Go ahead, belittle Nick Clegg – but he is not nearly as weak as he looks

September 1, 2011 6:53 PM

clegg • [Aug 22] Paul Goodman writes: YESTERDAY, Nick Clegg returned to Tottenham . . One can forgive him for not making a return trip to Birmingham . . he left to cries of "go on, run, run, run", as he steered a prudent return towards the safety of his ministerial car.

This humiliating scene might almost have been framed to capture the caricature of the Deputy Prime Minister as the seven-stone weakling of British politics . . None the less, first appearances can be deceptive. As Vince Cable presses for a land tax, his party for a binge-drinking tax and even David Willetts makes the case for retaining the 50p rate - a sign that Liberal Democrat beliefs are on the march - it is a timely moment to reassess the position of the man who is, after all, Deputy Prime Minister, and the most senior elected Liberal since Lloyd George.

This achievement marks the best place to start. Clegg has manoeuvred his party back to office after an exile lasting the best part of a century, and himself to the second most senior Cabinet position. These facts alone ought to give pause to those who dismiss him with scorn. You don't make it to near the very top of British politics - as either a member of a third party or a man who has, to date, served only a single full Commons term - without being a very cool operator indeed

. . what may matter more than what the party gained - tax cuts for the lower paid, Lords reform, the AV referendum - is what it blocked, then and since: the repeal of the Human Rights Act, an end to the 50p rate, clear agreement on immigration control, Andrew Lansley's original health reforms. Clegg's role has been crucial.

. . His party has not split. He has faced no leadership challenge. None of the party's MPs has called for him to go. His last party conference rallied round - as will the coming one, despite the inevitable huffing and puffing. His one-man masochism strategy is also a marathon strategy, as he strains towards the day when voters will thank him, however begrudgingly, for his role in the great mission of deficit reduction. If they don't, there's always the EU . .

• Go ahead, belittle Nick Clegg - but he is not nearly as weak as he looks [Daily Telegraph Au 22]

• Stroppy Tories seem to have forgotten they didn't actually win [Andrew Rawnsley, The Observer, Sep 11]

• Nadine Dorries doesn't like the Lib Dem influence on government policy. Diddums. [The Rambles of Neil Monnery Sep 11]

• The Lib Dems are driving the Coalition off course [Telegraph View Sep 05]

• Tory MP: 'We need blue nose-pegs' [Channel 4 News Blog Sep 05]