Not my best ever article, but I’ve written about Clegg’s first 50 days over at Comment is Free. I’m delighted to see my Tory baiting has caused a reaction:
All the signs are there to indicate that David Cameron is likely to have a poor 2008. Gordon Brown’s remarkable meltdown has not brought Cameron the sort of poll ratings that even Neil Kinnock could take for granted in the early 1990s. The success of last October is now a distant memory. Labour and the Tory headbangers have out-maneuvered him and forced him to bore for Britain on the Lisbon treaty; an issue which steadfastly refuses to fly for him. It is becoming increasingly evident that George Osborne – Cameron’s closest ally – is woefully out of his depth in the job of Shadow Chancellor at a time when the economy is a bigger issue than ever. And fundamentally, his own parliamentary party simply defy him every time he tries championing a progressive issue, something which he does less and less often these days.
I thought it was pretty decent article, no matter what the response might be from those who assume that not having a referendum on the EU treaty is equivocal to having queen spanked by Sarkozy, the truth is Nick has been active, obviously has a solid idea of where he wants to take the party and is probably our most likeable and media friendly MP. Lets hope he keeps talking loudly about the real issues and gets noticed eh.
One of the commenters nails it on the point about the EU referendum, though: like it or not, whether the party’s position is correct (and I, and many Lib Dems are desperately unhappy about it), it was a cast iron opportunity for Clegg to show honesty and trustworthiness that the other politicians were attempting to weasel out of, and he (and by extension we) didn’t.
Whether or not (this treaty) or (this treaty + all previous treaties) = EU, we promised a referendum on this document, and now we appear to be going back on that promise.
I don’t see why the PP can’t campaign for both a referendum on this document and then for a hokey-kokey referendum afterwards except that they are scared that they would lose, because the public rightly see the EU as a tremendous waste of their tax money.
(just ticking the box to get emails)
Fundamentally, I agree with you. I’m just tired of the Tories claiming the moral highground here when they don’t have a leg to stand on. We might have broken a manifesto commitment, but at least our position has a degree of coherence and consistency. The Tory line – a referendum on this treaty but not that one and a portrayal of the Lisbon Treaty as if it is the single biggest EU reform since Rome when it palpably isn’t – is far more dishonest.
Two wrongs don’t make a right and all that, but still…