The Clegg Dance.doc

The Clegg DanceThe leader of Britains underdog third party taps into voter anger at Gordon Browns Labour and the Tories. But can he win?If politics is show biz for plain people, Nick Clegg may have strayed into the wrong profession. During his April 20 campaign stop at an agricultural college in southwestern England, a clutch of young female students proclaimed their boyish visitor to be both “hot” and “cool”. They were less sure why Clegg was there or what he represents. That pretty much defines Cleggmania, a syndrome that has spread across the U.K. with astonishing speed.In a matter of days, the Liberal Democrat has been catapulted from the comparative obscurity of third-party politics to top the ratings as Britains most popular political leader since Winston Churchill. Why? Because of TV. Britains first-ever televised leadership debate on April 15 pitted Clegg, 43, against the Conservative front runner David Cameron and Labours incumbent Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Clegg effectively hijacked what one might call the hopey-changey message hitherto monopolized by Cameron, and subsequent polls have shown the Liberal Democrats leapfrogging one or both of the larger parties in the publics affections. If that love translates into crosses on ballot papers when Britons choose a new government on May 6, Clegg and his Lib Dems could secure the biggest slice of the popular vote and a pivotal role in the next government.Canvassing support in a verdant farmland setting just over two weeks ahead of that election, Clegg refrains from counting chickens. Thats wise, not least because Britains electoral system, like the one used in U.S. congressional elections, disadvantages third parties like the Liberal Democrats, whose support is widely distributed. “Almost 1 in 4 people voted for us last time, and we got, what, 10% of the seats in this place,” Clegg told TIME in a lengthy late-February interview in his House of Commons office. Back then, the sheer improbability of the Lib Dems acquiring real power had dampened media interest in the party. Now theres a strong prospect of a minority Conservative or Labour government heavily reliant on the Lib Dems and willing to do deals to keep them sweet. That makes Clegg everyones most wanted. (The Lib Dems early morning press conferences have been “absolute bedlam,” confides a Clegg aide. “We dont have to bribe journalists with food to get them there.”)A key question for those milling journalists is whether the Lib Dem surge will endure until voting day. Boris Johnson, Londons famously outspoken Conservative mayor, derided “Cleggophilia” in a newspaper column as “the biggest load of media-driven nonsense since the funeral of Diana.” Johnson might take note of the bouquets that still pile up in front of Kensington Palace on the anniversary of the Princesss death. Part of Dianas appeal was as an unlikely icon of defiance against the old order. The Lib Dems, who emerged from 2009s scandals about parliamentarians misuse of official expense accounts less damaged in the publics perception than other parties, could benefit, if only marginally, from a protest vote against their more sullied rivals. Its no coincidence that efforts to puncture the Clegg balloon are focusing on his own expense claims, including one for a $3.85 cake pan. He can expect more and tougher scrutiny, not least of his performance in two further TV debates between the leaders on April 22 and April 29.Clegg, this time talking to TIME in a crowded train carriage entirely reserved for his swollen media entourage, says he is keeping “a healthy sense of perspective” but believes his first TV joust and the unprecedented opportunity it gave him to appeal directly to a mass audience “tapped into a real longing for greater choice. People say to me, We dont like being told the only choice is between these two old parties.”So what might the third choice entail? Electoral reform is the Lib Dems top, and most self-interested, priority. Clegg also aims to cut Britains deficit and proposes a substantial budget saving by scrapping the planned $123 billion replacement of Britains Trident nuclear submarines. On his countrys most important alliance, Clegg says he is “infused with a sense of relief” to see Barack Obama in the White House but nevertheless hopes for a recalibration of relations between Washington and London. “We can grow up a bit, repatriate foreign policy. We dont need to be a satellite of the United States.”Such views belong to an ideology Clegg describes as “unambiguously liberal,” dedicated to promoting fairness and dismantling vested interests. “Liberal economics starts and finishes with level playing fields,” he says. “Weve had this grotesque oligopoly in the financial-services sector under both Conservative and Labour parties, where policy was twisted and distorted to suit the needs of a particular sector because it was treated as this great goose that was laying golden eggs in the City of London.”“Greedy bankers” feature frequently in Cleggian rhetoric. The antipathy may be mutual. A November poll, the first of many to predict that the elections could produce a hung Parliament, triggered a brief run on the pound. Cleggs opponents continue to warn that an indecisive electoral outcome would weaken Britains currency, though in truth the pound sank to its lowest ebb against the dollar in March 2008, when the Conservatives poll lead was substantial. But theres no doubt markets are jittery about the rise of the Lib Dems.So too are Little Englanders and Euro-skeptics and the many other flavors of Brit who see “abroad” as a bit of a threat. Clegg is a passionate pro-European Commission and former member of the European Parliament who pokes gentle fun at opponents of European integration for holding the “19th century view that agreeing on stuff with other nationalities is an insult to your national pride.” Hed like Britain to adopt the euro as its currency “when conditions are right.” And as that bible of Little England, the Mail on Sunday newspaper, pointed out to its readers on April 18, Clegg is “only a quarter English,