Anti-Brexit Clegg cashes in on failure

Having sulked on the backbenches since the last general election, a humiliated nick Clegg returns to the political frontline today.

Despite leading the Lib Dems to one of their worst polling results — with a risible total of just eight MPs, down from 57 — and being on the losing side in the EU referendum, Clegg naively thinks that he can help build a national unity coalition.

Today, as his party’s Brexit spokesman, he is due to outline his views in a speech at the Lib Dem conference in Brighton.

However, it’s not as if his time out of the limelight has left him impoverished.

in addition to his £74,962 salary as an MP, he receives up to £115,000 expenses each year to cover his ‘public duties’ as a former Deputy Prime Minister.

But what are those public duties? Since the last election, Clegg has spoken only ten times in the Commons and taken part in 28 per cent of votes (which is one of the worst records of any MP).

Outside politics, though, he’s pocketed £130,000 in speaking fees, including £30,000 for a round-table discussion in geneva. He’s also been paid a £41,000 advance for his book, Politics: Between The Extremes.

no previous Lib Dem leader has cashed in so successfully — nor so undeservedly — on his 15 minutes of fame.