Nick Clegg – genuinely, what is the point?

Some writing is so good that it’s hard to imagine how you could improve it in any way. Here’s one example:

Nick Clegg seems to be a Muppet of a man. His press conference on House of Lords reform would actually have been more credible if it had featured Kermit and the gang.

Having managed to craft an appalling Bill, with 15 year terms for Senators and a set-up which promised to unbalance the constitution by creating a genuine rivalry between the Commons and the second chamber, Clegg needed to climbdown gracefully whilst exhibiting some statesmanlike panache. He didn’t even manage that.

Instead, he did what Clegg usually does when events have taken a path not entirely to his liking. He put on that pious face with a pained expression, which suggests that it is the great Clegg’s unique misfortune to live amongst so many vulgar idiots who do not grasp the brilliance of his vision for turning Britain into a lesser Belgium. And then he blames everyone else.

It was the Tories wot done it. How dare Tory MPs rally to defend the constitution? Do these people think they’re in the Tory party?

It was Labour wot done it. How dare the Opposition (good heavens, I can hardly say it) “play politics” by trying to make life difficult for Mr Clegg and the government?

And then the ultimate Clegg insult. His opponents have been playing “student politics”. Brilliant. A lecture on conduct from the man who put his name to an election campaign advert (“say goodbye to broken promises“) so pompous and self-regarding that it redefined the genre.

Thanks to Iain Martin of the Telegraph

Give him up for adoption