Nick Clegg
The liberal in coalition
Civil liberty, tested by power.
Reformist Liberal DemocratOne of 729 ideologies · enter the Liberal Democrat hall →- Role
- Deputy Prime Minister
- Era
- b. 1967
- Region
- United Kingdom
- Social band
- Reformist
- Placement
- −18 · −28 · +42
§ Where Nick Clegg stands
3 axesClegg belongs to the market-friendly wing of his party, having contributed to The Orange Book (2004), and as deputy prime minister he accepted the coalition's deficit-reduction programme. His modest left-of-centre placement rests on the redistributive measures he pressed inside it: raising the income-tax personal allowance to £10,000 by 2014, the pupil premium for disadvantaged children from 2011 and free school meals for infants from 2014.
Civil liberties and constitutional reform defined his time in government: the coalition scrapped Labour's identity cards in 2010 and passed the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 and the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012, and Clegg blocked the Communications Data Bill, the so-called snoopers' charter, in 2013. His bid for an elected House of Lords was abandoned in 2012 after a Conservative backbench revolt.
Clegg is a social and European liberal. He backed the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013, which Liberal Democrat ministers had championed within the coalition, and the shared parental leave introduced in 2015, and after the 2016 referendum he campaigned against Brexit, setting out his case in How to Stop Brexit (And Make Britain Great Again) in 2017.
How close are you to Nick Clegg?
Three statements, one per axis. Answer them and we’ll drop you on the compass next to them.
§ The story
LivingNicholas William Peter Clegg (born 1967) is a British Liberal Democrat who led his party from 2007 to 2015 and served as deputy prime minister in the 2010–2015 coalition government with the Conservatives. Educated at Westminster School, Cambridge and the College of Europe in Bruges, he worked at the European Commission, including as an adviser to Commissioner Leon Brittan, then sat as Member of the European Parliament for the East Midlands from 1999 to 2004 and as MP for Sheffield Hallam from 2005 to 2017.
After a strong showing in Britain's first televised leaders' debates and a hung parliament in 2010, he negotiated a coalition with David Cameron, winning a higher income-tax threshold, the pupil premium and a referendum on the voting system, which was lost in 2011. His vote to raise university tuition fees to £9,000, after pledging to oppose any increase, damaged his standing; the party fell from 57 seats to 8 in 2015 and he resigned. He lost his own seat in 2017, was knighted in 2018 and was a senior executive at Facebook, later Meta, from 2018 to 2025.
Notable for
- 01Led the Lib Dems into coalition
- 02Civil-liberties and reform agenda
- 03Equal-marriage advocate
Key works & moments
- 1999Elected Member of the European Parliament for the East Midlands.
- 2007Narrowly defeats Chris Huhne to become leader of the Liberal Democrats.
- 2010Becomes deputy prime minister in coalition with David Cameron's Conservatives.
- 2011The Alternative Vote referendum he secured is lost by more than two to one.
- 2015Resigns as leader after the Liberal Democrats fall from 57 seats to 8.
- 2018Joins Facebook as head of global affairs and communications.
§ Minds closest to Nick Clegg
All minds →
§ Also in the Liberal Democrat hall
Enter the hall →§ Common questions
4 answersWhat is Nick Clegg's political ideology?
Nick Clegg is a centrist social and economic liberal: on the 99ideologies three-axis compass, a Reformist Liberal Democrat. Economically he sits modestly left of centre (−18), a market liberal who championed tax cuts for low earners and extra funding for disadvantaged pupils. On governance he leans clearly towards civil liberty (−28), scrapping identity cards and blocking expanded surveillance, and socially he is progressive (+42), pro-European and a supporter of equal marriage.
Is Nick Clegg left-wing or right-wing?
Centrist, leaning slightly left on the economy. Clegg comes from the market-liberal wing of the Liberal Democrats and took his party into coalition with the Conservatives in 2010, supporting deficit reduction and higher tuition fees, which led many left-leaning voters to see him as having moved right. Yet he pressed for redistributive measures within government, defended civil liberties and is strongly pro-European, which places him in the liberal centre rather than on either side's wing.
Why did Nick Clegg break his tuition fees pledge?
Because he chose coalition compromise over the pledge. Before the 2010 election Clegg and other Liberal Democrat candidates signed a National Union of Students pledge to vote against any rise in tuition fees. In coalition, the government adopted plans after the Browne review to let universities charge up to £9,000 a year, and in December 2010 Clegg voted for them while his MPs split three ways. He argued the scheme was fairer than it looked, but apologised for making the pledge in 2012.
Which minds are closest to Nick Clegg?
On the 99ideologies three-axis compass, the minds closest to Nick Clegg are Frank Church (99% alike), President Laura Roslin (99% alike) and Earl Warren (98% alike). The furthest is Adam Sutler (16% alike).