Clegg moves to kill rumours of post-election deal with Tories
As expectations about a hung parliament grew, the Liberal Democrats' final conference before the General Election expected on May 6 was dominated by speculation about a coalition government.
Delegates in Birmingham have made clear, however, their strong animosity towards the Tories.
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Hide AdLiberal Democrat MPs warned privately that a majority of the Parliamentary party would not support Mr Clegg if he entered a formal coalition with the Tories.
Aides to the leader indicated he would not attempt to do anything that did not carry the party.
In his keynote speech at the close of the three-day gathering this afternoon, Mr Clegg pulled back from any impression that he was courting either the Tories or Labour.
"I am not the kingmaker," he insisted. "The 45 million voters of Britain are the kingmakers.
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Hide Ad"They give politicians their marching orders, not the other way round."
Insisting that the Liberal Democrats were not a "wasted" vote, he suggested that the party was in fact a small step from emerging as the dominant force in the House of Commons.
"Almost one in four voters chose the Liberal Democrats at the last election. If that increased to one in three, we could lead the next government," he insisted.
"This election is a time for voters to choose, not a time for politicians to play footsie with each other.
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Hide Ad"The party which gets the strongest mandate from the voters will have the moral authority to be the first to seek to govern."
He pointed to the fact that 32 per cent of people did not vote for Labour or the Tories at the last general election as evidence that the two-party system was giving way.
However, two new polls yesterday morning showed that Mr Clegg was well short of winning a third of the popular vote.
According to ICM they were on 21 per cent, and according to YouGov just 17 per cent.
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Hide AdThe polls also indicated that the Tories' lead over Labour – at, respectively, four points and seven points – was not enough to guarantee Tory leader David Cameron a clear Commons majority.
But MPs from the "progressive" wing of the Liberal Democrats claim privately that there would be very little support for a formal coalition with the Tories.
Any deal at all – for example an informal arrangement on an issue by issue basis – would have to ensure that party independence was not put at risk.
Leading Liberal Democrat supporter Claire Rayner warned Mr Clegg yesterday against cosying up to the Tories.
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Hide AdMrs Rayner, a member of the party's powerful federal policy committee, told the Mail on Sunday she felt "queasy" about the leader's apparent praise for Baroness Thatcher in recent interviews.
She added: "If you start hinting now that you're ready to sign up to a cosy deal with the Tories, you might as well shut up shop and be another Conservative Party and be done with it."
Mr Clegg was also pulled up by a delegate on the conference floor yesterday about what she felt was his warmth towards Thatcherism.
He insisted he had opposed "pretty well" everything Lady Thatcher had done as Prime Minister.
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Hide AdAmid questions yesterday about the prospect of internal party wrangling about how they would move forward in the event of a hung parliament, Mr Clegg's spokeswoman said no leader "worth their salt" would attempt to do something the party would not support.
Mr Clegg also stepped up his criticism of the Tories after making plain yesterday he would not support their plans for immediate cuts which would put the recovery at risk.
That opens the prospect of a minority Tory administration being incapable of even getting through its first emergency budget, which the party has promised to hold within 50 days of forming a government.
In his speech yesterday, he accused the Tories of leading a "protection racket" as they try to frighten voters into electing a Conservative government.
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Hide AdTheir warnings about the threat to the markets of a hung parliament demonstrated their desperation that victory at
the General Election was slipping from their grasp, he insisted.
Mr Clegg's Spanish lawyer wife, Miriam Gonzalez Durantez, sat in the front row and was met by him with a kiss as he came down from the stage to the conference floor.
'PACT WITH CAMERON WOULD DESTROY YOU'
A Cabinet Minister warned the Liberal Democrats yesterday that support for a Tory government would destroy their party.
Transport Secretary
Lord Adonis, a former
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Hide AdLiberal Democrat who defected to Labour, said Mr Clegg's party must make clear to voters where they stand.
Lord Adonis insisted he still believed Labour would secure a majority in the forthcoming election.
But he told BBC1's Andrew Marr Show he "cannot conceive" of a situation where the Liberal Democrats would work with the Tories in the event of a hung parliament.