He's at it again! Every time Nick Clegg opens his mouth, some fool speaks. His latest pearls of wisdom were provoked by a comment by Jeremy Paxman, the presenter of Newsnight, who admitted in a recent programme that he had not voted at a recent election because he had found the selection of parties available "unappetising."
Cleggie promptly weighed in during his weekly LBC radio show, criticising Paxman's "sneering" attitude to politics and accusing him of treating politicians as "rogues and charlatans".
In reality, Paxman is speaking for a substantial proportion of the population. In local government elections, it's not uncommon for 70% of the registered electors not to vote, presumably because they do not find any of the candidates "appetising". In General Elections, turnout has also fallen. In 1951, it stood at over 80%. 50 years later, it fell below 60%. Even though it did recover to 65.1% in 2010, this still equates to just over 1 in 3 of those eligible to vote deciding there was no one worth voting for, in spite of there being more political parties on offer.
Does Paxo believe that politicians are "rogues and charlatans"? I don't know, but figures from an Ipsos Mori opinion poll http://www.ipsos-mori.com/researchpublications/researcharchive/3184/Trust-in-MPs-poll.aspx suggest that if he does, he is not alone. According to the poll, Just one in twelve (8%) believe MPs put the interests of their own constituents first, and 6% say their country comes first for MPs. It is four years ago since the MPs' expenses scandal broke, and have things changed for the better? Only this week, Mark Pritchard, who I had previously regarded as one of the better Tory MPs, found himself in hot water over allegations of wrongdoing. Meanwhile. another Tory MP, Brian Binley, actually admitted at a drinks party in Malta, that politicians are "totally corrupt".
In the face of such evidence, Paxo has grounds for cynicism. Now perhaps Cleggie should be exempt as he is such an angel? Well, he may not be totally corrupt, but he is either terribly stupid, deceitful or desperately ill-informed. He has been one of the most regular recyclers of the myth that 3 million jobs depend on our membership of the EU. Had he studied UK employment statistics, he would have discovered that employment actually FELL in the decade following our joining the EEC in 1973. He could have also taken the trouble to trace the "three million jobs" myth back to its source - a report produced by Dr. Martin Weale in 2000 for the National Institute for Economic and Social Research. However, the report actually said:-
Detailed estimates from input-output tables suggest that up to 3.2 million UK jobs are now associated directly with exports of goods and services to other EU countries. This has given rise to popular concern that some of these jobs might be at risk if Britain were to leave the Union. Opponents of membership on the other hand argue that many of the benefits flowing from the increasingly integrated European Economic Area might still be available even if the UK were to withdraw, particularly since the Uruguay Round Agreement has imposed significant limits on the trade barriers that the EU can place on non-members. In conjunction with the potential gains from withdrawing from the Common Agricultural Policy and no longer paying net fiscal contributions to the EU, there is a case that withdrawal from the EU might actually offer net economic benefits.
The report did not say that these jobs would be lost if we left the EU. Far from it. It suggested that withdrawal may actually be beneficial. Unsurprisingly, Dr. Weale was furious at this distortion of the findings of his research, describing it as “pure Goebbels.".
So there you are - utterances of the Deputy Prime Minister of this country are put on the same level as Hitler's minister of propaganda. For hsi own good, Cleggie really should keep his big mouth shut. Alternatively, if he genuinely wants to improve the quality of British political life, I suggest he should resign his seat and go and live in a cave in the Gobi Desert.
Cleggie promptly weighed in during his weekly LBC radio show, criticising Paxman's "sneering" attitude to politics and accusing him of treating politicians as "rogues and charlatans".
In reality, Paxman is speaking for a substantial proportion of the population. In local government elections, it's not uncommon for 70% of the registered electors not to vote, presumably because they do not find any of the candidates "appetising". In General Elections, turnout has also fallen. In 1951, it stood at over 80%. 50 years later, it fell below 60%. Even though it did recover to 65.1% in 2010, this still equates to just over 1 in 3 of those eligible to vote deciding there was no one worth voting for, in spite of there being more political parties on offer.
Does Paxo believe that politicians are "rogues and charlatans"? I don't know, but figures from an Ipsos Mori opinion poll http://www.ipsos-mori.com/researchpublications/researcharchive/3184/Trust-in-MPs-poll.aspx suggest that if he does, he is not alone. According to the poll, Just one in twelve (8%) believe MPs put the interests of their own constituents first, and 6% say their country comes first for MPs. It is four years ago since the MPs' expenses scandal broke, and have things changed for the better? Only this week, Mark Pritchard, who I had previously regarded as one of the better Tory MPs, found himself in hot water over allegations of wrongdoing. Meanwhile. another Tory MP, Brian Binley, actually admitted at a drinks party in Malta, that politicians are "totally corrupt".
In the face of such evidence, Paxo has grounds for cynicism. Now perhaps Cleggie should be exempt as he is such an angel? Well, he may not be totally corrupt, but he is either terribly stupid, deceitful or desperately ill-informed. He has been one of the most regular recyclers of the myth that 3 million jobs depend on our membership of the EU. Had he studied UK employment statistics, he would have discovered that employment actually FELL in the decade following our joining the EEC in 1973. He could have also taken the trouble to trace the "three million jobs" myth back to its source - a report produced by Dr. Martin Weale in 2000 for the National Institute for Economic and Social Research. However, the report actually said:-
Detailed estimates from input-output tables suggest that up to 3.2 million UK jobs are now associated directly with exports of goods and services to other EU countries. This has given rise to popular concern that some of these jobs might be at risk if Britain were to leave the Union. Opponents of membership on the other hand argue that many of the benefits flowing from the increasingly integrated European Economic Area might still be available even if the UK were to withdraw, particularly since the Uruguay Round Agreement has imposed significant limits on the trade barriers that the EU can place on non-members. In conjunction with the potential gains from withdrawing from the Common Agricultural Policy and no longer paying net fiscal contributions to the EU, there is a case that withdrawal from the EU might actually offer net economic benefits.
The report did not say that these jobs would be lost if we left the EU. Far from it. It suggested that withdrawal may actually be beneficial. Unsurprisingly, Dr. Weale was furious at this distortion of the findings of his research, describing it as “pure Goebbels.".
So there you are - utterances of the Deputy Prime Minister of this country are put on the same level as Hitler's minister of propaganda. For hsi own good, Cleggie really should keep his big mouth shut. Alternatively, if he genuinely wants to improve the quality of British political life, I suggest he should resign his seat and go and live in a cave in the Gobi Desert.