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Clegg and Willetts: two prats for the price of one
The Mole: The coalition’s plans for greater social mobility land two ministers in the minestrone
Who is this week's bigger political prat - Lib Dem leader and deputy prime minister Nick Clegg, or David 'Two Brains' Willetts, the Tory universities minister? The Mole poses the question in the light of the coalition's less-than-fabulous launch of its 'greater social mobility for all' programme.
From Clegg we got, well, pure Clegg. The old boys' network has to stop, he said. Internships in what he sees as fun careers like politics and journalism should not be passed from the socially powerful to the sons and daughters of friends. They must be advertised and open to all.
Excellent. Except that within hours came the London Evening Standard front page headline: 'Daddy Got Clegg Bank Intern Job'.
In a nutshell, Clegg wouldn't be where he is today - pontificating and nanny-stating like nobody's business - if it hadn't been for the very first job he got out of school (Westminster College): yes, you've guessed it, an internship at a Finnish bank secured by his father, Nicholas Clegg, chairman of United Trust Bank, who "had a word" with a friend and fixed it. Just like that.
"Hypocrisy" cried the Standard and dozens of Labour MPs, with good reason.
So, Clegg duly went on Channel 4 News and tried to talk himself out of it. Yes, he told Jon Snow, he had enjoyed an internship, and, yes, he was a very privileged and happy bunny, but that was no reason to stop him caring about today's young things and their futures.
What Clegg forgot to mention - and Snow might have pressed him on - was that the internship was neither here nor there. What matters is that, without his education and background, Clegg would not exude the sheer plausibility he offers on these occasions, whether he's appearing on C4 News or the pre-election TV debates where he came to prominence this time last year.
Few are arguing with the coalition's campaign to get interns paid fairly - it's the unrealistic proposal to ban people from passing the word that there's an internship available that's so, well, Cleggian. As a former Labour minister put it to the Mole last night, "I've had interns who talk more political sense after only a fortnight in Westminster than Clegg comes out with."
At least the Lib Dem leader's exultations on matters of social mobility and so on come as no surprise. 'Two brains' Willetts is a different matter - he was supposed to be one of the brightest and the best. Yet there he was yesterday, enthusiastically supporting Clegg. Have both his brains imploded simultaneously?
Appearing on the Today programme he assured us he had written with business secretary Vince Cable to the universities' access body reminding them to make sure more kids from poor backgrounds get a leg up to university, even if their grades aren't the highest.
Like Clegg, he was passionate about stopping internships being handed to the sons and daughters of the privileged few and assured listeners that not only Whitehall but all British companies would now be asked to sign a compact to ensure that internships were advertised.
Willetts has already ruffled feathers with a pamphlet called How the Baby Boomers Stole their Children's Future. His latest incarnation as Clegg's sidekick is leaving Tory MPs dumbfounded.
As The First Post reported on Monday, at least one Tory - Oliver Letwin - has declared himself contemptuous of efforts to change things through social engineering.
Letwin was 'outed' as the 'senior minister' who told Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, that he wasn't interested in the government opening more airports because "We don't want more people from Sheffield flying away on cheap holidays".
Yesterday, confronted by a Sky News TV crew on his doorstep, Letwin didn't deny being the source of Boris's story. He merely said: "I don't ever comment on things that have been alleged to have been said in a private conversation."
Clegg was furious at Letwin's insult (a) to his plans and (b) to Sheffield, where he has his constituency. Through gritted teeth, he said Letwin was now the most unpopular politician in Sheffield and should "tread with care" if he ever visits the city.
But Letwin has the backing of many Tories. It is just as well Sky News didn't ask him for his views about his old chum, David Willetts. The air would have been blue with language normally associated with that upwardly mobile representative of the working classes, Wayne Rooney.
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I don't get it? So individuals who might have benefited from the silver spoon are barred from trying to put in place a genuine meritocracy and removing the perpetuance of the silver spoon? (university access and the old boy network). Sounds a reasonable thing to attempt. Now if Clegg/Willetts were actually imposing this while themselves organising access to Oxbridge, or an internship, for their kid then they would be be raging hypocrites. Tony Benn anyone?
I think Clegg`s attitude is , " right I`m aboard , now let`s pull this ladder up chaps ". Trouble is that all the members of the present cabinet are of the same ilk .
Clegg has definitely got duff PR people around him , a couple of years ago when asked how much the old- age pension was he replied , " Erm not sure , around 30.00 quid , I think ", which just about says it all. Then there was his more recent gaff on Desert Island Discs when he chose cigarettes as one of his few luxuries. Not that I personally am anti-smoking ,you understand , but most of the voters by a large percentage are , very much so.
I think the bigger question is , Do we care about what Nick Clegg says anymore ? He made his name in the pre-election televised debates which definitely influenced the final results , mostly against Labour .One wonders if it was another of Gordon Brown`s many gaffes to un-precidentally sanction the debates that let Clegg in ? Another moment of extraordinary luck in his life then . Bu how can one who has gained everything by overwhelmingly , and now admitted to , good luck and great connections , state that he believes it is possible for ordinary people , with none of his many advantages , to do the same .
It`s all a bit of a piss-take coming from Clegg isn`t it ?
Same as the rest of the rich and priviliged elite who now fill the government`s front benches. Perhaps they would be well advised to refrain , in these strapped times , from rubbing it in our faces.
It is little wonder we are so low down the table of OECD countries. Why should someone with poor grades merit a place at university irregardless of their background. I support the ideal of places for children from poor backgrounds who's grades merit them a university place. In the old days it used to be called a scholarship. Of course this means they would not have to pay or only partial fees. But they would have merited their university place. Will the governments of this country stop dumbing down education in their attempts to make the playing field appear level.
Wake up, England! Shake a leg!
there is a question I must beg;
in the whole plutocracy,
is there no bigger hypocrisy,
than that exhibited by Willetts and Clegg?
(Not that this is a limerick, but that TFP's comments don't allow the use of carriage-returns, paragraphs or new lines.)
I think the good people of Sheffield will understand that Letwin's comment was about the boy Clegg and his recent absence when, in principle, the deputy PM should have been here. (Though in the boy's case, it was probably better he wasn't. No doubt he was told to get on with his holiday by ministers).
Oh the irony of Nick Clegg warning another politician about being unpopular in Sheffield...