![A
liberal party hasnt been in
power in this country for 85
years, so why does MP Nick
Clegg, the 40-year old former Cam-
bridge student standing as one of
two candidates for Lib Dem leader,
think that his party can make it in
ten? London Student caught up with
him to find out.
I dont find that unrealistic, given
that politics has become so fluid and
peoples old tribal allegiances have
broken down. The old left and right
discourse in politics is no longer
really relevant, says Clegg.
The MP for Sheffield Hallam who
speaks five languages and is the
current Lib Dem Home Affairs
spokesperson, is in a race against
competitor Chris Huhne. Because
Cleggs nomination is backed by 33
MPs, more than three times Huhne's
10, he is hotly tipped to become the
next leader of the party (after the
results to be announced on 17
December).
London Student meets Clegg on a
Monday morning train from London
to Reading, hes endlessly busy with
his campaign trail (after us hes
speaking to another journalist from
Reading to Cardiff). We speak to him
in Dutch to make sure his claims of
bilingualism are true. (He passed: not
the most advanced Dutch, but were
no linguists).
We get on with the interview and
true to his Lib Dem background he
tells us whats wrong with politics at
the moment.
He says that the political system
needs to change and believes electoral
reform is necessary.
Whats really wrong is that the
political class has increasingly
developed a world of its own, where
politicians speak a language which
doesnt relate to the way normal
people think and speak, he says. It
is also made considerably worse by an
electoral system which basically
disenfranchises millions of people.
Theres no incentive for politicians to
appeal to anyone other than a few
100,000 voters in marginal swing
seats.
You have a completely lopsided
political culture where all the
attention is devoted to very, very
specific issues, which are of interest
to a very small number of voters.
He adds: I think theres
something deeply rotten at the core of
the way in which our democracy
works.
He insists however that the Lib
Dems can come to power without
reform of the electoral system.
I think with most of the big issues
facing us as a society whether its the
lack of social mobility, environmental
challenges, dealing with the politics
of fear, and globalisation, there is a
palpable sense of powerlessness that
communities have in such an over-
centralised governing system, he
says. And many of those things are
particularly susceptible to liberal
answers.
The former journalist has a unique
take on different issues and had been
criticised before by The Daily
Telegraph for saying he wanted to
include alcohol in a drugs
classification system.
What I said which was wholly
misunderstood by The Daily
Telegraph, unsurprisingly, is that if
youre going to be serious about drugs
and the damage they do to
individuals, families and
communities, you cant just draw the
line at illegal drugs, he says. You
can have a classification system where
the upper end has very strict
prohibitions against the hardest
drugs and the lower end just has
public warnings about the effects of
legal drugs. People need to think out
of the box on this one.
The Daily Telegraph might snigger,
but frankly maybe they dont see from
the comfort of their central London
homes what I see in Sheffield and in
other towns and cities in this country
which is that drug-related violence
and crime is now becoming a major
blight for people, week in, week out.
He also believes that the
classification of drugs should be left
to the Advisory Council on the
Misuse of Drugs and should not be a
question of politics: Classification of
drugs has become a political football,
which is almost totally unrelated to
the academics.
He says: I think we need to now
basically grow up and depoliticise a
lot of the debate about drugs, because
we are facing one of the worlds worst
crises of growing drug dependency
and drug-related crime.
He is also known for calling Tory
leader David Cameron, a Clegg-lite.
He claims to be a liberal
conservative and I think thats a
contradiction of terms, says Clegg.
Itll be one of my only jobs to show
that theres no such thing as a liberal
conservative.
Clegg, who once worked for Tory
European Comissioner Sir Leon
Brittan, strongly denies accusations
of himself being a conservative
Liberal Democrat: Theres no shred
of evidence to sustain that. Im one of
the most radical fundamentalists in
recent years.
When it comes to top-up fees
Clegg says he supports the stance by
the Lib Dems against them, but adds
that people need to re-evaluate public
spending if they want to continue
providing quality higher education.
We need to be much more up
front about it, if people want a good
university system, then there are
resources that can be found from
general taxation to do so, if were
prepared to take the tough choices
and cut back on expenditure in other
areas, he says. Its essentially the
worst of both worlds at the moment,
[universities] are being underfunded
from general taxation and they are
now reliant on a capped top-up fee
system, which doesnt give them the
additional money they want.
The Lib Dems have been the party
most supported by students over the
last three years with a third saying
they would vote for them in
comparison to one-fifth for Labour
and Tory, according to a recent poll by
Opinionpanel.
Were a contemporary party, I
think were grappling with the
contemporary issues of the day. Its a
really vote of confidence, a real sort of
morale boost to know that students ,
who after all are most focused on their
own future development, give us
such an overwhelming thumbs up,
says Clegg upon hearing the results.
However the survey also found
that for the first time in three years
Lib Dem support is now under Tory
and Labour support.
Clegg says: One of the reasons is
that over the last few months all the
focus in the press has been devoted to
the contest between Gordon Brown
and David Cameron. Theyve got two
new party leaders and that has created
a sense of drama.
However he remains optimistic
about his partys future and points
out that the Lib Dems have won 24
per cent of the vote in the last several
elections.
He says: That doesnt translate
into as many seats, because of the
electoral system, but it still shows
theres a real groundswell of support.
Despite Clegg having utmost faith
in his party, its still not certain
theyre set to get anywhere. After a
fairly straight-forward and enjoyable
chat we ask him who he thinks would
win if there was a general election
tomorrow. He replies slightly
annoyed: An election? Tomorrow?
The Liberal Democrats, but theres
not going to be an election
tomorrow.
www.london-student.net 揃 12th November 2007
LondonStudent
INTERVIEW NEWS 揃 11
There is
something
deeply rotten
at the core of
the way in
which our
democracy
works
RRiiddiinngg hhiigghh oonn LLiibbeerraall ddrreeaammss
NNiicckk CClleegggg ppoossiinngg wwiitthh yyoouunnggsstteerrss dduurriinngg aa rroouunndd ooff ppooooll aatt aa YYMMCCAA iinn WWookkiinngg
Roald Tjon-Kon-Fat grills hopeful Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg about his partys chances...](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/nickclegg-170124132602/85/Riding-High-on-Liberal-Dreams-1-320.jpg)
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Riding High on Liberal Dreams
- 1. A liberal party hasnt been in power in this country for 85 years, so why does MP Nick Clegg, the 40-year old former Cam- bridge student standing as one of two candidates for Lib Dem leader, think that his party can make it in ten? London Student caught up with him to find out. I dont find that unrealistic, given that politics has become so fluid and peoples old tribal allegiances have broken down. The old left and right discourse in politics is no longer really relevant, says Clegg. The MP for Sheffield Hallam who speaks five languages and is the current Lib Dem Home Affairs spokesperson, is in a race against competitor Chris Huhne. Because Cleggs nomination is backed by 33 MPs, more than three times Huhne's 10, he is hotly tipped to become the next leader of the party (after the results to be announced on 17 December). London Student meets Clegg on a Monday morning train from London to Reading, hes endlessly busy with his campaign trail (after us hes speaking to another journalist from Reading to Cardiff). We speak to him in Dutch to make sure his claims of bilingualism are true. (He passed: not the most advanced Dutch, but were no linguists). We get on with the interview and true to his Lib Dem background he tells us whats wrong with politics at the moment. He says that the political system needs to change and believes electoral reform is necessary. Whats really wrong is that the political class has increasingly developed a world of its own, where politicians speak a language which doesnt relate to the way normal people think and speak, he says. It is also made considerably worse by an electoral system which basically disenfranchises millions of people. Theres no incentive for politicians to appeal to anyone other than a few 100,000 voters in marginal swing seats. You have a completely lopsided political culture where all the attention is devoted to very, very specific issues, which are of interest to a very small number of voters. He adds: I think theres something deeply rotten at the core of the way in which our democracy works. He insists however that the Lib Dems can come to power without reform of the electoral system. I think with most of the big issues facing us as a society whether its the lack of social mobility, environmental challenges, dealing with the politics of fear, and globalisation, there is a palpable sense of powerlessness that communities have in such an over- centralised governing system, he says. And many of those things are particularly susceptible to liberal answers. The former journalist has a unique take on different issues and had been criticised before by The Daily Telegraph for saying he wanted to include alcohol in a drugs classification system. What I said which was wholly misunderstood by The Daily Telegraph, unsurprisingly, is that if youre going to be serious about drugs and the damage they do to individuals, families and communities, you cant just draw the line at illegal drugs, he says. You can have a classification system where the upper end has very strict prohibitions against the hardest drugs and the lower end just has public warnings about the effects of legal drugs. People need to think out of the box on this one. The Daily Telegraph might snigger, but frankly maybe they dont see from the comfort of their central London homes what I see in Sheffield and in other towns and cities in this country which is that drug-related violence and crime is now becoming a major blight for people, week in, week out. He also believes that the classification of drugs should be left to the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs and should not be a question of politics: Classification of drugs has become a political football, which is almost totally unrelated to the academics. He says: I think we need to now basically grow up and depoliticise a lot of the debate about drugs, because we are facing one of the worlds worst crises of growing drug dependency and drug-related crime. He is also known for calling Tory leader David Cameron, a Clegg-lite. He claims to be a liberal conservative and I think thats a contradiction of terms, says Clegg. Itll be one of my only jobs to show that theres no such thing as a liberal conservative. Clegg, who once worked for Tory European Comissioner Sir Leon Brittan, strongly denies accusations of himself being a conservative Liberal Democrat: Theres no shred of evidence to sustain that. Im one of the most radical fundamentalists in recent years. When it comes to top-up fees Clegg says he supports the stance by the Lib Dems against them, but adds that people need to re-evaluate public spending if they want to continue providing quality higher education. We need to be much more up front about it, if people want a good university system, then there are resources that can be found from general taxation to do so, if were prepared to take the tough choices and cut back on expenditure in other areas, he says. Its essentially the worst of both worlds at the moment, [universities] are being underfunded from general taxation and they are now reliant on a capped top-up fee system, which doesnt give them the additional money they want. The Lib Dems have been the party most supported by students over the last three years with a third saying they would vote for them in comparison to one-fifth for Labour and Tory, according to a recent poll by Opinionpanel. Were a contemporary party, I think were grappling with the contemporary issues of the day. Its a really vote of confidence, a real sort of morale boost to know that students , who after all are most focused on their own future development, give us such an overwhelming thumbs up, says Clegg upon hearing the results. However the survey also found that for the first time in three years Lib Dem support is now under Tory and Labour support. Clegg says: One of the reasons is that over the last few months all the focus in the press has been devoted to the contest between Gordon Brown and David Cameron. Theyve got two new party leaders and that has created a sense of drama. However he remains optimistic about his partys future and points out that the Lib Dems have won 24 per cent of the vote in the last several elections. He says: That doesnt translate into as many seats, because of the electoral system, but it still shows theres a real groundswell of support. Despite Clegg having utmost faith in his party, its still not certain theyre set to get anywhere. After a fairly straight-forward and enjoyable chat we ask him who he thinks would win if there was a general election tomorrow. He replies slightly annoyed: An election? Tomorrow? The Liberal Democrats, but theres not going to be an election tomorrow. www.london-student.net 揃 12th November 2007 LondonStudent INTERVIEW NEWS 揃 11 There is something deeply rotten at the core of the way in which our democracy works RRiiddiinngg hhiigghh oonn LLiibbeerraall ddrreeaammss NNiicckk CClleegggg ppoossiinngg wwiitthh yyoouunnggsstteerrss dduurriinngg aa rroouunndd ooff ppooooll aatt aa YYMMCCAA iinn WWookkiinngg Roald Tjon-Kon-Fat grills hopeful Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg about his partys chances...