The Tuition Fees Stramash and Why Nick Clegg is Like George HW Bush

The absurdity and knavery of modern politics has been on full display during the “debate” about university tuition fees. So much so, in fact, that almost no-one emerges from the process with their reputations enhanced. As is customary in such entertainments it helps that there is no issue of principle involved. Hopi Sen put it well the other day:

The Prime Minister wishes his government to introduce a policy which is a major extension of a policy he voted against in opposition.

The Deputy Prime Minister would like to vote for the government’s proposals, but is considering abstaining because he promised to vote against them.

The opposition are opposing what the government proposes, because the government proposes going further than the opposition proposed when they were the government, when the then opposition opposed what the then government proposed.

All clear?

Opportunism, then, is scarcely confined to the Liberal Democrat caucus. Still, they are useful scapegoats for a policy no-one likes but that is more coherent than anything offered by Labour and that, as the Adam Smith Institute says, may be considered, like the Scotland Bill, a modest step in the right direction.