Nick Clegg Hits Back

April 24, 2011 By Malcolm Blair-Robinson

It is impossible to have a referendum without a campaign, as the Coalition has discovered. The NO campaign has made Nick Clegg the reason for voting NO. An emboldened Cameron claimed he was happy with ‘help my friend’ internships after his deputy said they were unfair. The NO leaflet which came through my door gave over the whole back page to rubbishing the Deputy PM. This may not have been wise. As predicted in an earlier post, Nick Clegg is becoming a big hitter, a bruiser even. So today he talks of a right wing clique wanting to keep things in a way which they can control. He is, of course, correct, with the proviso that there are many left wingers opposed to any sort of change about anything progressive.

I suspect the YES campaign may now get into its stride and the NO campaign, with its very simple message, may have shot its bolt. We shall see. This is not an easy contest to call. Easier are the local elections. Both the Conservatives and Lib Dems are heading for losses. Whatever the outcome of the referendum, the message from the voters to the coalition parties will be stop bickering, hang in together, or go under.