Clegg hits back at security 'lecture'

HAVE YOUR SAY

The fact Clegg is no longer interested in Trident and Nuclear Power has swayed me away from an otherwise decent vote for the Libs.

My tick is going with the Conservatives who will 'hopefully' support the armed forces.

Thanks Clegg and bye!
James - GB

Oh dear Nick, has your pretty little bubble burst. Sob, sob, tear, tear.

Welcome to the big boys world of international defence. You were quite willing to listen to and pat yourself on the back when the generals backed you a few weeks ago ?

What's changed now ? Someone disagree's with you and you lambast them as complicit with torture.

With a naughty little temper like that, you should be on the Labour front bench, or be sent to bed early, and leave politics to the grown ups.

Get real Nick, day by day Liberal Democrat defence policy mirrors their position on so many other issues, namely, "a laughing stock!"
Andy Bruguier - Dartford

Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg , you and your party still live in cuckoo land, people like you would install terrorists in parliament as not to offend them, if you could, [nick] you would show the white flag as they were still making it, that how pathetic you are. you and your family are millionaires what do you care abt the poor bastards that have to fight with nothing but their faith, even then as long as it did not offend anyone, you intend to sell us to Europe , so the fore you forfeit the right to speak for the British people,
go and speak for your European mats that are at this moment in time contemplating selling arms to Argentina, that will be used to kill our troops, like labour you are a disgrace, go back to your fairyland and leave the proud British alone.
criss of herts - london

I find it incredible that this un-worldy 43 year old wants to take over the defence of this country. He really should take off his rose-tinted spectacles, take a couple of years out and travel the world. He would find that not too many likes us and that the world really is like a school playground where the successful are envied and seen as a target to 'put down' or 'pull down' should they show signs of weakness.
Norman - UK

Clegg is not the ordinary British bloke he pretends to be. His wife is Spanish. His sons have Spanish Names. He is from a family of wealthy international bankers. His mother is Dutch, his father half Russian. Clegg was a gravy train Euro MP. Not exactly heart of oak is it.

He will scrap vital defence kit to preserve diversity, multi-culti, climate change non-jobs.
John Hartley - Woking/Surrey/UK

What's wrong with a party wanting to scrutinise the services? Isn't transparency and accountability fundamental to a functioning democracy?

Isn't ruling out a pre-emptive strike on Iran something that should be applauded? And why are the Lib Dems being criticised for not mentioning North Korea when Kim Jong-il and his heir will have no intention of ever using a nuclear bomb should they develop one? Haven't the people of Britain had enough of sending troops to die in far of lands that have no tangible impact on British soil?

You can find fault all you want with his Trident policies, but wanting to investigate whether there have been illegalities within government shouldn't be met with cries of spinelessnes or pathetic insults about his lack of support for the 'proud British'

And John Hartley, why does it matter if he's from a mixed nationality upbringing and is married to a Spaniard? Does it render his ability to lead useless? Does it mean that he has a conflict of interests (unlike, of course, Cameron, Brown et al)?

Almost every leading politician is a connected, rich, middle-aged white man. Don't get your nipples tied up about one of them who offends your sensibilities; they're all from much the same background, and they're almost all in it solely for the self gratification, the kudos and the kickbacks upon leaving parliament.
Arnold Machin - UK

The vacuum that Mr Clegg has filled... has nothing to do with Conservative party policies- and everything to do with voter perceptions of the last Parliament, its dysfunctionality and sleaze and voters' abundant awareness- albeit not often articulated- of the precipices that the UK is hurtling towards:

1) the creation of a member-country-destroying EU superstate;

2) the bust up of the UK (caused primarily by Labour's 1/2 baked, incompetent and corrupt 'devolution' programme);

3) the City's subjugation to and disemboweling by overseas' financial centre's;

4) the neutering and grievous diminishing of the UK's once esteemed-world-wide armed forces;

5) the UK's armed forces' centuries of allegiance to the Crown replaced with being answerable to Brussels;

6) the removal of the UK from its 6-decade-long role filling one of the UN's permanent-5 Security Council positions;

7) the relegation of the UK from being one of the world's best innovator and inventor nations to a country- or 4 separate countries- that has less high-tech and industry research and development competencies and depth than many third world countries....

Contrary to what some UK news media have recently argued, the UK's Conservative party is being viewed by overseas' audiences as exemplary in its development of sell-able, needed policies:

1) "Canada and Britain: a tale of two oppositions", Globe and Mail, April 11-2010:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/editorials/canada-and-britain-a-tale-of-two-oppositions/article1529772/ -

"British Conservatives present, to use Leader David Cameron 's own words, 'a progressive party in tune with the modern world,’ and the policies match the rhetoric. Canadian Liberals have much to learn...."

"... in addressing their policy deficit, Liberals should closely study the performance of the Conservative Party in the current British election..."

2) "Time for a new tenant at 10 Downing Street", Globe and Mail, April 30-2010

"As finance minister, Gordon Brown exposed Britain to a harsh recession"...

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/editorials/time-for-a-new-tenant-at-10-downing-street/article1553047/

3) "Britain's political terrain: the real battlegrounds of the upcoming election", Globe and Mail, April 30-2010:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/europe/britains-political-terrain-the-real-battlegrounds-of-the-upcoming-election/article1552809/
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AN EU SUPERSTATE IS NOT REQUIRED FOR THE EU TO CONSTRUCTIVELY MEET ITS FOUNDERS' INITIAL OBJECTIVES* AND WOULD END UP CONFLICTING WITH THEM...

Within an EU structured as an an 'aligned to-varying degrees' economically, politically and in internal legal & social-policy ways group of nations, the EU's member nations can, to a comparatively large degree, counterbalance each other in terms of polices, laws, directives AND FOREIGN ENDEAVORS...

In contrast, nations incorporated into an EU structured as an amalgamated superstate, will lose their abilities to moderate and effect the development and implementation of polices, laws, directives AND FOREIGN ENDEAVORS of the EU superstate...

... a superstate that would have 'regions' replace member countries...

... a superstate that would continue to have Brussels-based bureaucrats whose primary objective is the creation of an ego-motivated Goliath to stride the world's stages as its main purpose...

... contradicting the main motivations for the founding of the bodies that preceded the EU: eliminating potential causative factors on the Continent and amongst its countries that previously have led to and could in the future lead to ethnic intolerance, negative prejudices, inequitable application of christian principles, legal tenets and wars...

AN EU PRESIDENT, "FOREIGN MINISTER"; "AMALGAMATED MEMBER-COUNTRIES' MILITARIES" & THE LISBON TREATY GENERALLY->> ARE UNASHAMEDLY DESIGNED TO FACILITATE THE ESTABLISHMENT OF AN EU SUPERSTATE... A SUPERSTATE THAT WOULD FUNCTION FIRST AND FOREMOST TO SATIATE THE DANGEROUS, EGO-MOTIVATED AGENDA'S OF CLOSED-MINDED BUREAUCRATS...

* ALIGNMENT- TO REASONABLY VARYING DEGREES- OF MEMBER NATIONS' SOCIAL, ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL POLICIES/LAWS...
Roderick V. Louis - Vancouver, BC, Canada

Sorry, but Clegg is simply sticking to what he believes i.e. that Trident is a waste of money and a hangover from the Cold War. Not attacking Iran? Excellent idea, why would we want to? Withdrawing from Afghanistan, again, why wouldn't we want to? We could spend the £billions saved on something useful...
Dave Crouch - London SE1

I fear that some of the contributors to this comment column seem to be living in a dream world.

Anyone who thinks that the next government - whatever political persuasion it may be - is going to have money to keep the armed forces at their current level simply hasn't been paying attention to the real news - the news about the economy.

We are facing big cuts in public spending and these cuts will hit the defence sector as hard as other parts of government - probably harder, as cutting the military is more acceptable to the public than cutting hospitals, schools, and railways.

Whether we like it or not, we will have to prioritise spending on defence. Big projects like Trident, the carriers, and the F35 JSF will have to be included in the defence review and if they can't be shown to contribute to realistic defence needs, they will have to go.

Trident's successor is particularly vulnerable as it is hugely expensive, has no clear purpose, and is out of kilter with the arms control agenda being laid out by Obama. We would not honestly miss it if it was to be scrapped.

Clegg is just being realistic about the future. There is no point in pretending that we are an imperial power any more - and nor do most people want us to be.
Sean Baker - Havant

The torturers and yes-men from the Intelligence Services who led us into the disastrous and illegal invasion of Iraq, and who ask for torture of prisoners to be carried out on their behalf have increased the security risks to the UK and are a disgrace to their country.

The outburst from Clarke, Dearlove, and Guthrie shows what a cossetted and paranoid world they live in, and just how out of touch they are with the British public.

Who do these guys think they are - the KGB or Stasi, who we all have to obey without question? This kind of arrogant and amateurish intervention is more likely to increase support for the Lib Dems than weaken it.
Steve James - Aldershot

Arnold- I have no objection to Cleggs well off international connections.
I do object to him hiding them & projecting himself as an ordinary British bloke during the tv debate. Transparency & honesty is what I want from him.
John Hartley - Woking/Surrey/UK