Nick Clegg has said the LibDems should stop apologising for their time in coalition, in a sideswipe at the future leadership favourite Jo Swinson’s demand that the party “own its failures”.
Speaking at the party’s annual conference in Brighton, the former deputy prime minister said: “One of the golden rules of politics is, don’t say stuff that reinforces your opponent.”
“We went into coalition eight years ago, there is something quite LibDem about still thinking about the things we did or didn’t feel comfortable with when we entered into government so long ago,” he said.
Clegg said he did not believe mea culpas to be election-winning strategies.
“In the end, you have to give a clear message; are you basically proud of who you are, or not? LibDems feel they’re finally being heard on Brexit.
“There is this narrative hung round the LibDem party’s neck, which is just false, that we sold our soul, merrily went along with a savage, ideological approach to austerity which deliberately penalised the poor. It is simply not true.”
Swinson, the party’s deputy leader who was a business minister in the coalition, said the party had to “own the failures” of the time in government, citing the bedroom tax and hostile immigration environment as regrettable policies. “When they fought dirty, we were too nice,” she said.
The main draw on the conference floor yesterday was anti-Brexit campaigner Gina Miller, tipped as a potential future leader of the party if reforms allowing non-MPs to stand are voted through.
However, the businesswoman, who led the legal fight for a parliamentary vote on Article 50, said she would not stand for leader or indeed join the party.
“Today I speak to you as a friend and someone who feels a bond with you on many issues, but may I say straight away, particularly for the benefit of the journalists here in this hall who have been doing a great deal of speculating lately, I am not addressing you as your leader-in-waiting,” she said.
“Truth be told, I am not a member of your party, or indeed any party now, but I want, all the same, to see the Liberal Democrats thrive, because in a healthy democracy we need a strong third party, every bit as much as we need a strong opposition, and, for that matter, a strong government and a strong prime minister.”
Speaking to journalists afterwards, Miller expressed irritation that she is often portrayed as wanting to “stop Brexit”. She said: “I wish you would all stop saying this, you know, it’s really not helpful: stop saying ‘stop Brexit’.”