Nick Clegg
Had I been voting in the recent Lib Dem leadership contest, I would have voted for Chris Huhne as the candidate most identifiably different from Gordon Brown and David Cameron. In voting for Mr Clegg, they have chosen someone who looks and sounds like Mr Cameron and, I feel, impacts in a similar manner. Mr Clegg has one potential advantage; much of Mr Cameron’s appeal is neophiliac, something immediately undermined by the (latest) new kid on the block. This could have squeezed the Conservatives as people put off by the hang ‘em-flog ‘em tendency of the Tories would have little to choose between the personalities of the leaders.
Unfortunately, Mr Clegg did not have a brilliant performance at PMQs today. While his question will make sense if you read it in Hansard, it bombed due to the interruptions from the Tories. Despite their leader’s previous protestations about wanting an end to Punch and Judy politics, the Conservatives bayed because they couldn’t wait for the end of the sentence.
It may be that this works out well for Labour; people who don’t like Clegg’s Orange Book liberalism may move to Labour, while with little to choose between Clegg and Cameron, the Conservatives may lose votes.
xD.
January 24th, 2008 at 9:04 am
Hi Dave - I’ve sent you a meme about household management.
January 24th, 2008 at 11:43 am
Where did my comment go?
January 24th, 2008 at 12:02 pm
Which comment, James? It’s not in the spam filter.