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Richmond upon Thames Liberal Democrats:Covering the constituencies of Twickenham and Richmond Park |
Khan interviews Clegg: “I’m not a punchbag – I have feelings”
April 9, 2011 11:49 AM
• [Apr 07] Jemima Khan writes: NICK Clegg and I smile genially at each other across the table of a standard-class train carriage. He is on his way to his constituency in Sheffield to talk about manufacturing . . Nick Clegg is the Tim Henman of politics: a decent man for whom Cleggmania represented the peak of his career, his Henman Hill moment. Then he became the Deputy Prime Minister and, shortly after, an effigy . .
I receive a snapshot of his family life when, after the interview is over, I am invited to dine with other journalists at Chevening, the grace-and-favour house in Kent that Clegg shares with William Hague. Clegg arrives two hours late - he's been in protracted discussions over Libya - and looks corpse-like with exhaustion. The contrast with his vibrant, pretty wife, with her big bawdy laugh, could not be more stark. His children seem delightful - and delightfully normal.
Clegg has been accused of selling out, of providing a yellow fig leaf for the Tories' less attractive bits. But I expect that he would see opting out of the coalition or leaving politics altogether as the biggest cop-out of all. He is not consumed by politics - he has a fulfilling life away from Westminster - but he seems to have an old-fashioned sense of duty and believes that, without him there in the cabinet, the Tories would be up to far more of their old tricks. He might well be right - but will he be so easily forgiven by the voters?
"I have a faintly romantic belief that if over five years I just keep steadily trying to do the best I can, with all the difficult dilemmas we face, with not very much money, all those kinds of things . . . we will kind of come through. I think if people see that someone is trying to do the right thing and maybe they're not entirely succeeding, they kind of will go with you. And that's all you can do." . .
• Khan interviews Clegg: "I'm not a punchbag - I have feelings" [New Statesman Apr 07]
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