Politics: The Art of the Possible in an Age of Unreason Hardcover – International Edition, October 25, 2016

lucid, and updated thru Brexit

This is an excellent and aptly-titled book by the former and first-ever Deputy Prime Minister of the UK (2010-2015), a former MEP and head of the Liberal Democrats, and a current MP. While of course it talks at length about the author’s personal experiences, it is organized more by topic than chronology, and would make a very useful textbook for any aspiring politician, even outside of Britain.Some of the topics include the benefits and difficulties of coalition government, the nature of compromise, the importance of the optics of power (“pomp”, as NC puts it, to which the Conservatives may be overly devoted, but which he admits he himself had undervalued), the role and vulnerabilities of minority parties, and populism/nationalism. The book is up-to-date through the Brexit referendum and Theresa May’s ascendancy as PM, as well as making comments about Marine Le Pen and Donald Trump that are still pertinent in mid-2017.After the first TV debates in the 2010 election, NC was the most popular politician in Britain; in the next election, his party lost about 80% of their seats. NC freely admits his own mistakes, as well as touting his and his colleagues’ accomplishments that were overlooked. He is generally quite gracious about others, including David Cameron: there is no gossip, though attentive readers will find that Theresa May, George Osborne, and especially Michael Gove do not necessarily come off well. (Jeremy Corbyn is criticised for his old-fashioned views, but not his actions.) Although there are occasional light touches (such as when NC unwittingly has a harmonious press conference with his Dutch counterpart in front of an 18th-Century mural depicting the two countries’ navies shelling each other), the tone is generally earnest, energetic, forward-looking and optimistic.It does help to know the rough outline of UK politics (and a TV comedy or two) of the past couple of decades: there aren’t any explanatory notes. If that isn’t a problem for you, then neither will be the writing style, which is clear and swift-moving. Early in the book, NC quotes Tony Blair to the effect that a politician takes office when most popular and least capable, and leaves it when least popular and most capable. “I now know what he means, “ he remarks — and because he does, this is a very instructive book.

An educative read, with many learning points for liberals all around the world. How politics looks from inside, what is difference between a pressure group, think tank and a political party. We discussed the many facets of this well researched book in our Reading Group,in Tripoli,Libya, [...] where a Government of National accord GNA is trying to make sense between extremists.(.all of whom are right, but situation is getting worse) .[...]

Good

This is a very good book, very well written, and the Audio version is read by Nick Clegg himself which makes it flow much more easily than the equivalent Gordon Brown account of the previous Labour government's time in office, that is only read by a narrator.Nick Clegg does his very best to exonerate himself and his party from some of the blame for the Coalition's setbacks and failures and tries to correct the very lazy and often prejudiced assumptions and opinions of large numbers of voters, among them many Liberal Democrats, who were both disappointed and disillusioned with what they saw as a bit of a sell out coalition that seemed to allow the Tories to not only claim the credit for the all the Coalition's successes but use that credit as a sort of fuel to springboard their successful efforts to subsequently gain an overall majority in the 2015 General Election. The abandonment of the University tuition fees policy being, he acknowledges, the touchstone example of how this voter dissatisfaction subsequently undid the Lib Dems bid to continue to grow as a political force at the ballot box - Clegg loosing his own seat at that election of course. However, he does go to great lengths to explain where he and his party succeeded in putting the brakes on the greatest Tory excesses and in so doing gives a remarkably frank and clear set of insights into the workings of the Westminster system and how it consistently operates in favour of the bigger parties and against continental coalition and consensus style politics. Needless to say that ushers in the whole Brexit issue for analysis and debate and some very enlightening and interesting ideas about shaping the future towards his own Liberal vision. Allongside this account of struggling to maintain his values against the Tory leviathan he takes a sideswipe at Cameron and his party for their narrow interest policies and internecine struggles, while Labour fare no better in his opinion and the other minority parties, particularly the Welsh nationalists barely get a mention. He also caricatures George Osborne quite amusingly whilst paying tribute to David Laws, his own right hand man and Paddy Ashdown and Ming Campbell for helping him to hold on to the roller coaster and continue to play the Lib Dem leader and Deputy PM role successfully while the press tried to shred his good name. At the end of it all however, whilst he presents a vision worthy of Bentham and Stuart Mill and the great Liberal reformist tradition, we have to remember that we are heading into the 21st century not back to the 19th and something drastic needs to be done to change the trajectory of poorly managed decline that our nation finds itself on, and I am not at all sure that this book holds the answers!

Can't recommend this book enough, not least because of the moment we're in right now in a world that seems to be being sucked away from rational, logical debate into the rabbit holes of emotional identity politics and the white heat of the political extremes.Nick fairly paints a picture of both a moment in time when the country needed grown-ups in government but also the outdated workings of Westminster, Brussels and the exercise in self-harm that is tribalism.Can't quite agree with him on the EU as I think despite some of the Brexiteer idiocy out there, there was/is a good case for leaving as he rightly points out (remote, unaccountable junior buearocrats having lots of power, a 'Marshall Plan' requirement for Southern Europe are two he highlights himself), but Liberals in particular should be leading the charge for us to play the 'long game' with Europe and for us to re-join a reformed organisation.You do get the image of a pretty decent man and party trying to apply common sense and fair play to political structures that are just too far lost in their own interests. Hopefully history should be way kinder to Nick Clegg than 'the bloke who lied about university fees' which is unfortunately how many will forever see him.My worry is as the media in particular become more hypercritical of politicians in general, the good folks like Clegg will probably steer clear of politics in the future which will be terrible for us all.

This account of the coalition government is well written and easy to read. It chronicles the experience of a man who,in my view, stepped up to the plate in his country's hour of need, only to suffer horrendous political consequences for his trouble. It is clear that Mr.Clegg and his colleagues brought balance into government and stability that the markets demanded. This has to have been superior to the later May deadlocks, the consequences of which are yet to unfold as I comment in January 2018