LEMBIT OPIK: It's nothing personal Nick, but you've got to resign now or you will destroy the Lib Dems

The former Lib Dem MP turned reality TV star argues Nick Clegg¿s record as leader is a 'damning record of underperformance'.

As the party holds its annual conference in Glasgow, one might be forgiven for expecting genuine debate and argument with the leadership.



It’s even possible the top brass WILL get a bloody nose on a policy such as the 50p top rate of tax.



However, let’s be under no illusions: the arguments on conference floor are to an extent synthetic, a sinecure to show the delegates have some power. The reality is very different.

Whatever occurs before the cameras and at the podium does not reflect the true sense of disillusionment amongst members and activists alike.



Aside from the fact that many of the most disaffected haven’t bothered to turn up, or even to renew their membership, there is little opportunity for these alternative voices to be heard.



Conference has become such a choreographed event that there is a tangible oppression of those who dare to speak up against the leadership.



Witness the negative back chat which has already begun against Clegg’s once close ally, the ‘high maintenance,’ ‘unreliable’ Sarah Teather, who’s crime has been to criticize policy and, by inference, the leader himself.

I’ve got nothing against Nick Clegg personally. It’s purely business. And the truth is, if the Liberal Democrats were a business, he’d have been fired a long ago.



No ‘Chief Executive Officer’ could survive such terrible performance indicators: a catastrophic decline in membership, a virtual halving of local Councillors, a dreadful deposit-losing London mayoral result and the worst poll ratings in over two decades.



And let’s be under no illusions about the 2010 General Election result either: Clegg presided over the second largest numerical decline in Lib Dem MPs since 1945.

Some point to the fact Lib Dems are in government as testimony to Clegg’s leadership capabilities. This, again, is a misconception.



After the inconclusive result of the 2010 General Election, there were only two mathematically feasible outcomes: a Tory/Lib Dem coalition - or another election.



Labour had too few MPs to form a coalition with the Lib Dems, and a multi-party partnership just wasn’t credible, because it would have been far too unstable.



Moreover, Labour grandees such as David Blunkett scuppered any chance of a Labour administration by stating publicly that they needed time to regroup in Opposition.

'The truth is, if the Liberal Democrats were a business, he’d have been fired a long ago'



The idea of another election didn’t sit comfortably with either the Tories or the Lib Dems. Cameron had not delivered an overall majority for his party, and there was a risk of an even worse result if the country went to the polls again.



Meanwhile, rejecting a coalition would have been electoral suicide for the Lib Dems: they’d have been accused of walking away from their best chance of power in 100 years.



The party knew a re-run would have reduced the election to a two party debate, with the Lib Dems written out of the script. So Lib Dems had to do a deal with the Tories or face implosion at the polls.

Having entered government, the party had everything to play for. Sadly, Clegg’s performance is a damning record of underperformance. Lib Dems are fed a remorseless e-mail diet of ‘evidence’ showing how much the Lib Dems have achieved in government.



What the public see is a diet of U-turns, apologies and political drift, presided over by a man who does not appear to appreciate the public rage against this catalogue of broken promises.

The starkest and most inescapable example of this is, of course, the volte face on tuition fees.

Looking for support: Nick Clegg's leadership has seen a ' a catastrophic decline in membership', Lembit Opik warns

However much Clegg may seek to bury that particular faux pas, there’s no avoiding the fact that a clear pledge made by Lib Dem MPs and candidates in May 2010 was abandoned just months later. Faced with the opportunity to put things right, Clegg didn’t apologise for betraying the pledge.



No, he said sorry for making the pledge in the first place. He may hope the tuition fees debacle isn’t a factor in future elections, but it is.

Opponents can say: ‘Clegg can promise anything he likes, but it doesn’t mean a thing because he’ll just break his pledge.’

This isn’t the only example of policy failure. Clegg’s initial comfort with Andrew Lansley’s ill-conceived NHS reform was slapped down by the membership who saw the weakness of the proposals. And then there’s the confused and un-coordinated approach towards foreign policy.



A tenet of liberalism is a resistance to engage in war. Yet, Clegg was happy to march into the voting lobbies to support military confrontation in Syria, despite evidence that such initiatives end in folly.



By contrast, former Leader Charles Kennedy defined his leadership by a courageous stand against the Iraq war when under enormous personal and political pressure to cave in.

Pressure: The Lib Dem leader has brushed off calls to resign

There’s another aspect to Clegg’s leadership which, though less widely reported, sums up his apparent abandonment of traditional liberal values.



This is his support for ‘Muscular Liberalism –‘ a betrayal of liberal values at the deepest level. The policy was originally announced by Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron in a speech in Munich in early 2011.



The key element was to deny non-violent extremists a platform to speak in universities. A month later in Luton, Clegg repeated the policy, presumably because it had the word ‘Liberal’ in it.



By backing the policy, he committed the Lib Dems to supporting a ‘no-platform’ policy, despite party conference policy explicitly rejecting it.



The irony of a liberal leader speaking up to suppress free speech seemed lost on Mr Clegg.

The Coaltion suits the Conservatives well. With such weakness at the top of the Lib Dems, the Tories have had a fairly clear run at government. Sure, a few changes have occurred which must be credited to the Lib Dems, such as the increase in the minimum tax threshold.



But the flavour is very much Tory, and Clegg has consistently failed to present a credible counterweight to the mood music of conservatism.

What should happen next? I invite Clegg to announce his resignation as Leader, while continuing as Deputy Prime Minister.



This split is not radical: Liberal Prime Minister David Lloyd George did precisely this, realising that doing both full time jobs is impossible.



This will enable another senior party member – probably Vince Cable – to lead the party into the next General Election.



Serious long term contenders for the leader’s role will wait for the outcome of that election before throwing their hats in the ring.

Should Clegg refuse to take this course and insist on serving his personal interest rather than the collective good of the Lib Dems, he’s unlikely to make it past June 2014.



I predict further reversals for the Lib Dems in the May 2014 local elections, followed by a catastrophic result in the European elections.



Lib Dems will come fourth, or fifth, giving the impression that Clegg has effectively kicked away the very ‘Euro ladder’ he himself climbed as his means of ascent. At this point, concerns of MPs facing defeat will no longer be contained.

'Clegg’s legacy will then be nothing less than the destruction of decades of effort by me and other activists'

We’ve already seen cracks in the once all-powerful ‘Orange Book’ group which Clegg and others used to gain control of the party. Former close ally of Clegg, Sarah Teather MP, is likely to continue to criticize Clegg and his policy approach.



Other detractors have also spoken up, not least Lord Oakeshott, who has outlined his own dim view of the Leader’s performance.

Clegg was one of those to depose Charles Kennedy, despite Charles’ status as one of the country’s most popular leaders.



It is said that he who lives by the sword dies by the sword. While left leaning libertarians such as me have been ruthlessly sidelined, politics is tidal.



Even amongst the dwindling membership, the voices of dissent are beginning to find the courage to speak out, despite compromising their chances of favour from a leadership demonstrably prone to patronage.

Clegg has already done irreparable damage to Lib Dem prospects in the next General Election – making his stated goal of doubling the number of MPs a risible joke.



Should he, by some twist of fate, not return to a European job in 2014 and cling to the leadership till the country once again goes to the polls, the party will be lucky to retain half its seats, his resignation then treated with bitterness.



Clegg’s legacy will then be nothing less than the destruction of decades of effort by me and other activists, only to have seen our investment evaporate in five short years.

Former Liberal Democrat MP Lembit Öpik is author of The Alternative View, Queensferry Press



