Does Sheffield Hallam MP, Clegg, wear clogs or does he prefer Ferragamo, is he one of the peeps?

[claig]

The pesky Daily Mail continues the expose
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1268436/Some-ordinary-northerner-How-Nick-Clegg-really-man-extraord inary-privilege-family-chateau.html

"And the evidence they have is his name written on a list. It's not terribly convincing. "

To become a member you would need to pay a subscription, but as I said before, who cares?

All polititians lie, isn't that the general rule of thumb?

I so agree with you.

It's just nonsense double think.

And in truth it's just a smear campaign to answer another smear campaign of Cameron.

It's a double smear. Nobody can see! And actually nobody cares.

I was agreeing with weneedtoleave

From the Guardian article about Clegg

"He worked for Brittan by managing development projects abroad, not writing political speeches, and Brittan didn't press Clegg too hard to convert to Conservatism.

"I think he may have tried a bit, but not that much. But what he did do was that he saw that I had a lot of strong opinions and he said 'You've got to do something about it' and I said, 'What, me?' " Brittan confirmed the story today."

Sounds like he had a pretty chummy relationship with the leading Tory Brittan. Wonder why Lord Carrington recommended him to Brittan? Was Clegg on side? Did his old school tie mean that he was a member of the club?

agree with Leningrad. Let's have a real democracy with real PR, then we might get to choose candidates who we really want rather than candidates who have been parachuted in.

amen to that

(Claig, can I point out that Clegg went to Westminster school not Winchester. Not that it makes much difference to the discussion, but it's driving me mad).

thanks for pointing that out loungelizard. I must have Winchester on the brain for some reason. I knew it was Westminster, I'll try and get it right from now on.

What on earth are you trying to insinuate in your post of 12:18:48 claig?

Nick Clegg was already an official working in the European Commission when he was appointed to work for Leon Brittan. He worked in Brittan's private office, his "cabinet", when Brittan was one of the UK's Commissioners. Positions in the cabinets are hotly fought over by ambitious and able Commission staff. The staff appointed have to be able to work well with their Commissioner but they do not have to share their political views. Have you never got on well with anyone you worked for? Have you never had a boss who really rated you and spoke proudly of your ability?

Anyway, back to the OP, which is what I came on to say. Of course Nick Clegg wears clogs. He's half Dutch. Boom boom...

I don't know how these people are appointed to these roles. I would have thought that for important roles they would want people to think along the same lines politically. Maybe that is not an issue for these roles, I don't know. If I was a commissioner I think I would want the people working for me to share my vision. Maybe it works differently at the heart of the EU. Maybe Kinnock employed people like Tebbitt. You know more about that than I do.

"Of course Nick Clegg wears clogs. He's half Dutch. Boom boom..."

I fear you have given the Daily Mail lots more ammunition with that joke.

Leningrad, they are on Bond Street, check them out. They do all sorts.
www.ferragamo.com/

"real PR" - only if it maintains the link between the MP and the constituency AND doesn't give us party lists. At least my MP, even though it's a very safe seat, bothers to contact his voters, sends us literature spelling out his email address, surgeries and other ways to contact him. The MEPs, elected by PR, are just names of people who would never dare to stand up to the party bosses, and never bother to contact the voters.

I think Bond Street is worth steering clear of. It can seriously damage the bank balance. I have often rued the day that I strayed into that territory.

He lives in a very posh part of Sheffield. It isn't all whippets and black pudding and "ee bah goom" up here.

WE DONT CARE

WE DONT CARE

We should all follow Clegg shouting,

"I'm not scared!'

lol
we couls sing that 80s song

Claig, the person who heads up the Cabinet is usually a personal political appointee. Usually someone of the same political party and nationality. The other members of the Cabinet have a variety of different roles. Leon Brittan used to joke that he didn't have a single British Conservative in his Cabinet, although I suspect that came with the caveat "apart from the chef de cabinet".

I'm now realising it's all a long time ago and I can't remember all the details. And I was such a geek. Has motherhood fried my brain or is it old age?

WeNeedToLeaveInFiveMinutes, thanks for that useful info. It's good to have someone on here who knows the ins and outs of the system.

Yes, I'm enjoying this thread.

So what if he is 'posher' than anyone thought he was?

All credit to him that he comes over as a perfectly reasonable 'normal' person.

One has to wonder why Cameron and Osborne don't (to the General Public,if not the Tory voters on Mumsnet), even though they try very hard.

I think they have an air of general entitlement hanging over them, that Clegg doesn't seem to have.