Nick Clegg Grows Up

On the news that the Liberal Democrats have lost Oldham East and Saddleworth I would like to congratulate Nick Clegg and his party for entering the big, bad political world. Over the New Year period they have shown that they can be just as ‘old politics’ as the rest of the Westminster village. That this by-election was held so close to Christmas (at the request of the Lib Dems) is evidence enough of that-any latter and Clegg would have risked the return of hundreds of student voters from their break wrecking havoc with the results. It also meant that the campaign for the by-election was hidden behind Santa Claus and so any focus of disgruntlement by voters could be mitigated by some mulled wine. Of course politicking failed to hand a victory to the Liberal’s, but with a defeat of only 12 points it may have prevented complete annihilation. Indeed Elwyn Watkins (the Liberal candidate) actually increased his share of the vote by 0.3%. Perhaps that will be enough to stop Nick Clegg’s nightmare about complete electoral oblivion. The next big test will be the regional and local elections in May: if the Lib Dems manage to remain about level or even gain a small increase in their share of the votes then I think party activists will become less nervous and the Coalition will become a little more stable as a result. If however, Liberals begin to disappear of the political map then Nick Clegg’s leadership and his party’s position within the government may be in doubt. Let us wait and see...