Second Ming Campbell podcast (transcript)
In this second campaign podcast, former BBC and ITN political correspondent David Walter speaks to Nick Clegg MP about Ming Campbell and the campaign to date.
David Walter: Nick why are you supporting Ming?
Nick Clegg: Well I knew of course like everybody in the party about Ming before I became elected to the House of Commons, I knew about him as a man of great stature, authority, who spoke wisely and with great credibility about a whole range of issues. But it wasn’t actually ‘til I got to the House of Commons and started working as, as his deputy that I also came to know him as a, as a person, and he is a, he’s an incredibly approachable guy. He’s also very, very effective at mobilising the best talents around him in the Foreign Affairs team and you find a great deal of loyalty in all those people who’ve worked with him in, in the foreign affairs field in the House of Commons and in the House of Lords towards him.
So I was sort of motivated both if you like politically but also personally because I’ve been, I’ve been enormously impressed by him on, on both fronts.
DW: You don’t think he’s a touch too old to be the leader?
NC: Oh no, not at all. If anything I, I, I mean look, politics is, is in part about contrast. And I’ve never subscribed to this idea that we should somehow try and find a, a, a sort of Cameron lookalike. I think precisely because I believe that Cameron will prove to be quite hollow over the next few years and that many of the sort of positions he’s taking now might be eye catching but won’t actually, he won’t be able to see them through in any substantive way in the next few years.
So I think having a Lib Dem leader, a leader of the Lib Dem party who has self evident credibility and authority and experience surrounded by a lot of bright youthful energy I think will be a brilliant contrast against Cameron and also incidentally a rather good contrast against the sort of dour joylessness of, of Gordon Brown as, as the likely successor to Blair.
DW: Does he really have a rapport with the younger generation of MPs?
NC: Well just, just (indistinct) I mean just look at his list of supporters on, on his website. I mean amongst those sort of five, six hundred off that have already declared in support of him, the, the vast bulk of the younger MPs, myself included, have recognised that there is if you like an ability in, in Ming to unite all wings of the party and all generations of the party which is precisely what the party needs for political reasons in order to sort of punch above our weight but also to be honest it’s also what the party particularly needs at this time, given the very unsettling events of recent weeks and months.
DW: What do you think the high points of the campaign have been so far?
NC: I think the launch last week was, was, was done very, very professionally. I think it put on full display the range of support for Ming and Shirley’s speech, Shirley Williams speaking, Mike Storey speaking, Jo Swinson, the youngest MP speaking, myself and others, I, I thought it looked good, I thought it was, all the journalists afterwards told me that it was the most professionally executed launch so I thought that was good.
I also am just perhaps because it’s fresh in my mind ‘cause it happened last night, I was really, really delighted with what Ming said on Any Questions yesterday ‘cause I think one, if I’m honest, I think one of the things that, that perhaps bedevils Ming as a candidate is that because he’s such a well known figure all the (indistinct) perhaps many members think they kind of know what he’s going to say and sort of (indistinct) think he, you know think he’s this sort of authoritative pin striped figure.
I think on Any Questions yesterday he showed a degree of passion and radicalism which will have pleasantly surprised a lot of members. And I think he spoke with greater passion and greater radicalism than, than many members have perhaps heard before on issues like his implacable opposition to nuclear energy, his passionate commitment to social justice, his absolute belief that both Blair and Cameron are running sort of managerial parties and we should be a party of values. These are really strong, vibrant things coming from, from, from a man who also possesses that authority. I, I, I thought that was a real high point for me.
