Here at the Nation, we like to think that all our interns go on to accomplish great things. But all the same, it's not every day that one gets compared to Winston Churchill, Barack Obama, Princess Diana, Tony Blair, and even Jesus. But with two weeks to go before Britain's general election, Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg (Nation intern class of 1990) is Britain's new political superstar. (Clegg, wisely and humbly, has said that any grand historical analogies are "daft.") COMMENTS (2) SHARE: Twitter Reddit Buzz More...
After stealing the show from Labour's Gordon Brown and the Conservative Party's David Cameron in Britain's first-ever televised debate on April 15, Clegg and his party have surged in the polls and media attention, creating, as one British reporter described it, "the hysterical condition known as Cleggmania." But in this case, the mania is backed up by hard facts. According to a YouGov poll for the Sun, the party is leading with, as the newspaper put it, "a staggering 33 per cent." This is the first time the Lib Dem party has been in the lead in a general-election race in 104 years.
We'd certainly love to claim that it was Clegg's internship that launched him into the political stratosphere. After all, since the Nation's internship program started in 1978, it has produced an extraordinary cohort of writers, reporters, editors, activists, and a few politicians. Labour's Ed Miliband, who was elected a member of the British Parliament in 2005 and is now secretary of state for energy and climate change, interned just a year before Clegg.
What marks Clegg as a former Nation intern is not only his dabbling in journalism, but how buoyantly he has axed the political establishment and the status quo. His strong populist message and clear articulation of people's discontent with politics as usual -- the corruption revealed by the MPs' expenses scandal and the Tories' dependence on tax-exempt billionaires; the sclerotic political system; and broken promises -- has made Clegg a feisty contender.
What gets less attention than Clegg's telegenic savvy is how the Lib Dems' surging prominence is healthy for British politics. The inclusion of a credible third-party candidate in national televised debates has shifted the campaign's dynamic and pushed Brown and Cameron to be more "radical" -- a term that has positive connotations in hidebound Britain right now. Perhaps even more importantly, by proposing alternative ideas often excluded from campaigns and debates, Clegg and party have made not-ready-for-prime-time ideas quite appealing! And because many Lib Dem policies are to the left of Labour's, it has moved the Labour Party to do some smart and left repositioning.12NEXT Save big when you subscribe to FP.
Dan Kitwood/Getty Images
Katrina vanden Heuvel is editor and publisher of the Nation and a proud former Nation intern (class of 1980).
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B. ELLI COSE
5:20 PM ET
April 22, 2010
Yes, but...
Yes, but what does Chris Hitchens think of the Cleggosaurus Rex?
LAPLACEDEMON
8:46 PM ET
April 22, 2010
The Lib Dems can definitely win with a popular vote majority.
They just need a much larger popular-vote plurality than Labour and the Tories do to get a Commons majority. Something like 45%, where Labour won a majority with only 35% of the popular vote in 2005.
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