a hung parliament with the LibDems playing a critical role.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/21/nick-clegg-cleggmania-swe_n_546192.html<snip>
A week ago, most people in Britain considered Nick Clegg, the "little-known leader" of the Liberal Democrats, to be, by all measures, a long shot to become Britain's next prime minister. But that was before "Cleggmania" swept the country.
The origins of Cleggmania can be traced to last week's televised debate -- a first in Great Britain -- in which Clegg was widely considered to have stolen the show from the leaders of Britain's two largest political parties: current Prime Minister Gordon Brown of the Labour Party, and Conservative Party leader David Cameron. The headline the next day in the London Times read "Clegg comes of age." A poll taken after the debate led the Guardian to declare that "Clegg is now in contention as potential PM."
To top it off, the latest YouGov poll shows the Liberal Democrats to now be in the lead with 34 percent of the vote. The Conservative Party came in second with 31 percent. A week ago the Liberal Dems were hovering around 16 percent. Andrew Sullivan of the Daily Dish referred to the poll result as "the earthquake in Britain." John Curtice of the Independent has called the Liberal Dems' surge "the biggest shock to the electoral landscape in years."
Whether or not Clegg is the transformational figure such lofty comparisons suggest, his "extraordinary surge" continues to build, and according to at least one reporter, he is "growing in confidence". His approval rating is an "unprecedented" 72 percent. Yesterday, the Guardian asked whether Clegg's success was a result of him "exciting parts of the electorate never reached before." At the very least, another article in the paper noted, the fact that the Daily Mail is going after Clegg is a sign that he "must be doing something right."
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He's scaring the hell out of the establishment. :rofl: