The Lib Dem leader, Nick Clegg, has expressed his admiration for Margaret Thatcher and aligned himself with traditionally Conservative economic liberalism.
In an interview with the Spectator magazine, he said:
I’m 43 now. I was at university at the height of the Thatcher revolution and I recognise now something I did not at the time: that her victory over a vested interest, the trade unions, was immensely significant.
I don’t want to be churlish, that was an immensely important visceral battle for how Britain is governed.
Clegg compared Lib Dem policies on tax to those of the former Conservative chancellor Nigel Lawson. He also said that he would end the UK’s Budget deficit entirely through spending cuts, as opposed to the 80 per cent cuts and 20 per cent tax rises proposed by the Conservatives. “If you want the economy to grow, you must stimulate demand,” he said.
There are two ways of interpreting his comments. First, he leaves the way open to support the Tories in the event of a hung parliament. Back in January, he said of the Conservatives: “At the moment, of course, the differences are more striking than the synthetic similarities.”
While he is still apparently retaining the position of “equidistance” between the two parties established before Christmas, such pointed courting of a core Conservative perspective appears to be an attempt to halt the widespread assumption that Labour is the more natural ally of the “third party”.
Second, this could be an attempt to retain votes in constituencies where voters could swing towards the Tories. The prevailing view is that the Lib Dems are most likely to win seats from disillusioned Labour voters who cannot quite bring themselves to vote Conservative.
Such comments show that Clegg is trying to gain votes from across the political spectrum — perhaps even from old-school Tories who are unenthused about David Cameron.
The problem with trying to please everyone, of course, is that you can’t. The Guardian reports that those on the left of the Lib Dems, who make up a majority, are privately threatening rebellion or resignation if Clegg endorses a Conservative Budget.
As the party goes into its spring conference, Clegg would do well to clarify his message.
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