Guess what? Conference season is coming up, and Nick Clegg is desperate to try to put some distance between his cuddly Liberal Cabinet Members and those nasty Tories they work alongside cheerfully every day.
But Nick hasn’t got many scraps to throw his minions, anxious for any signal that this coalition was worth a hill of beans. His much feted PR stunt went down like a lead balloon, he has seen hundreds of local councillors thrown out of office by a disgruntled electorate, their poll ratings rattle around at Ukip levels, Lords reform looks dead in the water, and they have gained precious little (other than in personal wealth and prestige) out of the coalition. Not even their argument about ‘in the nation’s interest’ holds much water as the economy continues to go down the pan, with no sign of the much heralded growth strategy.
So, if you think for one nanosecond that Clegg’s ‘tycoon tax’ for the ultra rich is anything more than a sop that he can offer up to those disgruntled Lib Dems getting ready to trudge wearily to Brighton in three weeks time, slap yourself in the face and apologise.
We are talking about a man whose troops marched merrily through the lobbies to reduce the higher rate of income tax!!! And as Baroness Kramer admitted when she was supporting Nick’s call for fairness… “We came very close to convincing the Chancellor on our proposals for a mansion tax.”
Better get ready for another near miss gal!
I would suspect he had to do something his media presence had been low for a while, so he comes out with this twaddle again.
Sadly down by me the Liberals have been wiped off the face of the earth losing a seat they had for twenty years coming in third.
Cleggie says he will not now go to the Lords if offered, so it looks like he’s been offered something in the EU then by the Tories.