The letter from Nick Clegg and Shirley Williams to Lib Dem
MPs and peers raises several interesting questions. The first of which is why did Clegg champion these health reforms back in the day? Four days after the first reading of the bill, the deputy
Prime Minister had this exchange with Andrew Marr:
Second, how does the Clegg-Williams claim that ‘This is not the Bill that we debated as a party last March’ fit with the Tory line that the amendments to the bill have largely been to deal with misunderstandings about what it allows?Andrew Marr: ‘Huge change to the NHS just coming down the line. Was that in the Liberal Democrat manifesto?’ Nick Clegg: ‘Actually funnily enough it was. Indeed it was.’
Finally, there is the whole choreography of today which started with a report from the Evening Standard that Lib Dem MPs would not be whipped to overturn any amendments carried by Lib Dem peers.
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