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Original poster

To think Nick Clegg would of made a great PM

171 replies

brexitstolemyfuture · 29/03/2017 08:32

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 :(

OP posts:
PigletWasPoohsFriend · 29/03/2017 12:08

BTW if I do a crossing out isn't it meant to be tongue in cheek?

No not always.

You can't say what you like and excuse it by crossing it out.

Neolara · 29/03/2017 12:12

So, compare the policies of the government under a Conservative / Liberal alliance and the policies of the unfettered Conservative government. Hmm... No difference between them? Or is there just the slightest possibility that the Libs did actually do quite a good job of keeping the far right (complete nutters) in check.

VintagePerfumista · 29/03/2017 12:16

He is a despicable man who would have sold his own mother for his 15 minutes.

Instead he sold his party down the river, reneged on everything that party had ever wanted and then threw his toys out when he was ousted.

Now he thinks that people have forgotten his "me me pick me!" moment.

I am a Labour voter, but I'd sooner be governed by the Tories till i die than a LD. At least you know what you're getting with them.

SomewhatIdiosyncratic · 29/03/2017 12:26

I think he's had an unfair level of drubbing over tuition fees. He, and his party weren't in a position to enforce their own manifesto and had to compromise to the dominant Conservatives.

Labour weren't in a position to form a government, and 7 years on they're even deeper into the political wilderness than they were before. They were a tired party with a leader unpopular with the public and not directly elected to the position and being held to blame for their part in a major economic crisis. The public didn't take Ed Miliband seriously, and Jeremy Corbyn is a niche politician with a bunch of impractical ideologies.

Nick Clegg is a good combination of intelligent, practical and accessible as a politician. At present he'll be a side note in British political history, but I think time is favouring him. I'm optimistic that between the Conservatives getting longer into their run of government, and Labour continuing to implode, that there will be recovery in the Liberal Democrats share of the vote.

What will happen to Nick Clegg as a politician, I don't know, but in the last year his profile has gently grown again, and he's being seen more favourably that former political leaders usually tend to.

gluteustothemaximus · 29/03/2017 12:35

I know nothing about politics, so forgive any naivety.

I think nick thought he would be in a real position to do some good, make changes, but the Tories were only doing what they legally had to do in joining forces. Tories I can imagine promised nick they would let him do xyz and then didn't. It wasn't a joint Tory/lib dem thing. It was Tory.

However, I think nick did stop the tax credit changes being so severe, as once Tory got full vote, they implemented the drastic cuts immediately after saying they wouldn't.

Lib dems were punished for nick going back on uni fees, but the Tory gov were responsible for that not him. Now we have a full Tory government as a result, and now brexit Sad

I think clegg is a good man.

PigletWasPoohsFriend · 29/03/2017 12:48

Tories I can imagine promised nick they would let him do xyz and then didn't. It wasn't a joint Tory/lib dem thing. It was Tory.

I didn't vote for either, but sorry this is a very naive way of looking at it

DrAbbyYates · 29/03/2017 13:55

I am a Labour voter, but I'd sooner be governed by the Tories till i die than a LD. At least you know what you're getting with them.

I've heard similar views expressed before and I really struggle to understand the reasoning. As far as I am concerned, 'knowing what you're getting' with the Tories means: a continued programme of austerity which disproportionately affects the most vulnerable; NHS cuts and creeping privatisation; funding of grammar schools at the expense of existing schools, who are experiencing per-pupil funding cuts; and hard Brexit - just for starters.

And as a Labour voter, and knowing all of this, you would prefer a lifetime of Tory government over the resurgence of the Lib Dems? I find this incomprehensible.

ExplodedCloud · 29/03/2017 14:06

Jumping into coalition with the Conservatives might have seemed like a short term good idea but he seriously overestimated his ability to influence them and underestimated the impact of that choice in 2015.
They sold their credibility very cheaply.

Dearlittleflo · 29/03/2017 14:11

Agree with ExplodedCloud- the coalition was a mistake. He overestimated the influence the LDs would have and therefore became (or at least was seen as) complicit in what was essentially a Tory government.

Having said that, I think he's highly intelligent, head & shoulders above every other politician (leave or remain) in his understanding of Brexit issues and probably a lot wiser now. Public life would be much better with a bigger role for him.

PigletWasPoohsFriend · 29/03/2017 14:14

Agree with ExplodedCloud- the coalition was a mistake.

Yet Farron has said he would do it again.

gluteustothemaximus · 29/03/2017 14:44

He overestimated the influence the LDs would have and therefore became (or at least was seen as) complicit in what was essentially a Tory government.

Yes, I agree. Also, Somewhat put it better than I did Smile

Sweepingchange · 29/03/2017 14:46

What Gluteus said

ForalltheSaints · 29/03/2017 18:13

No. Charles Kennedy or Norman Lamb of the Lib Dems would have or be far better.

remoaniac · 29/03/2017 18:50

Maybe if he had stuck to the tuition fees pledge the Libdems would not have been so destroyed in the 2015 election, we'd have another coalition government and Brexit would have not have happened because the referendum would not have been called if the Libdems had still been sharing power. I do think he and his Libdem colleagues were holding the Tories back from the worst of their policies, but the tuition fee thing just destroyed his power base. And it was a despicable thing to do and he could ahve said no.

But I think he realises all that now, and I do think tuition fees aside, he is a decent man and his heart is in the right place. Not sure he'd be right for PM, but he might have been a good option for Foreign Minister right now...

I

Notthemessiah · 29/03/2017 18:55

Has anyone here read his book about his time in power? He's very honest about the mistakes he made when going into coalition - how many politicians can you say that about. It's also quite clear just what his options were before deciding to do so. Labour had made it clear that they felt their best option to go into opposition rather than a Lab\LD pact which meant either a coalition with the tories or another election which would probably have led to a majority conservative government. Which would you have picked?

The libdems got blamed for all the bad parts of the coalition but not the credit for any of the good. Who blamed them? The conservative backing papers like the Mail, Torygraph and Times.

Would I rather have an essentially decent man who has made mistakes and taken responsibility for them but is a bit lacking in the darker arts of political game-playing or Teresa May? No real contest.

DrAbbyYates · 29/03/2017 19:26

Genuine question regarding tuition fees: what should he have done? Should he have allowed the coalition to collapse and triggered another election?

aquashiv · 29/03/2017 19:38

Yes but decent types rarely make PM.

GraceGrape · 29/03/2017 19:45

Hopefully we will get to a time when common sense and reasoning with facts are valued more in a politician than buffoonery and meaningless soundbites ( "Take back control", "Brexit means Brexit") but I don't hold out much hope of it happening any time soon.

Tanith · 29/03/2017 21:17

I disagree that the LibDems were blamed for all the bad parts of the coalition. The fact is, they were hardly mentioned - good, bad or indifferent. They appeared irrelevant and some were openly calling it a Conservative government.

I think that, more than tuition fees, finished them: the anger that they had effectively joined the Conservatives. It was seen as a betrayal.

foxyloxy78 · 29/03/2017 21:17

Certainly better than what we have now!

justnowords · 29/03/2017 21:32

I think that, more than tuition fees, finished them: the anger that they had effectively joined the Conservatives. It was seen as a betrayal. This, I really dont know why NC didnt understand how many Lib Dem voters (that i know of personally anyway and Id be willing to bet many more) viewed the Torys. I have voted Lib Dems previously, and whilst some of my views overlap with Labour and SNP (im in Scotland), there is a distinct line drawn at the Conservatives. I am currently voting SNP and can only liken it to if they were suddenly to forma coalition with BNP and UKIP. It would be unforgiveable.

Notthemessiah · 29/03/2017 21:54

So Tanith and Justnowords - you would have preferred another election and a tory government with no libdems (i.e. similar to what we have now)? And that would have been better?

I'm amazed at the number of supposed libdem supporters who would seem to prefer an unfettered tory govemment than any attempt to try and work with them to try and keep them in check. You simply cannot argue that what we have now isn't anything other than far worse than the coalition government we had before.

It's no wonder that politics in this country is in such a state when so many people would much rather be defined by what they are against than what they are for.

DrAbbyYates · 29/03/2017 21:58

It's no wonder that politics in this country is in such a state when so many people would much rather be defined by what they are against than what they are for.

THIS X 1000000

SukeyTakeItOffAgain · 29/03/2017 22:07

ALSO THIS X 1000000.

SukeyTakeItOffAgain · 29/03/2017 22:13

Charles Kennedy, God rest him, couldn't cope with the position he held already. I don't think he was PM material, despite being able, affable, popular and approachable

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