Nick Clegg now claims that he sold out on deficit reduction before May 6th - despite going into the election committed to a deficit reduction plan closer to Labour than the Conservatives.
Following Mervyn King’s appearance at the Treasury select committee yesterday, in which he distanced himself from Nick Clegg’s claim that it was only after meeting him he had changed his mind on the deficit, the Liberal Democrat leader now claims that he sold out on deficit reduction before May 6th – despite going into the election committed to a deficit reduction plan closer to Labour than the Conservatives.
In the BBC2 documentary ‘Five days that changed Britain’, to be broadcast tonight at 9:00, he tells BBC political editor Nick Robinson:
“I changed my mind earlier than that [the Coaltion negotiations] … firstly remember between March and the actual general election … a financial earthquake occurred in on our European doorstep.”
When pressed on why he failed to tell the electorate of his conversion, he says:
“… to be fair we were all … reacting to very, very fast-moving economic events.”
Shadow chief secretary Liam Byrne this afternoon accused Clegg of “simply” misleading voters:
“This shows Nick Clegg simply misled voters. He’d clearly decided before the election that David Cameron was his partner of choice.”
On June 6th, Clegg was singing a very different tune in The Observer in an interview with Andrew Ransley, who wrote:
“It is on the economy that the Lib Dems have executed their greatest somersault since the election. Throughout the campaign they castigated the Tories as schoolboy fools for planning immediate spending cuts; now they have fallen in with the plan.
“‘Our view has shifted,’ accepts Clegg. ‘To be fair to us, it shifted because the world around us changed.’ He claims as his alibi ‘the complete belly-up implosion in Greece’, which made it imperative to demonstrate to the markets that the coalition would make an early start on deficit reduction.
“Another influence was ‘a long conversation a day or two after the government was formed’ with Mervyn King, the governor of the Bank of England. ‘He couldn’t have been more emphatic. He said: “If you don’t do this, then because of the deterioration of market conditions it will be even more painful to do it later.’”
Serious questions now need to be asked: if Clegg had changed his mind before the election on spending cuts, why did he not tell the electorate before polling day? The electorate deserved to know what they were voting for and he did not tell them this. His initial position was along the lines of ‘I changed my mind because of what the Governor told me’, King says he told him nothing and now Clegg claims to have made up his mind long before.
Just as with Forgemasters, however, his explanation may be a long time coming, if ever.
28 Responses to “Now Clegg claims he changed mind on deficit before the election”
Anon E Mouse
Blank – Of course not but then he makes claims of being a class warrior and somehow I don’t associate that with his “working class hero” status any more than him going into the House of Lords – with certain people they always look for excuses. Lord Hattersley anyone? It’s hypocrisy and on this blog no one seems to care.
Regarding Clegg I quite agree with you. He made his pitch and the electorate said no.
But I do like the way government is being run now – the fear that Labour used to justify the ends has gone. The “What if this happens” lack of confidence and the panic merchant stuff from David Miliband and the “serious” impression given by Labour Ministers with their “We’re getting on with the serious business of government” has gone and I love it.
To me it is a breath of fresh air to see coalition ministers walking to work instead of getting out of black Jag’s with men with headsets on.
Watching Nick Robinson’s program last week I was struck by the scene depicting both Cameron and Brown getting out of their respective Jaguars.
Cameron can clearly be seen thanking the man who opened his door for him and Brown completely ignoring the man who did the same.
Personally I think that in five years the cuts will be forgotten and the Lib Dems will be able to show the electorate that they are fit to be in government. It will be interesting.
As for Labour if they don’t elect Diane Abbott, and they won’t, then without a “New Labour” moment they will be out of office for several elections.
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