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Wednesday 15 April 2015

I think my sides have split

This morning the Guardian has an 'exclusive' interview with Nick Clegg, outlining why he thinks his party is the only possible choice for a coalition and giving some details of the headline policies from his manifesto. His case, such as it is, is that the SNP and Ukip are parties of grievance, whereas his party is one of (and I am not making this up) conscience.  To borrow a quote from Blackadder, 'I thank God I wore my corset, because I think my sides have split.'

Mr Clegg apparently believes that no-one noticed the wholesale ditching of Liberal Democrat principles in the current coalition, and seems to believe that they have acted as some sort of brake on the worst of Tory excesses.  Given the current state of the UK under the coalition austerity, one can only imagine some sort of futuristic dystopia would have been the result otherwise, with freezing wastelands and dire poverty in ghettos.  Oh wait...

Mr Clegg then goes on to outline 'five manifesto pledges that will have “a near religious status” for his party when it comes to negotiating any coalition deal.'  These include spending on education which will rise in line with pupil numbers rather than inflation, 8bn more on health and equal status for mental health, increasing the personal tax allowance to £12,500 a year, a balanced current budget by 2017-18 and five green laws including a decarbonisation target for electricity

All of which sounds very nice, except for the fact that Mr Clegg has already demonstrated a willingness to drop his principles for a sniff of power faster than a penniless whore their drawers when the fleet comes into port.  Indeed he is basically touting for business by implying that he would be happy to support either Labour or Tory depending on the deal they would be prepared to offer in return for coalition support.

Vote Liberal Democrat - the party of negotiable affections.

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