because it benefited his career for there to be proportional representation. It costs the country millions and he couldn't have cared less that the money could have been spent better elsewhere where people were being hit with drastic financial cuts. He did a immoral u-turn on student fees which has fucked social mobility for an entire generation. Cheers Nick.

If you read about the dealings and meetings that week, and the ditherings and indecisiveness of Brown, it's more understandable. Brown was seen as a poisoned chalice. After 13 years, rightly or wrongly, perhaps they thought the Tories under Cameron would be different to the nasty party of old. I loathe them (the Tories) as much as anyone, but it's easy to forget how unpopular Brown was, and how truculent and difficult people found him, even though he seems like a good man underneath.

Postage i normally don't comment on bile such as yours (free country and all that) but..

"Tory scum" is wrong. I say this as a lifetime Labour voter by the way.

Did you see that MP running towards the Westminster attack and trying to save a life?
Many Tories are in politics to do ( as they see it) good for their country. Decent people who have had different life experiences to me.

There are also psychopaths in all parties..

cowgirls that's such rubbish. Sorry. You make it sound like Clegg suddenly had a good idea about how to promote his personal career and foisted it upon the country.

I'm in complete agreement, every time I've seen Nick in a debate, he is often the only one who appears to be talking sense.

I think he was in a lose - lose situation in the coalition government, but he chose to jump at it as a chance to try and mitigate and tory shite and make at least some of the changes he wanted to. I personally think he did a good a job as he could have in that situation - though I don't have any direct impact from the tuition fees stuff yet!

That cost my family an extra £24,000. Do you really expect me to forgive and forget that amount of money? If you've got that sort of cash going spare send it my way please.

Oh give over.

It is about to cost me the same. I will pay it back out of a good salary when I am qualified.

I am more concerned about the money the tories have taken out of the pockets of the disabled, or the amount of disabled and ill people they have killed through their work assessments. Or the amount of people who are starving because they were sanctioned. Or the homeless that are living on the streets because the government has turned its back on them. And that is set to rise when housing benefit can no longer er be claimed by those under 21.

So if all you have to worry about is £24k that you only pay back when you are earning a good salary I think you are doing alright.

doyouwantabrew

wtaf does his wife 'working' even mean?? Are sahm nor working wives too??

Err, not in the sense of being out of the home all day no. Not in the sense of understanding what it is like to juggle (and pay for) childcare and chores between parents because you are both also in paid employment.

I have no issue with anyone's decision to be a sahm but from the perspective of understanding the juggling of 2 jobs with a family and home I think he is the better, more rounded politician for it, hence my statement.

When I worked in City law it was the same with the male partners in the office. Those with SAHM wives had absolutely no idea of the stress and hassle when kids got sick/work plans got changed - I guess it's this personal experience I'm bringing to bear in the subject.

Forgive me if I'm wrong, but I was if the understanding that the Tories were always going to be in power due to having the most votes. They had to choose between Labour and the Lib Dems to form a coalition. A Lib Dem and Labour coalition was never an option.

I think Clegg shielded us from a lot of Tory crap. Being the minority party in the coalition meant the tuition fees were out of his control.

And another thing. (Bloody hell I feel like Nick Clegg's chief defender here. I'm just trying to be balanced). Everyone talks about "Nick Clegg" as though the rest of the party/MPs were dragged into it kicking and screaming. Do people honestly think they had no say in it?

Talking sense is one thing,being a good politician is something different.

And I agree that using expressions like Tory scum, or any other scum is not acceptable.

Nick Clegg said that Brexit would hurt the younger generation. He didn't seem to have a problem with hurting the younger generation when he did a u-turn on University tuition fees. He is a hypocrite of the highest order and a typical champagne socialist "do as I say not as I do" politician. He is probably worried about all the money he will lose by not being able to suckle as easily from the teat of the EU anymore.

Yes, he makes sense; yes, I agree with a great deal of what he says.

However, he has proved he would not make a good PM.

The Tories shafted him and the LibDems. Of course they did.
Nick Clegg has to bear the responsibility for that. Politics is a rough and dirty game, especially when the Nasty Party is involved.
He should never have allowed them to shaft him.

I mean, come on! David Cameron?!! Nick really couldn't stand up for himself, his policies and his party against him??

You say that like he just woke up one day and decided, fuck it, I will just u turn on tuition fees all by himself.

He is good at getting his point across

Clegg was part of a coalition that inflicted huge cuts to services that is unforgivable he could had stepped down but he was too ambitious to stay in the role he had and it's now it's being being spun as they made the Tories hold back

I agree OP

Tend to agree OP, but he is an intellectual and has common sense - traits which are sadly undervalued at the moment. The Leave vote was won by journalists (Boris et al) who understood the power of the three-word Sun headline in reaching the disenfranchised. I listened to the R4 interview with Leave voters in Sunderland this morning and they really have no clue what they voted for - were just regurgitating 'take back control' and 'make Britain great again' sound bites (like Trump supporters). And lots of mumbling about immigration (just 2% of local population there are actually immigrants).

I am very worried about the future of British politics - we are moving closer to a US style where celebrity status/TV appeal is valued more highly than credentials for the job.

The LibDems in 2010 said that if they held the balance of power they would seek a coalition with the largest party, as that was democratically most legitimate.

When the results came in, they had three choices.

1. Enter coalition with the Tories.
2. Try and cobble a coalition together with Labour, the SNP, DUP, PC, and perhaps Sinn Fein - or try to govern with a minority of parliamentary seats.
3. Stand aloof and force a second election.

They chose the least worst option.

Perhaps if more people had voted for them things would have turned out differently. Cameron and Osborne would have been clowns compared to the multi-lingual Clegg, and the ex-Shell chief economist Cable.