Nick Clegg apologises for lie based on a lie

Nick Clegg poses for a photograph in the full knowledge that he would not support the pledge – how craven can you get?

There is something refreshing about a politician saying sorry.  One of the more recent cases was Theresa May, Home Secretary, and somewhat of a gay icon (at least to me, even though I despise her politics), being challenged on her former voting record on LGBT issues, she voted against the Equal Age of Consent, Gay Adoption and against the repeal of the infamous Section 28 of the Local Authorities Act that made ‘the promotion of homosexuality’ illegal.  Suddenly she decides she is for Gay / Equal Marriage.  When questioned on her voting records he argument was that she had been persuaded by the arguments.  I will accept this defence because it seemed genuine and is exactly what the we were hoping for – changing people’s attitudes by force of reason. Theresa is a politician so she could being lying, if she is pretty damn good.

When Nick Clegg apologies I, frankly, don’t believe him.  I want to believe him, but I don’t.  Look at his body language, at Prime Ministers Questions he is totally disengaged, when he speaks he lacks conviction, it is more like a technocrat speaking than a conviction politician.  I don’t trust Nick Clegg because he has taken the art of political expediency to new heights in this country.  He has sacrificed the NHS, the Welfare State, and Education for, to quote Simon and Garfunkel, a pocket of mumbles such are promises.

His latest apology, the second in as many weeks, is apologising for voting for the student top up fees which has seen tuition fees raised to £9,000 a year in the majority of cases even though when campaigning he ‘signed the pledge’ in public to abolish student top up fees.  When you are in opposition it is easy to promise the earth, you have no way of achieving your goals so you make promises to get into power – it is the nature of politics all over the world – but when you have no hope of being in power it is more seductive.  The problem for Nick Clegg he is in Government now, and his first act was to vote for the raising of student fees.

To U-Turn so publicly is pretty reprehensible, with no hope of spin leaves you politically vulnerable.  It has taken Nick Clegg two years to apologise for not keeping his election promises, or at least fighting for them.

Waiting two years for an apology is bad, what is worse is the apology that remained unspoken

Not only did the Liberal Democrats campaign on a platform of no Student Fees, but they did so knowing that the policy was untenable.  This Deputy Leader of the Government not only failed to keep his promise, he lied and publicly and deceived the electorate in a craven manner that has not been seen (or at least publicly revealed) in British politics.  This man is a disgrace.

How craven can you get?

To fair David Cameron lied when he was speaking in front of a group of Nurses prior to the election ‘no more top down re-organisation of the NHS’ – until, supported by Nick Clegg, he was in power. For some reason I have a special disdain for Nick Clegg, the Tories are doing what Tories always do, the Lib Dems are not so much supporting them, they are enabling them and that is far worse.

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Three Members

Waking up to the news that Louise Mensch is resigning her Corby Pride seat, that Nick Clegg has thrown his toys out of the pram and refused to vote for the Boundary Changes and remembering that Aidan Burley still clings hopelessly to his seat in Cannock Chase made me think today we have the perfect commentary on the State of British Politics.

Louise Mensch, Member for Corby and East Northamptonshire

I can actually agree with some of her pronouncements, but she is the epitomony of the sound bite, media savvy, low content Government we have.  No intellectual or ideological content, one of the best moments of her in debate was seeing her savaged by Yvette Cooper in Parliamentary Debate when she came out with a half baked political point – see the link it is really funny and illustrates her lack of understanding.

It is the rise of the media MP over the MP of substance and conviction – as much as I hated Maggie Thatcher at least she believed in what she was saying, and did not blatantly chase the media spotlight.  Louse Mensch, as much as she is entertaining, is worse than a career politician, she has used her two years in Government to publicise not her constituents, but herself.

The fact that she has made the news is that she has been smoozing the camera and media, I would said being a media whore to be honest, that she seems to have a great publicist behind her.  She has managed to not only to report the news, she has also been the news, very quickly picking the right fights and ensuring that every tweet ends with Corby Pride – I wonder if she will be visiting Corby when she leaves Parliament?  She is media savvy, and good on her for that, but she has no content.  There was some amusement that in month she picked up 20,000 followers, well done that woman – in one week!  Her love of Google and IT companies is public, and she has started her rival to Twitter.

Of course her unflinching support for the Murdoch has been a prime example of corporate loyalty, running to the defence of Rupert Murdoch in the infamous ‘Piegate’ it makes me wonder if she will pop up in one fo the sleazier tabloids.  I am cynical when it comes to politicians, especially Tory ones, and I wait being proved right.

Only someone with unsurprising naivety would believe she is quitting to “spend more time with her family …”

Nicholas William Peter Clegg, Member for Sheffield Hallam

Nick Clegg has not only kept a minority Government in power for nearly three years, he has secured for them an unparralled, well for at least 60 years, social and welfare reform that has seen the virtual sell off of the National Health Service and putting hundreds of thousands of people on Welfare into penary and misery.  Supporting the most right-wing adminstration this country has known, and providing them with political coverage to make un mandated changes.  Clegg has reneged on almost every promise that the LibDems have made, and now has decided not to vote for boundary changes, the reason because Parliament did not like his half-baked scheme on Lords Reform.

Firstly I want my politicians to act out of conviction, not political expediency.  If the House of Commons collectively could not agree on Lords Reform then they should not be forced to vote for it to keep a minority party, or a minority Government, in power.  Nick Clegg is proving that he has no convictions at all, and along with the Tories, are dismantling the State for idelogical reasons not for the good of the country,

This country is being run for the benefit of the Government – not the people.

Aidan Burley, Member for Cannock Chase

I have blogged before on this idiot who attends Nazi themed Stag Parties and then tweets about the Olympic Games being left-wing, amazingly he still has a job. The question is, what do you have to do get the sack from this Government?  The greatest charge, which Aidan is prime example, against this Government is that it is morally bankrupt –  a diseased ridden corpse showing an occasional twitch of life.