Nick Clegg spent an hour this morning addressing an audience, packing out the biggest possible venue at the Hay-on-Wye literary festival. He spoke about the General Election campaign, the process of forming a government as well as some of the key issues of the day, including the Iraq Inquiry and the Israeli blockade of Gaza.
Philippe Sands, who interviewed the Liberal Democrat leader reports on the event at the Guardian Comment is Free website here. His assessment of the mood of the meeting chimes with mine:
Some involved with the festival were concerned that he would face a hostile audience, but the reception started warmly and grew warmer. Concerned that I would be accused of letting him off too lightly and warned by Simon Jenkins to cut off his flow, one of my numerous interruptions eventually generated cries of “Let him finish! Let him finish!”.
He charmed the audience, he came across as smart and passionate but not “a man of the left” (“I’m a liberal”). He easily won them over. He has grown immeasurably as a politician since I first met him three years ago, when he used to complain that he couldn’t get his message across. He seems entirely comfortable in his new job, even if he didn’t want to own up to enjoying the first month.
On the substance of the interview Sands got a useful concession from the Deputy Prime Minister, which chimes perfectly with the new openness that the coalition is trying to bring to Government:
On the Chilcot inquiry on the Iraq war, there was a major development: a clear commitment to make sure that the inquiry is able to publish a great number of documents: the current protocol on a presumption of confidentiality and secrecy will be changed to a presumption of publication, but most likely to coincide with the inquiry’s report, whenever that may be.
He concludes: It was a polished display, and judged by audience some audience members I spoke to one that was perceived as frank and honest. “It wasn’t dull and it wasn’t a performance,” a leading light from the world of theatre said to me. “That’s what I liked about it.”
Related posts:
One Response
Stay in touch with the conversation, subscribe to the RSS feed for comments on this post.
Continuing the Discussion