Sir Nick, deputy prime minister in the 2010-15 Conservative-Lib Dem coalition government, spoke exclusively to The Independent as part of its Europe:
The Way Back campaign marks the tenth anniversary of the UK’s decision to leave the EU. Sir Nick compared Brexit to a “massive cardiac arrest”.
“Much of the rest of the world has had to deal with things like Covid, wars in Ukraine, Iran and so on,” said Sir Nick. “But no other country has punched itself in the face quite so forcefully as we have done over the last 10 to 20 years.
When Nick Clegg joined the Conservatives, I voted for him. That was the very first time that I had ever voted for any party other than the Conservatives. I couldn’t vote for the Conservatives with David Cameron as its leader because he came over as being rather slippery. My misgivings about him proved to be remarkably accurate!
Even though I was raised as a Conservative, I doubt that I shall ever vote Conservative again: the Party can never ever again be trusted after the débâcle of Brexit. The Conservatives also destroyed NHS Dentistry with its never ending, but useless and ineffectual, austerity. I shall never forgive them for that, either.
It is such a pity that the LibDems don’t have a leader as pro-EU as Nick Clegg. If that were the case, I wouldn’t find myself disenfranchised as I now do. Because of David Cameron et al, this country has truly hit rock bottom. — © Mark Alexander
