The second televised debate in Bristol, hosted by Sky TV, is the biggest test so far for Clegg. But some in the Lib Dem high command fear that he's too inclined to dissemble on policy in his efforts to be "all things to all men”, and women, if it comes to that. Take, for example, Clegg's performance last weekend when he was door-stepped on his party's immigration policy by Cathy Newman for Channel 4 News. He said he was not advocating an amnesty for illlegal immigrants. So C4 played a clip from 2007 when Clegg said the most controversial policy his party had adopted was a kind of amnesty for 600,000 illegal immigrants. Not Clegg's finest hour. He now distinguishes between a blanket amnesty for illegals - which could dish his hopes of getting into office because it would be so unpopular – and an amnesty with conditions attached: they would have to earn their right to citizenship in this country, they would have to be free of convictions for criminal offences, and they would have to be in work. Clegg is similarly coy over his party's policy for the replacement of Trident. So far he has refused to fill the gaping hole over what his party would do - replace it with another cheaper nuclear weapon, or abandon it unilaterally? His obfuscation is tantamount to a lie. Elder statesman and defence expert Sir Menzies Campbell, whom he replaced as leader, drafted a policy paper saying that Trident should be replaced by nuclear-tipped cruise weapons on smaller subs in the Astute Class. This is a plausible option but he won't say it because he does not want to upset the strong CND strain inside the Lib Dems from the old beards-and-sandals brigade who were members of the Liberal Party, not the SDP, before the parties merged. Again, Clegg is being told to stand up for the policies on which his party is fighting the election. His rivals say it is only par for the course in elections that the Lib Dems, far from being cuddly muesli-eaters who just want to save the world, turn out to be a ravening bunch of liars, two-faced and power-hungry. This is obviously over the top, but some evidence for the charge of hypocrisy has come the Mole's way from Lewisham East, where the Tories have been in second place in every election since former sports minister Colin Moynihan (now a Tory peer) lost it to Bridget Prentice in 1992. The Lib Dems have two lines of attack in Lewisham East – one for potential Conservative voters, the other for potential Labour voters. Targeting Tories, they hand out leaflets which say the Lib Dems are the only ones who can defeat Labour in the seat - which is, at least on the evidence, a bit of a lie. Worse, the leaflets say a vote for Cameron will elect Brown for five more years (the mirror image of what the Tories are saying about Clegg in other seats). Leaflets for potential Labour voters, on the other hand, carry a personal message from the Lib Dem candidate saying he knows that politicians are unpopular after the election expenses scandal but vote Lib Dem because the candidate is "not a professional politician” - he's a teacher. That is pathetic. The Mole's advice to the young pretender is simple: Come on Cleggie. Stand up for your policies. And see if you can convince your fans to vote for you afterwards. Clegg must stand by his policies and not dissemble
The Mole: As Clegg faces his biggest test, he needs to be honest on Trident and immigration
Read more: http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/62500,news-comment,news-politics,the-mole-nick-clegg-must-stand-by-his-policies-and-not-dissemble?DCMP=NLC-daily#ixzz0lovLjvtc
Thursday, 22 April 2010
LAST UPDATED 8:18 AM, APRIL 22, 2010
Nick Clegg will play piggy in the middle tonight. And he's being advised not to renege on controversial Lib Dem policies such as immigration and nuclear weapons under pressure from Gordon Brown and David Cameron who will be attacking him from both sides.
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