Nick Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister, suffered a humiliating slapdown by his own party yesterday, over the coalition’s plans for the National Health Service.
Liberal Democrat delegates meeting for their spring conference in Sheffield overwhelmingly passed a motion criticising proposals to put family doctors in control of commissioning services.
Health Minister Paul Burstow tried to reassure delegates, saying: “There will be no US-style privatisation of the health service on our watch.”
Baroness Shirley Williams, the former cabinet minister, branded the proposed changes “lousy” and said Clegg was allowing the “treasured” health service to be put at risk.
The vote came as a YouGov poll for The Sunday Times showed the Lib Dems with 10% support. The same poll gave Labour 44%, an 11-point lead over the Conservatives.
Advertisement
Facing a backlash from his own activists, Clegg was forced to defend his alliance with David Cameron. As the conference came under siege from 5,000 protesters, he was subjected to questions about his closeness to the Conservatives and the coalition’s policies.
Asked to justify the deal with the Tories, Clegg said: “There are certain inescapable facts: We didn’t win the election and we didn’t land a landslide.
“I’m not going to make any apologies for playing my part in making this a successful Government. You accept, as a party of pluralism that has wanted for generations to put an end to the old pendulum politics of blue, red, blue, red, [that] you cannot do that without taking risks.”
Clegg will today seek to position the party between Labour and the Tories. “Our opponents try to divide us with their outdated labels of left and right,” he will tell delegates. “But we are not on the left and we are not on the right. We have our own label: Liberal.”