Nick 'the kingmaker' CLegg
This article is by our United Kingdom Political Correspondent, Vera ‘Rusty’ Retton. It is one of three articles Red Brick will be publishing about the Liberal Democratic Party’s (Lib Dems) success and subsequent demise following the 2010 General Election. In our first article ‘Rusty’ will begin with the actual election itself, referring to a certain Lib Dems Party ‘Election Promise,’ which will be the central theme throughout all three articles. So, in true Red Brick fashion, Rusty, you are in ‘the chair.’
I would like to start with a little bit of background to give some context to this article. During the build-up to the 2010 General Election, it was widely felt that there was a likelihood of a hung parliament, with many polls predicting this would be the outcome. The Lib Dems Party considered themselves as a stand-alone party and had ambitions of becoming the second main party, having had favourable polling results, as well as party leader, Nick Clegg, performing well in the live debates.
At the Lib Dems Party Conference prior to the election, Nick Clegg, stood on the central stage, and confidently, whilst strutting around all very casual and full of confidence said, “I am not the Kingmaker,” in reference to the possibility of there being a hung parliament and the Lib Dems holding the balance of power.
Looking back, I am sure he would wish that he had kept his ‘cakehole’ shut, and that his wife had whipped out her sowing kit, stitched zippers to his upper and lower lips, zipped them up and padlocked them together, because it would be these words and him going back on his election party promise of free tuition fees for students, which would be his political undoing.
In 2010, the General Election in the United Kingdom resulted in a ‘Hung Parliament’ (no clear winner), with the Conservative Party led by David Cameron, and the Labour Party led by Gordon Brown, gaining most of the country’s votes, but not enough to declare either the winner.
The Lib Dems Party, led by Nick “I’m not the Kingmaker,” Clegg, came in third and held the voting balance, and chose to side with the Conservative Party led by David Cameron, making Cameron the Prime Minister and Nick Clegg his Deputy.
If Nick Clegg thought having Labour’s Gordon Brown out of the way meant he was on political ‘Easy Street,’ then what a ‘pillock’ he must have felt by the end of his tenure as Deputy PM. Nick Clegg would find that jumping into bed with David Cameron would be anything but cosy like.
Nick, what must you have thought when you learned that David was occupying the top bunk bed, and the bottom bunk had one giant ‘Tory Turd’ smouldering away on it; this was just to let you know where you would be in the pecking order; they had you and your party in their ‘cross hairs’ from day one?
So, their Nick Clegg was, Deputy PM and politically impotent, and with his election promise of ‘free tuition fees’ for the students looking less likely by the day, no matter how hard he would try to keep his promise, a point in time would arrive when he would have to announce that he could not deliver on his and the Lib Dems Party election promise.
Nick Clegg, if he had not realised at the time he made the promise, would come to realise that this was not an ordinary election promise he had made, because this one played into the hopes and dreams of mostly young people who transcended all ages and backgrounds. Many young people, full of energy and self-belief, would find their hopes and dreams buried, and all because the young men and women dared to believe in two little words, ‘election promise.’
However, the hurt did not stop there for the students, oh no would it not. The students having been left with gaping open wounds over the failure of the Lib Dems, would have more government scorn poured over them, when the coalition government announced that it would be tripling university fees to £9,000 per year, making the term ‘kicking someone whilst they are down,’ in this case the students,’ sound like the understatement of the Millenia, so far.
The ‘death knell’ was now sounding over the Lib Dems political ‘Hari-Kari, and there would be no quick fix, in fact, the Lib Dems would compound their failure in 2016 when they aggressively resisted the political will of the British people, who had by a majority, voted to ‘Leave the European Union.’
One of my colleagues at our Red Brick Cheltenham Branch, Kade Vidic, who is our resident ’Truther,’ believes that the promise made by the Lib Dems was never intended to be kept, but was made to be broken, which in turn would lead to the collapse of the Lib Dems voting base to take us nearer to what we have now, a One-Party System, however, in Article 3 he will look at this in more detail.
Nick Clegg would leave politics because of the 2015 disastrous election results his party received, as well as also losing his position as a Member of Parliament when he lost his seat in his Sheffield constituency. Mr Clegg, listen chum, you had your chance, and you made your choices, didn’t you?
Regardless of whatever hush hush political manoeuvring might have taken place during Nick Clegg’s tenure as party leader, few could argue that he did not suffer a major ‘fall from grace,’ although how far he fell is debatable.
Nick Clegg would not find himself out in the cold writing his memoirs, entitled something like ‘My Life in the Wilderness,’ or ‘How NOT to Make an Election Promise,’ nope, not at all. The now, Mr Clegg, might have fallen, but he must have landed on some giant rolls of rose scented comfy bum, because he would certainly fair better than the party he left in tatters, which for many voters is now viewed as politically limp, and no amount of Guinness can put the lead back in its pencil.
Nick Clegg would see his profile and status elevated when he was later awarded with a Knighthood for his contribution politics, so from here on in we will address him as, Sir Nick. He would also write a book with the title, ‘How to Stop BREXIT (And Make Britain Great Again), because of his passionate opposition to leaving the European Union.
His book would be highly controversial with BREXIT supporters, although for many who voted for BREXIT, this was nothing more than another attempt to subvert the democratic will of the people, who for once had witnessed democracy in action, by successfully voting to Leave the European Union, having won the most votes in the 2016 National Referendum
Well, Sir Nick, passion or otherwise for the UK to stay in the EU, your interference was not welcomed by us BREXITEERS, is not good enough, and you should have crawled back under your rock, to give the students time to receive counselling having ‘Freddy Kruger’ in their heads.
Sir Nick, authoring a book on how to leave something the country was still part of, let alone to leave without dipping our (the UK) toes in the water, the English Channel of course, was a bit of a ‘stab in the back to democracy,’ and the will of the UK voters, in our humble opinion here at Red Brick.
At our Red Brick office in Northampton there is a plaque above the entrance door which reads ‘There is no such thing as one size fits all.’ So, we listen to all viewpoints no matter how they sound, therefore we entertain such thoughts as Kade Vidic’s, because when we stop listening to whoever about whatever, then that is the time we stop learning.
The next article will be a transcription of ‘Bob the Gob’s’ phone-in, when he spoke with a student about the effect of the Lib Dems going back on their election promise.
Rusty Retton, Political Correspondent for Red Brick.