March 24, 2010. Copyright 2010, Graphic News. All rights reserved

Nick Clegg: the man in the middle
By Joanna Griffin

LONDON, March 24, Graphic News:  Given the disillusionment with Labour and the Conservatives, many have questioned why more voters don’t just give the Liberal Democrats a whirl. It’s a question their leader, Nick Clegg, must be pondering as he continues to insist that his party can still lead government while everyone else wants to pin him down on what he will do in the event of a hung parliament.
 
So far Clegg has talked down suggestions that he’ll play kingmaker if either party fails to secure an outright majority. But even left-leaning Liberals have to face facts that a Liberal-Conservative alliance could be on the cards. A few people said: “I told you so”, when Clegg recently praised Margaret Thatcher for her handling of the unions, but in reality the Lib Dem leader’s principles span the entire political spectrum.
 
A former MEP who speaks five languages and is married to high-flying Spanish lawyer Miriam Gonzalez Durantez, Clegg is the most Eurocentric of the three parties’ leaders. However, he sees eye to eye with the Tories on their plans to cut the budget deficit, as well as on civil liberties. He has described himself as a liberal by instinct, and is unlikely to surrender the cherished Lib Dem cause of electoral reform.
 
Fate could hand Clegg real power much sooner than he might have anticipated, but he has always been a high flyer. Born in Buckinghamshire in 1967, he was educated at Westminster and Cambridge and worked as a journalist in the U.S. before serving as an MEP from 1999-2004. While in Brussels, he co-founded the Campaign for Parliamentary Reform. After returning to Britain, he won his seat at Sheffield Hallam with more than half the vote.
 
With the backing of party big guns including Paddy Ashdown, he scaled its ranks and won the leadership in 2007. His smooth handling of the media and boyish looks led to claims he had been brought in as a Lib Dem version of David Cameron, something he furiously denied. He has repeatedly scored higher in polls on politicians’ “honesty”, but his own integrity could be questioned if he keeps dodging the big decision.
/ENDS