Liberal Democrats vow to fight rightwing policies of 'ruthless' Tories

[Turborama]

Source: The Guardian

Nick Clegg signals combative approach to coalition describing PM's party as political enemies who must be taken on

Toby Helm and Daniel Boffey | Saturday September 17 2011 21.30 BST

Nick Clegg's Liberal Democrats have vowed to face down "ruthless" and "extreme" forces in the Tory party to protect the British people from right-wing policies that would widen inequality and benefit the rich.

At a rally on Saturday night to open his party's annual conference in Birmingham, Clegg underlined the Lib Dems' newly combative approach to the coalition, describing David Cameron's party as "political enemies" who must be taken on when necessary in the national interest. After a traumatic year during which the Lib Dems' popularity has plummeted and their leader has been accused of abandoning his party's principles, Clegg struck a markedly more assertive note.

While trumpeting his party's successes so far in influencing health and tax policies, he said it was more prepared than ever to "fight tooth and nail" for what was right. "We are prepared to be awkward," he said. "We are not here to make things easy. We're here to put things right."

In an interview with the Observer, his deputy Simon Hughes goes further, telling the Conservatives they have no mandate to drive through a rightwing agenda. Hughes says the Tories have shown themselves to be "ruthless" operators in the first 16 months of the coalition over the referendum on electoral reform and boundary changes and says the resurgent right of the party is "extreme" on issues such as Europe and tax.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/sep/17/liberal-democrats-tory-righwing-policies

---

Valuable comments at the bottom of the above article, and this one: http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/sep/17/simon-hughes-liberal-democrats-interview

[Pab Sungenis]

1. Too late Nick.

You put Cameron in power. Now you have to live with him.

[JCMach1]

6. +1

That ship done sailed... you got to dance with those that brung ya...

[BenzoDia]

2. "I agree with Nick!"

[Vincardog]

3. They better watch out or they will be told that if they don't get in line the real crazy party will

win.

[saras]

4. They don't have a stupid two-party system. You can't threaten them with this.

[pennylane100]

10. Wrong,

The tories and lib dems are in a coalition government. The whole government will fall if the lib dems withdraw their support.

I am glad the Clegg is standing up and doing the right thing. I hope he stands firm or else the liberal democrats are finished as a party.

[rpannier]

5. Give it 6 months and he'll be assuring us it's necessary to go along with the Tory program

He is a power-hungry sell-out

[The Magistrate]

7. This Is Piffle, Sir: They Could Break the Tory Government In An Afternoon....

And if they meant any of this, they would do so.

[harmonicon]

8. Exactly.

I'm guessing that Clegg is out in the next election for libdem leadership.

[ikri]

9. They're stuck

They have to go along with what the Tories want to do, injecting their own plans where they can, and hope that the economy picks up so well that everyone forgets how the Lib Dems sold out at the last election.

Lib Dem poll numbers appear to have flat lined at about 10-12% (depending on the poll) which will see them lose 75% of their Westminster seats. Their future is now utterly dependant on what the Tories do between now and the next election. If the economy picks up and they can say See, we were right after all they may not lose too many seats, if things go badly though, they face extinction - their MPs will see which way the winds are blowing before the next election, I wouldn't be surprised to see a few jump ship to join the Conservatives or Labour to keep their seats.