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Norman Tebbit

Lord Tebbit of Chingford is one of Britain's most outspoken conservative commentators and politicians. He was a senior cabinet minister in Margaret Thatcher's government and is a former Chairman of the Conservative Party. He has also worked in journalism, publishing, advertising and was a pilot in the RAF and British Overseas Airways.

Clegg promised the earth and got away with it. No wonder Cameron looked disgruntled

By Norman Tebbit Politics Last updated: April 16th, 2010

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Some of the Lefties’ triumphalism at the public reaction to The Great TV Debate was wildly overdone. You might have thought that Cameron broke down and cried, or shouted “We’re all doomed”. He didn’t. He held his own and scored points on the NHS and even, unlikely as it was, on immigration.

None the less, once again the lesson to be learned is that he who lives by the sword dies by the sword. David Cameron claimed the leadership of the Conservative Party as the new broom that would sweep away the old Thatcherite guard who used to go around winning elections and talking about hard choices. His new Conservative Party would be no longer “nasty” but modern, new, compassionate and untainted by the past.

Nick Clegg played the same game and played it very well. Mr Clegg bundled up Mr Cameron with Mr Brown as joint leaders of the nasty old two-party racket that had mismanaged Britain for the last 30 years. He, Mr Clegg, assured us was more modern, more compassionate, more new and utterly uncontaminated with all the nastiness of recent times. Left to him, all soldiers would have all the kit they had ever dreamed of, the poor would be made rich, the sick restored to health, the naional debt washed away with no cost or inconvenience to anyone except the very rich. The Lib Dems, he explained, would deal with immigration without stopping people coming here, they could deal with corruption because they were not corrupt, and bring in a honest electoral system which would ensure that a lot more Lib Dems would be elected.

And he got away with it! No wonder David Cameron looked a little disgruntled. As for Mr Brown, he was scuppered by his inability to tell us, if there was so much to do to to put things right, just what he had been doing over the last 13 years when they were going wrong. Even worse, his frantic efforts to convince the audience that on the issue of political reform he was at one with Mr Clegg were brushed aside by a man who can certainly recognise an electoral tar baby when he sees one.

Personally I do not like this style of electioneering. I will watch the next instalment without enthusiasm. I suspect that Mr Clegg can’t wait for it. But he might come to wish he had been able to quit while he was ahead.