Nick Clegg
Sir Nicholas William Peter "Nick" Clegg (born 7 January 1967) is a British politician. He was the Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom[2] in the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government and was also the leader of the Liberal Democrats.[3] He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for the constituency of Sheffield Hallam.
Sir Nick Clegg | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Clegg in 2011 | |||||||||
| Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom | |||||||||
| In office 11 May 2010 – 8 May 2015 | |||||||||
| Prime Minister | David Cameron | ||||||||
| Preceded by | John Prescott | ||||||||
| Succeeded by | Dominic Raab (2021) | ||||||||
| Lord President of the Council | |||||||||
| In office 11 May 2010 – 8 May 2015 | |||||||||
| Prime Minister | David Cameron | ||||||||
| Preceded by | The Lord Mandelson | ||||||||
| Succeeded by | Chris Grayling | ||||||||
| Leader of the Liberal Democrats | |||||||||
| In office 18 December 2007 – 16 July 2015 | |||||||||
| Deputy | |||||||||
| President | |||||||||
| Preceded by | Vince Cable (Acting) | ||||||||
| Succeeded by | Tim Farron | ||||||||
| Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Brexit | |||||||||
| In office 19 July 2016 – 16 June 2017 | |||||||||
| Leader | Tim Farron | ||||||||
| Preceded by | Position established | ||||||||
| Succeeded by | Tom Brake | ||||||||
| Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for International Trade | |||||||||
| In office 19 July 2016 – 16 June 2017 | |||||||||
| Leader | Tim Farron | ||||||||
| Preceded by | Position established | ||||||||
| Succeeded by | Tom Brake | ||||||||
| Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Home Affairs | |||||||||
| In office 2 March 2006 – 18 December 2007 | |||||||||
| Leader | Menzies Campbell Vince Cable (Acting) | ||||||||
| Preceded by | Alistair Carmichael | ||||||||
| Succeeded by | Chris Huhne | ||||||||
| Member of Parliament for Sheffield Hallam | |||||||||
| In office 5 May 2005 – 8 June 2017 | |||||||||
| Preceded by | Richard Allan | ||||||||
| Succeeded by | Jared O'Mara | ||||||||
| Member of the European Parliament for East Midlands | |||||||||
| In office 10 June 1999 – 10 June 2004 | |||||||||
| Preceded by | Constituency established | ||||||||
| Succeeded by | Robert Kilroy-Silk | ||||||||
| Personal details | |||||||||
| Born | Nicholas William Peter Clegg 7 January 1967 Chalfont St Giles, England | ||||||||
| Political party | Liberal Democrats | ||||||||
| Spouse(s) | Miriam González Durántez (m. 2000) | ||||||||
| Children | 3 | ||||||||
| Residence | Atherton, California, US | ||||||||
| Education | Robinson College, Cambridge University of Minnesota, Twin Cities College of Europe | ||||||||
| Signature |  | ||||||||
| Website | Official website | ||||||||
| |||||||||
| a. ^ Office vacant from 27 June 2007 – 11 May 2010 | |||||||||
Nick Clegg was a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 1999 to 2004 and was first elected as a Liberal Democrat MP in the 2005 general election. He became the leader of the Liberal Democrats in December 2007. Following the 2010 General Election, he was made Deputy Prime Minister after a coalition deal with the Conservative Party. He resigned as party leader in 2015 after the May 2015 election because of the party's poor election results.
Personal life
Clegg has been married to Miriam González Durántez since 2000; they have three sons. Durantez is a Spanish Roman Catholic. Their children are being raised as Catholics, even though Clegg is an atheist.[4]
Clegg's family has many foreign members[5]- his grandmother on his father's side was a Russian Baroness before the Russian Revolution, with German and Ukrainian ancestors, while Clegg's Dutch mother was imprisoned by the Japanese in World War II. Clegg is multilingual (he speaks Dutch, English, French, German and Spanish fluently). He says that his family's experience of persecution is one of the reasons he is liberal.[6]
Before becoming a politician
Clegg was born in Buckinghamshire. He went to Caldicott primary school and Westminster secondary school. He spent a gap year working as a skiing instructor in Austria before starting university at Robinson College, Cambridge, where he studied Anthropology.
After his degree, he was given a scholarship to study for a Master's degree at the University of Minnesota. He then worked as an intern for Christopher Hitchens[7] in New York for a while before going to Brussels to work for the European Union as a trainee aid organiser. He then studied for a second Master's at the College of Europe in Bruges where he met Durantez.
From 1994 to 1998, he worked at the European Commission, where he developed aid programmes to the former Soviet Union and helped the World Trade Organisation to negotiate the entries of Russia and China.[8]
As an MEP
In 1999, Clegg was elected as the Member of the European Parliament for the East Midlands. As an MEP, he helped to start a campaign for greater accountability in the European Parliament.[9]
In 2004, he left the Parliament in order to campaign for the Sheffield Hallam constituency seat in the 2005 General Election. During the campaign, he worked as a part-time lecturer at the University of Sheffield.
As an MP
Clegg won the 2005 election, and became the Member of Parliament for Sheffield Hallam in May 2005.[10] As an MP, he campaigned to change the prison and immigration systems, and to make sure that the government did not take away too much freedom from people in their work against terrorism.[11] He said that the Iraq War was wrong.[12]
In 2007, he was voted as leader of the Liberal Democrats,[3] and in 2008 he joined the Privy Council, a group of advisors to the British Monarch. .
As leader of the Liberal Democrats, Clegg's main policies have been to get rid of the Trident missile system, to give NHS patients the choice of private medical care, to make the length of time between elections 5 years (at the moment it only has a 5-year limit, meaning that the government can begin a new election at any time), giving more power to local government, tax cuts for the poor and for the government to do more about the environment.
In May 2009, the Liberal Democrats' approval ratings were higher than the Labour Party's for the first time since 1987.
Clegg lost his seat in the 2017 general election.[13]
As Deputy Prime Minister
In May 2010, the UK had a General Election which did not produce a clear winner. David Cameron, leader of the Conservative Party, who had got the most votes, asked to form a coalition government with the Liberal Democrats. Clegg accepted, and became Deputy Prime Minister.
In July 2010, he revealed plans to have 50 fewer MPs in Parliament, to change the number of MPs needed to begin a new election without the agreement of the Prime Minister to 65% and to hold a referendum on whether or not to change the system of voting in General Elections.[14]
After the government revealed plans to drastically cut government spending, Liberal Democrat approval ratings dropped to 14%, almost half the 34% rating that was recorded in April 2010.[15]
Nick Clegg Media
The entrance to Little Dean's Yard, part of Westminster School
Nick Clegg attends the Je Suis Charlie rally with his wife Miriam González Durántez in Trafalgar Square, January 2015
Clegg at Cardiff University
Clegg with David Cameron, and Chris Huhne in 2009
Nick Clegg being presented with a Gurkha hat by a Gurkha veteran during his Maidstone visit to celebrate the success of their joint campaign for the right to live in Britain, 2009
Nick Clegg with the Prime Minister of the Netherlands Mark Rutte on 15 November 2010
Clegg with his wife Miriam holding their third son Miguel on 23 February 2009
Related pages
References
- ↑ "Nick Clegg". Desert Island Discs.
- ↑ Cameron is new UK prime minister. 12 May 2010. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/election_2010/8675265.stm.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Nick Clegg is new Lib Dem leader. 18 December 2007. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/7148367.stm.
- ↑ Clegg 'does not believe in God'. 19 December 2007. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/7151346.stm.
- ↑ "Nicholas Peter Clegg: Genealogics". www.genealogics.org.
- ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2010-02-04. Retrieved 2010-07-24.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ↑ Fantasy Facebook: Nick Clegg. 18 September 2007. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/the_daily_politics/7001381.stm.
- ↑ "Election '10: 10 things you didn't know about Nick Clegg". Archived from the original on 2010-04-19. Retrieved 2010-07-25.
- ↑ "Nick Clegg - Parliamentary candidates - Telegraph". Archived from the original on 2010-05-11. Retrieved 2010-07-24.
- ↑ "Politics - The Guardian". the Guardian.
- ↑ "EGov monitor |". Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2010-07-24.
- ↑ Clegg puts case for intervention. 23 June 2008. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/7469471.stm.
- ↑ "Former Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg loses seat amid Labour surge". The Telegraph. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/06/09/nick-clegg-loses-seat-amid-liberal-democrat-slump-sheffield/. Retrieved 9 June 2017.
- ↑ "Clegg outlines vote reform plans". BBC News. 5 July 2010. https://www.bbc.com/news/10516429.
- ↑ "Lib dem support drops | YouGov". Archived from the original on 2010-08-03. Retrieved 2010-07-24.