The Staggers

The New Statesman’s rolling politics blog

Why has Clegg told millions not to vote for the Lib Dems?

The Lib Dem leader's decision to abandon any attempt to win over left-wing voters is bizarre.

By George Eaton Published 30 August 2012 15:47

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg. Photograph: Getty Images.

Nick Clegg said left-wing voters were "not going to come back by 2015". Photograph: Getty Images.

ConservativeHome's Peter Hoskin has written a fine post on why the right should stick up for Nick Clegg, which equally functions as a demonstration of why the left should not (unless, as Lenin put it, we support him "as the rope supports a hanged man"). Hoskin notes Clegg's early support for austerity (he pledged that the Liberal Democrats would eliminate the deficit through spending cuts alone, a stance that put him to the right of George Osborne) and his opposition to universal benefits for the elderly. Even when the Lib Dems were still officially opposed to immediate spending cuts and to higher tuition fees, it was clear that Clegg's heart wasn't in it (he simply accepted that his leftish party would not accept a change of policy ). Under the cover of coalition government, he has emerged as the right-leaning politician he always was.

The coverage of his comeback interview with the Guardian inevitably focused on his call for a new wealth tax, but as notable was the contempt he showed for left-wing voters. He told the paper:

Frankly, there are a group of people who don't like any government in power and are always going to shout betrayal. We have lost them and they are not going to come back by 2015. Our job is not to look mournfully in the rear view mirror and hope that somehow we will claw them back. Some of them basically seem to regard Liberal Democrats in coalition as a mortal sin.

Clegg's resigned tone ("they are not going to come back by 2015") is extraordinary. Psephologically speaking, he's almost certainly right, but since when has a politician willfully abandoned so many voters? Rather than traducing the millions who have turned against the Lib Dems (in an interview with the Guardian, of all places), shouldn't he be trying to "claw them back"? When he declares that it's not his "job" to do so, one is tempted to reply, "actually, it is".

At the very least, Clegg could highlight some of the leftish policies the coalition has pursued (a 35% increase in international development spending, a ring-fenced NHS budget, an increase in capital gains tax). But when it comes to voters, the Lib Dem leader appers to value quality over quantity. Like Kurt Cobain, he would rather be hated for who he is, than loved for who he's not.

There is something admirable about such political purity but his MPs, looking nervously at their party's disastrous poll ratings (they are averaging around 10 per cent), will surely question his judgement.

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Tags: Nick Clegg Liberal Democrats

More from George Eaton

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21 comments

Tue, 2012-09-04 13:04 — union steve (not verified)

No one will ever trust Mr Pledge to win over anyone ever again.

Sat, 2012-09-01 13:14 — Trevor Marwood (not verified)

Purity and Clegg are an anathema,He is a lying SOB who not for the first time has told voters left of centre to take a hike.
The orangefookers prior to the last election enabled a coup,and they will pay the price of destruction as a political party.It was not the numbers in parliament after the election.It was the backroom scheming prior to it with the Tories and King at the bank of England and the swift and easy accomadation with the Tory agenda and slap dash AV instead of PR and 15 year placements in the HofL It would almost seem that Clegg is a Tory would it not ???

Sat, 2012-09-01 11:56 — Stuart Eels (not verified)

He's gone mad, constantly fearing the grinding of the knives being ground into his back by Vince Cable and David Steel, poor bloke.

Fri, 2012-08-31 18:15 — gmgerry (not verified)

Nick Clegg is right - the Lib Dems have for the last 2 years realigned their party so that it is part of the centre/ruight and every Lib Dem now knows that there is no point in trying to attract centre/left votes again...they literally know that they dont need them.

Clegg is also right - Lib Dems can hold onto their parliamentary seats in 2015 by Tory tactical voting - getting Tories to vote Lib dem in seats where Lib Dems are first or second to Labour..just like Clegg's own seat, or Lynne Featherstone's or Danny Alexander..this is the real deal which Clegg and his party has done with Cameron, and with the latest poll saying that 50% of the electorate still back the Cons and Lib Dems, Clegg is actually very clever...

Fri, 2012-08-31 18:14 — gmgerry (not verified)

Fri, 2012-08-31 10:12 — Lost (not verified)

Second that. Instead of selecting policies to appeal to the masses and gain votes, with no personal motivation to follow them through, why dont the politicians give up on the spin, say what they really believe in and let the electorate decide for themselves which way to take the country. I'm pretty tired of the ongoing Labour policy to just cry "we would have done the opposite" over every decision the Tories (& Lib Dems) make...Hindsight is great but if they're in charge they'll be the ones who make the mistakes first.

Fri, 2012-08-31 12:27 — Kevin Irving (not verified)

It's called the "The Longest Suicide Note in History", otherwise known as the Labour Party Manifesto of 1983, which listed in great detail exactly what the Labour Party would do if they won the General Election that year. The Tories ripped it to pieces and every politician since has learned the lesson. Never, ever, ever, tell the public what you intend to do if you get into power.

Fri, 2012-08-31 12:27 — Kevin Irving (not verified)

Fri, 2012-08-31 00:06 — mamamia (not verified)

Could it be that he considers himself a thinner version of Churchill?

Thu, 2012-08-30 23:25 — Anony (not verified)

"Why has Clegg told millions not to vote for the Lib Dems?"

Because he’s going to be crossing over to the conservative party come 2015 or he’s got a job lined up in the EU and doesn’t care to campaign for votes anymore due to poor polls.

Thu, 2012-08-30 23:20 — Benjamin Rae (not verified)

Interesting article suggesting honesty on the part of Clegg. Of all things to level at Clegg honesty is not one of them. I really don't think a lot of Lib Dems understand who Clegg really is .
The article is right in saying that he really is very right wing. He just presented himself differently before the election. He is a guy born into wealth who believes in lower taxation
and the removal of the safety net for less fortunate. The business about wealth taxes is another pack of lies from him to pull the wool over the eyes of the Lib Dem rank and file.
He's obviously very comfortable in what is a radical right wing government.
I've never understood why a lot of Tories hate him so much. They just can't see what a huge favour he's done them. They should be seriously grateful.
They didn't the mandate they wanted for the extreme program being adopted. He's pulled a party that thought it was left of centre so far rightwards it's barely recognisable. No mean feat. He's also kept his party in line impressively.
Lib Dems do seem very obedient to him.
It's also revealing that he has such a disdain for a Labour party ( for being too left wing) that can't even be described as moderate social democrats. They pretty much occupy the ground the Tories did in the 90s.

Thu, 2012-08-30 22:32 — Graeme Hancocks (not verified)

"Why has Clegg told millions not to vote for the Lib Dems?"

Because the man is basically a prat.

Thu, 2012-08-30 20:44 — life is for living

clegg's right i voted lib dem (since 1992 election) hoping for a change and what did we get tory light. He has done nothing for the poor, raising the tax threshold makes no real difference to the amount of money a minimum wage earner takes home (pay less tax instead of receiving tax credits). Not to mention vat and tuition fees, i will never vote lib dem as long as clegg is there leader (still angry now),Why didn't they let the Tories run a minority government, which would have meant the lib dems could have chosen which policies to support. I think clegg will go down in history as the leader who destroyed the lib dems electoral chances (hope for a change in how this country does politics) for at least a generation

Thu, 2012-08-30 17:37 — Steven m (not verified)

If the Tories continued to be a pro EU party of Heath and Hesaltine then Clegg would have joined the Tories but he chose the right wing of the Lib Dems not the Social Democratic side.

Thu, 2012-08-30 16:59 — Feneon (not verified)

Duncan Stoot, I love your brand of self-delusion.

Thu, 2012-08-30 16:49 — Lev (not verified)

"When he declares that it's not his "job" to do so, one is tempted to reply, "actually, it is"."

Says who? The Liberal Democrats are a centrist party, not Left wing. That Labour were so far to the right gave the inaccurate picture we were a Left wing party merely because we were to the left of Labour - but that was simply because Labour moved to the right of centre.

Our best chance to salvage our parliamentary party would be to attract the millions of centrist voters who are in danger of being left behind as the respective left and right wings of Labour and the Conservatives reassert themselves.

Not that I believe the leadership of either of these parties will be willing to surrender the centre ground soon....

Fri, 2012-08-31 14:32 — postageincluded

I'd say your best chance is to follow the direction Clegg is leading you in and become a moderate right-wing party - the Tories don't seem to want to do the job, and most of you seem quite happy doing it.

Thu, 2012-08-30 22:01 — DMyers

As one of the millions of voters Clegg seems not too bothered about trying to win back (just as well, because it'd be a waste of time), the Lib Dems' biggest problem is Clegg himself. He's simgle-handedly made the party toxic. Perhaps that's what he wanted all along so that he could defect to the Tories? Either way, it's amazing how quickly he was blinded by hubris and the baubles of power. It took only a few days before he ensured that nobody in their right mind would ever vote Lib Dem, with the simple feat of joining the Tories in government. Every Lib Dem member worth their salt should be mobilising to depose him and pull out of the coalition, rather than prop up a rotten de facto Tory government.

Thu, 2012-08-30 16:20 — Duncan Stott (not verified)

"Psephologically speaking, he's almost certainly right" - exactly. Here we have a politician speaking openly and straightforwardly about the reality of the situation his party are in, and you're criticising him for doing so?

This has been his Clegg's biggest problem, bigger I'd argue than his tuition fees pledge break. He constantly does things differently to how British politicians are 'supposed' to do things.

Thu, 2012-08-30 16:13 — Rich C (not verified)

Clearly Mr Eaton is of the 'politics before facts' style.

Thu, 2012-08-30 15:59 — Sid Cumberland (not verified)

The sooner we abandon the notion that any politician's principal aim should be to accumulate enough votes to get elected, the better. Well done, Nick.