I can’t join in all the Nick Clegg knocking

IN 2010 there was nothing left in the nation’s coffers. Who can forget the note left by the outgoing Labour minister saying simply and truthfully “I’m afraid there is no money”? That year’s general election left David Cameron with the largest number of seats but no working majority and he had a stark choice: run a minority administration for six months and then give the country another election or form a coalition.

In a time of economic stability he might have been wise to choose the first but the markets were in no shape to stand a prolonged period of uncertainty.

Nick Clegg also had a choice: stay in opposition or give his party its first taste of power since the coalition government during the Second World War. If he chose the first he could do nothing but if he chose the second his party could have at least some influence.

Both men opted for a coalition and I believe in the circumstances they were right to do so in the best interests of the country. It is however not possible to have coalition without compromise and Clegg was never going to be able to persuade Cameron to embark on the hugely costly policy of abolishing tuition fees. But he did win the battle to hold a referendum on an alternative voting system which could have boosted his party’s numbers in any subsequent parliament.

It is therefore just a trifle unfair to complain that a man who served as deputy prime minister for five years, thus creating a stable base for government to operate effectively, should not have received a knighthood. He knew well enough from the polls that his party was suffering because of the tuition fees issue but still kept going.

Credit where credit is due.