Any residual drop of respect I had for Nick Clegg’s political acumen disappeared today. As Toby Young says, he is governing by hissy fit. He’s always had a petulent side to his nature and I suppose we should have grown used to it by now. “Won’t give me Lords Reform, then I won’t let you redraw the electoral boundaries.” There are plenty of other examples. He’s the Violent Elizabeth Bott of this government. “Shan’t & Won’t” should be his motto.
The latest manifestation of his truculence came today at the expense of the Children’s Minister, Liz Truss. Clegg has apparently written to her telling her he is vetoing her childcare reforms. Coincidentally it comes on the same day that Michael Fallon, the Energy Minister, announces that local communities will be given the right to veto local windfarms – something the LibDems hate. Well they would, wouldn’t they? I mean, they wouldn’t want people to be able to decide on anything, would they? The Davey in Whitehall always knows best,
Anyway, back to the Trussette, as she is known among Tory MPs. She’s been hung out to dry by Nick Clegg, and David Cameron hasn’t lifted a finger to give her a figleaf of cover. If I were her, I’d be feeling pretty bruised today. Labour, of course, have missed a trick. What they should have done today is put down an Urgent Question to flush out the government, and Liz Truss would have had to be hauled to the Commons to explain what was going on. But how could she? [Correction: Labour apparently did apply for an UQ but it wasn’t granted].
I’d say Liz Truss should probably consider her position. I say that not because I think she has failed, but the whole principle of coalition collective responsibility has been thrown out of the window. I’m told Clegg made his comments without even informing Number 10 and the PM he was going to do so. He clearly thought he could score political points by doing so, and no doubt he’s got various childcare vested interested worshiping at his feet. But he has gone a long way to destroying any remaining sense of coalition cameraderie that existed among junior ministers and Tory backbenchers. It’s something he may live to regret in the medium term. If Liz Truss resigned, citing Clegg’s totally unreasonable behaviour as the reason, she’s become a heroine to most Tories overnight. It probably wouldn’t go down so well in Number 10, but in some senses that doesn’t matter much nowadays. What’s the worst they could do to her?
