Oh, Nick Clegg. Let’s face facts, Nick has been on a bit of a downwards slope since the May 2010 general election – all considered, going into coalition wasn’t the best decision he’s ever made. From being one of the most adored men in Britain – apparently the most popular party leader since Winston Churchill – to one of the most reviled, to his current status as the butt of any good political pundit’s jokes, and the keeper of the keys on constitutional reform (OK he might have wanted it but still, God help the man) Clegg’s future after the coalition is uncertain. That said, I’m on a one-woman mission to cheer Nick up by assuring him that, should the end be nigh, it can’t go as badly as any of these political exits…
1) Liam Fox
One of the highest profile political casualties of recent times, Liam Fox’s dealings with Adam Werritty, who visited Fox numerous times at the Ministry of Defence, accompanied him on official trips abroad and handed out business cards suggesting that he was Fox’s official adviser, led to an official investigation. Fox resigned and whilst he was not found to have benefitted financially from the relationship, he did breach the ministerial code.
2) Ken Livingstone
In terms of his vote at the London Mayoral Election of 2012, Ken didn’t do too badly, with 40.3% of first preference votes as opposed to Boris’ 44%. But a disastrous campaign, in which he claimed that the Conservative Party was 'riddled' with homosexuals, alienated the Jewish community, and was the subject of dubious claims over his tax affairs, left his reputation savaged.
3) Gordon Brown
From one blunder to another, many of us were left wondering if Labour’s 2010 general election campaign was genuine. Just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse, Gordon, not realising his microphone was still on, called Gillian Duffy – an elderly woman and lifelong Labour voter who asked Brown about immigration – a ‘bigot’, and the nation held its head in their hands. (You can read all about Gordon’s time as PM in Anthony Seldon and Guy Lodge’s Brown at 10).
4) Margaret Thatcher
Who could forget Britain’s first female Prime Minister leaving Number 10 teary-eyed? Thatcher’s leadership came to an end after she managed to alienate colleagues with her combative style and her unwillingness to listen to alternative opinions. Geoffrey Howe’s resignation speech marked the beginning of the end of the Iron Lady’s leadership and Michael Heseltine subsequently mounted a challenge for the party leadership. The rest, as they say, is history.
5) Enoch Powell
Not an exit, but perhaps the ultimate example of a career-defining blunder. A master of political oratory and a highly respected parliamentarian, Enoch Powell’s achievements, including becoming the youngest professor in the British Empire, have been completely overshadowed his infamous ‘rivers of blood’ speech, in which he attacked the government’s immigration policy: We must be mad, literally mad, as a nation to be permitting the annual inflow of some 50,000 dependants…As I look ahead, I am filled with foreboding; like the Roman, I seem to see "the River Tiber foaming with much blood.". (You can read all about Powell’s life in Greville Howard’s Enoch at 100).
Of course, there is hope for Clegg; he could make a spectacular comeback à la Peter Mandelson. Either way, Nick, we believe in you. Plus, we’ve published two books about you – Nick Clegg: The Biography, by Chris Bowers, and Dave & Nick, by Ann Treneman, which are both REALLY, REALLY good and are currently on special offer. Just saying.