Quote of the day
“Whichever party have the strongest mandate from the British people, it seems to me that they have the first right to try and govern, either on their own or with others.”
- Nick Clegg, who has finally made his mind up and declared that he will support whoever is the largest party in the event of a hung parliament (full story HERE)
Witanagemot Blogs
I think it’s a little bit early to be taking any of this too seriously. It’s nothing more than a negotiating tactic. He is learning from the lesson learned by liberals in trusting Blair before the 1997 election. He had promised them PR, but when he found that he had a huge majority he pulled the rug out. Clegg will make Labour sweat for his support.
When it comes down to the crunch he will look at the numbers and then find an excuse to put his support behind Labour. Presumably thare will be something in the Conservative manifesto which he cannot support out of ‘principle’.
Also, if Brown is relplaced, expect all bets to be off. All Clegg wants is PR and a continual left of centre, pro EU government. He will take any opportunity availlable to get it.
Well, it’s nice to see that finally he’s not talking about the Libs actually winning! In his conference speech he used the words, “I want to be Prime Minister” three times; he told his audience to “imagine a Liberal Democrat cabinet”, and he said that “the choice at the next election is fake change from the Conservatives. Or real change from the Liberal Democrats”.
There is a difference between the “first right to govern” and the “sole right to govern”.
He has plenty of wriggle room. There is nothing in this to stop him asking Cameron for PR, listening to Cameron tell him to get lost, then calling Gordon to discuss terms for propping him up for another 5 years.