THE GUARDIAN: As party gathers for annual conference, leader says he has been impressed by PM's pragmatism and flexibility
Nick Clegg tomorrow will launch a heartfelt appeal to Liberal Democrats to finally embrace David Cameron's centre-right party as he predicts that together they can become a "great, great reforming government". In terms that may deepen unease among Lib Dems unhappy with the coalition, Clegg uses an interview with the Observer to heap praise on Cameron as a "big politician" who fully understands how to share power.
As his party gathers in Liverpool for its annual conference, Clegg admits he was completely wrong to call Cameron a "fake" and a "con" during the election campaign and has been impressed by his pragmatism and flexibility. "He hasn't been dogmatic. He hasn't been doctrinaire," he says. "I think this government definitely has the capacity to be a great, great reforming government."
The Lib Dem leader's central message is that the coalition can only work if his own party accepts it is a full and willing participant that jointly "owns the government". The alternative, he says, is to operate in an atmosphere of "poison" as a competing faction "constantly trying to put little trophies on the mantelpiece to show we are winning victories".
He adds: "In fact the truth is much more radical than that. All the big decisions are jointly taken by David Cameron and myself … that is why I didn't want to have a department, why I am a hop and a skip from his office." >>> Toby Helm | Saturday, September 18, 2010
