Is Clegg Serious About Being Pm? ; the Voice of the Westcountry

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PEOPLE are in politics to gain power. But does Nick Clegg truly believe that when the General Election results are announced sometime in the first half of next year he will be carried shoulder high into Downing Street by his adoring army of new MPs? That was the essential message of his speech to the party conference yesterday which came close to echoing David Steel's famous rallying cry to the 1981 Liberal Assembly when he told delegates to "go back to their constituencies and prepare for victory" Then, of course, the Liberals had just formed an alliance with the Social Democrats. In the initial rush of blood that followed that mould-breaking merger there was, perhaps, a reason for over-confidence. Today the prospects for the Lib-Dems look rather less upbeat.

That's not to say that Mr Clegg should have taken to the platform in Bournemouth yesterday and admitted the best the party could hope for was to hang onto the seats they already occupy. Every party leader has to show ambition, particularly when addressing what must be the last annual conference before polling day.

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Is Clegg Serious About Being Pm? ; the Voice of the Westcountry

But for the Lib-Dems to sweep from third party to the party of Government would require the taking of more than...

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