James Forsyth James Forsyth

Nick Clegg defends his leadership and the Coalition

A visibly tired Nick Clegg has just done his first post-European Election TV interview. Clegg conceded that the Liberal Democrats had taken a ‘bigger hit in the ballot box’ than he expected they would when he took them into coalition. But he made clear he wasn’t quitting and that he thought it would be a massive mistake for the party to leave the Coalition now as its ‘big judgments were being vindicated’.

Clegg attempted to explain the scale of the defeat to his party by saying that the Liberal Democrats were hit by the double-whammy of being both in government and pro-European.

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