Clegg – the man who betrayed us all

[n2doc]

Johann Hari-

Two months before the general election, Nick Clegg warned there would be "riots" on the streets if the Conservatives introduced extreme cuts. Now they have begun – and Clegg himself is the chief cutter.

There was a whiplash moment this Wednesday. Inside the House of Commons, a pale-faced and barely coherent Clegg was championing the trebling of tuition fees at Prime Minister’s Question Time, despite the fact he promised before the election to “implacably oppose” this move because it would be “a disaster”. Then, in a low rumble, the chants of the 50,000 betrayed students massed outside began to echo into the chamber. He began to stumble: “We have stuck to our ambition? our wider ambition?” (Laughter, jeers). “Our policy is more progressive?” (Hoots from all sides, including his own.) “The truth is before the election we didn’t know...” The chants got louder, and the excuses got more contorted.

Clegg is one of the great mysteries of British politics. Before the election, he told us “there isn't a serious economist in the world who agrees with the Conservatives... we should pull the rug out from under the economy with immediate spending cuts.” Now he is one of the leading champions of doing exactly that. In just a few days after the election, he cleared a space in his swanky new ministerial offices and staged a bonfire of his principles.

Whatever you think of these policies, how can anybody defend gathering the votes of millions of people on a clear mandate of opposing these Tory proposals, and then – as soon as the door of his ministerial limo swings open – championing each one of them? Remember: David Cameron got 36 percent of the vote in Britain, and even that was on a promise that “we’re not talking about swingeing cuts.” Some 60 percent of us voted for parties to his left. We could see the Britain he wanted to build – just this week, Great Ormond Street Hospital discovered it is facing a 20 percent cut in its budget – and we rejected it decisively. You can agree or disagree with the swinging of this scythe, but nobody can claim it is democratic.

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http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/johann-hari/johann-hari-clegg-ndash-the-man-who-betrayed-us-all-2131652.html

[defendandprotect]

1. K&R --

[laughingliberal]

2. Something of a familiar ring to that story. nt

[sabrina 1]

3. Sounds familiar ~ this must have been a global thing! n/t

[TBF]

8. Probably fixin' to do more at the G-20 in Korea -

I'm thinking this is where they get together and discuss such plans.

[xchrom]

4. Recommend

[LeftishBrit]

5. Ugh. What a disappointment.

[malaise]

6. Good read

The fastest sell out in history - what an opportunist.

[LeftishBrit]

7. 'fastest sell out in history'

I think Blair still wins that race by a nose!

[malaise]

9. True but that third way was the forerunner to

this madness and it was very bad for workers.

[Turborama]

10. K&R V. interesting read. 60% of Brits voted for parties to the left of the CONservatives

And now they have a government carrying out actions that even the most hardcore of Teahadists would be proud of.

British politics is fucked. Seriously. Fucked.

Thanks for posting.

:kick:

[MrScorpio]

11. Apparently, Clegg has seen the face of God...

And he is now atoning.

[sabrina 1]

12. Or he received a visit from the real rulers of the world and

he began to see the light!

[MrScorpio]

13. I wonder if Ned Beatty was involved? nt