Back in June I wrote that Nick Clegg would be making a mistake if he appointed Danny Alexander as our economic spokesman for 2015.
He has now made that mistake.
Let me cut and paste what I wrote in June:
I do hope that Nick will not appoint Danny as our economic spokesman at the next election. I have not seen a single media or parliamentary performance from Danny that has involved him doing more than shuffle a limited number of prefabricated sentences. It is hard to imagine him doing well in the televised chancellors' debate, for instance.
By contrast, Vince (who performed so capably in that debate in 2010) has the respect of the public and has the priceless ability to take credit for the good things the government has done and give the impression that the bad things are nothing to do with us.
He is also able to command the House of Commons in a way that Danny can only dream of.Perhaps that was a little unfair to Danny, but there is no doubt that Vince cuts a far more impressive figure.
And, as I also said in June, if Nick wants a fresh face, why not choose Steve Webb?
3 comments:
Steve Webb is good at his job. Why ask him to try something else? Is there a talented replacement?
If he wants to change, it should be his choice.
I agree with Phil Beesley, as someone without party affiliations I have the utmost admiration for Steve Webb, whom I hope to see in his current job under any coalition. I don't see why you'd want to take him off the job no one I can think of could best him at.
Presumably, this is partly personal, but it will be interpreted by the world as expressing a preference for economic liberals over social democrats.
But most importantly of all, we need to bear in mind that Danny needs time for his walks :)
Danny is part of the inner circle so it was a foregone conclusion.
Just another reason why Clegg is up there in the list of worst ever Liberal leaders,
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