Nick Clegg

Nick Clegg    (politician)
Born	Nicholas William Peter Clegg 7 January 1967 Chalfont St Giles, England
Alma mater	Robinson College, Cambridge, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, College of Europe
Children	3
Spouse	Miriam González Durántez
Member of	Banned from Russia 2015, Global Commission on Drug Policy
Party	Liberal Democrats
Member of Parliament representing Sheffield Hallam  Deputy Prime Minister of United Kingdom In office 11 May 2010 - 7 May 2015 Boss David Cameron  Leader of the Liberal Democrats In office 18 December 2007 - 16 July 2015 Preceded by Vince Cable Succeeded by Tim Farron  Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom In office 11 May 2010 - 8 May 2015 Boss David Cameron  Lord President of the Council In office 11 May 2010 - 8 May 2015 Preceded by Peter Mandelson Succeeded by Chris Grayling  Liberal Democrat Home Affairs Spokesperson In office 2 March 2006 - 18 December 2007  Member of Parliament for Sheffield Hallam In office 5 May 2005 - Present  Member of the European Parliament for East Midlands In office 10 June 1999 - 10 June 2004 Preceded by Robert Sturdy Succeeded by Gerard Batten, Derek Roland Clark, Fiona Hall, Mike Nattrass, Alyn Smith

Nick Clegg is the Member of Parliament representing Sheffield Hallam since 2005, the former Deputy Prime Minister of the UK and leader of the Liberal Democrats. He resigned on 8 May 2015 as Lib-Dem leader following the results of the UK General Election 2015 after holding the position for over seven years. Despite managing to retain his seat in Sheffield Hallam, Nick Clegg bowed out in his final speech as party leader by saying that he "must take responsibility" for the loss in the share of the vote, which was mostly put down to the party's coalition with the Conservative Party, which Clegg had previously described in a special Question Time debate as being a "brave and plucky decision" which involved putting "country before party."

Views on Israel & UK Arms Exports

Nick Clegg authored a comment article in the Guardian in January 2009, entitled We must stop arming Israel: Brown has to stop sitting on his hands, halt British weapons exports and insist the EU do the same. In the article Clegg argued that:

We have a European Union encumbered by clumsy decision-making and confused messages. And at home we have a prime minister talking like an accountant about aid earmarked for Gaza without once saying anything meaningful about the conflict's origins. Gordon Brown, like Tony Blair, has made British foreign policy effectively subservient to Washington. But waiting for a change of heart in Washington is intolerable given the human cost.

Of course, Israel has every right to defend itself. It is difficult to imagine what it must be like to live with the constant threat of rocket attacks from a movement which espouses terrorist violence and denies Israel's right to exist. But Israel's approach is self-defeating: the overwhelming use of force, the unacceptable loss of civilian lives, is radicalising moderate opinion among Palestinians and throughout the Arab world. Anger in the West Bank will make it virtually impossible for Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian Authority president, to continue to talk to Israeli ministers.

Brown must stop sitting on his hands. He must condemn unambiguously Israel's tactics, just as he has rightly condemned Hamas's rocket attacks. Then he must lead the EU into using its economic and diplomatic leverage in the region to broker peace. The EU is by far Israel's biggest export market, and by far the biggest donor to the Palestinians. It must immediately suspend the proposed new cooperation agreement with Israel until things change in Gaza, and apply tough conditions on any long-term assistance to the Palestinian community.

Brown must also halt Britain's arms exports to Israel, and persuade our EU counterparts to do the same. The government's own figures show Britain is selling more and more weapons to Israel, despite the questions about the country's use of force. In 2007, our government approved £6m of arms exports. In 2008, it licensed sales 12 times as fast: £20m in the first three months alone. There is a strong case that, given the Gaza conflict, any military exports contravene EU licensing criteria. Reports, though denied, that Israel is using illegal cluster munitions and white phosphorus should heighten our caution. I want an immediate suspension of all arms exports from the EU, but if that cannot be secured, Brown must act unilaterally.

Finally, the world's leaders must accept that their response to the election of Hamas has been a strategic failure. The removal of the EU presence on the Egypt border in response to Hamas's election, for example, has made it easier for the rockets being fired at Israel to get into Gaza in the first place. An EU mission with a serious mandate and backing from Egypt and Israel would help Israel deal proportionately and effectively with the threat from weapons smuggling.

Attempts to divide and rule the Palestinians by isolating and punishing Gaza will not succeed. To secure peace in the Middle East, Hamas must turn its back on "terrorism", and help create Palestinian unity. Only unified leadership in the West Bank and Gaza can offer Israel the security guarantees that it rightly seeks. My proposals to stay Israel's hand in this conflict may be unwelcome to some, but they have the country's long term interest at heart. No terrorist organisation has ever been defeated by bombs alone. Only a new approach will secure lasting peace for Israel itself.

Digital Economy Bill

On the subject of the digitial economy bill, Nick Clegg argued in April 2009:

We did our best to prevent the Digital Economy Bill being rushed through at the last moment. It badly needed more debate and amendment, and we are extremely worried that it will now lead to completely innocent people having their internet connections cut off. It was far too heavily weighted in favour of the big corporations and those who are worried about too much information becoming available. It badly needs to be repealed, and the issues revisited.

Affiliations

• Atlantic Council of the United Kingdom - Patron
• CentreForum - Advisory Board member

External Resources

• The Nick Clegg story, BBC, 19 December 2007.
• Nick Clegg, We must stop arming Israel, The Guardian, 7-January-2009, Accessed 13-May-2010
• Nick Clegg, Nick Clegg: Immigration policy should be based on facts, not fear, The Independent, 19-September-2007, Accessed 13-May-2010
• Patrick Wintour and Nicholas Watt, Nick Clegg says Lib Dems won't replace Trident because world has moved on, The Guardian, 16-June-2009

 

Events Participated in

Event	Start	End	Location(s)	Description
Munich Security Conference/2020	14 February 2020	16 February 2020	Germany Munich Bavaria	The 56th Munich Security Conference, in 2020, "welcomed an unprecedented number of high-ranking international decision-makers."
Munich Security Conference/2024	16 February 2024	18 February 2024	Germany Munich Bavaria	Annual conference of mid-level functionaries from the military-industrial complex - politicians, propagandists and lobbyists - in their own bubble, far from the concerns of their subjects
WEF/Annual Meeting/2014	22 January 2014	25 January 2014	World Economic Forum Switzerland	2604 guests in Davos considered "Reshaping The World"
WEF/Annual Meeting/2019	22 January 2019	25 January 2019	World Economic Forum Switzerland	"The reality is that we are in a Cold War [against China] that threatens to turn into a hot one."
WEF/Annual Meeting/2020	21 January 2020	24 January 2020	World Economic Forum Switzerland	This mega-summit of the world's ruling class and their political and media appendages happens every year, but 2020 was special, as the continuous corporate media coverage of COVID-19 started more or less from one day to the next on 20/21 January 2020, coinciding with the start of the meeting.
WEF/Annual Meeting/2022	22 May 2022	26 May 2022	World Economic Forum Switzerland	1912 guests in Davos
WEF/Annual Meeting/2023	16 January 2023	20 January 2023	World Economic Forum Switzerland	The theme of the meeting was "Cooperation in a Fragmented World"

 

Related Documents

Title	Type	Publication date	Author(s)	Description
Document:Huawei Hypocrisy	blog post	7 May 2019	Craig Murray	Former Deputy PM Nick Clegg said GCHQ's ability "to hack anything from handsets to whole networks … needs to be much better understood".
Document:Israel Stooges Freak Out over Baroness Jenny's Remarks - Again	Article	3 November 2018	Stuart Littlewood	Baroness Jenny Tonge: "The Pittsburgh synagogue shooting was an absolutely appalling and a criminal act, but does it ever occur to Bibi and the present Israeli government that its actions against Palestinians may be reigniting anti-Semitism? I suppose someone will say that it is anti-Semitic to say so?"

Many thanks to our Patrons who cover ~2/3 of our hosting bill. Please join them if you can.