Cameron and Clegg present a united front to mark first year of coalition

PM and deputy say two parties have distinct identities but insist coalition will endure as they make joint appearance David Cameron and Nick Clegg have marked the coalition government’s first anniversary with a show of unity and a pledge to see out a full five-year term in power. At an event in east London, the prime minister and his deputy took turns to portray the coalition as two parties with distinct identities, prone to arguments behind the scenes, but intent on coming up with unified policy conclusions that would best serve the country. Cameron and Clegg appeared together in Stratford as the coalition government sought to draw a line under the events of last week, when the Lib Dems fared very badly in local and devolved parliament elections and failed to win the alternative vote referendum. Speaking in the wake of the disastrous results for his party, Clegg said the Liberal Democrats had gone into coalition with its eyes “wide open”. He said that he had always known that the elections would be a “tough period” but insisted that the party would be judged by what it had achieved at the end of five years in power. Cameron said the voters would not be swayed by unspecified “fripperies” but by whether the government delivered “good results about the things that British people care about”. “That’s what we’re focused on, that’s why it’s a five-year government and that’s why I believe it will endure.” Clegg insisted that “whoever was in government” would have to do difficult, controversial and, in some respects, downright unpopular things. “I went into this with my eyes open, my party went into this collectively with our eyes open, that it wouldn’t be easy– you shouldn’t go into government because it is easy – but because we genuinely believe that what we are doing together, two parties coming together, yes retaining our differences, to clear up a lot of the problems we have inherited of the past that is the long-term interest of the country.” Clegg added: “Polls go up and down. People’s popularity goes up and down, parties’ popularity goes up and down. At the end of the day, how will we be judged? We will be judged about whether we have sorted out the mess we have inherited and restored a sense of optimism, of prosperity, of jobs for this country. It is a job we have started and we are going to see it through. This was always going to be the really, really tough part for the coalition and the tough part for the country economically.” The reason for coalition was “as strong today as it was a year ago”, said Cameron, as he highlighted long-term “structural problems” facing the country, the nation’s debt and youth unemployment. “We have different traditions and views and beliefs and we have robust discussions, even arguments in private, and then we come out with agreed policies that we think are good for the country,” said Cameron. “If people could see what actually happens in private, where both parties stand up for their views but we come to a good, collective decision, I think they’d see it is a strong coalition government and that’s what I’m absolutely committed to delivering.” The prime minister and his deputy PM made a joint appearance to outline plans to “reverse the trend of rising youth unemployment” through apprenticeships and work placements in private firms later down the line. But a brief question-and-answer session with the media was dominated by the relations between the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrat party in the aftermath of last week’s local and devolved elections and the referendum. The two men were also grilled on the Commons standard watchdog’s decision to suspend David Laws , a former Lib Dem minister and MP for Yeovil, for “serious breaches” of the expenses system. Clegg was caught out when he began to speak about David as being “a close friend of mine” only to be stopped by Cameron who joked he might want to make it clear that he was referring to Laws, in an answer to a two-part question that involved the seven-day suspension of Laws. Both men laughed as Clegg clarified he was referring to Laws. Earlier in the day, Clegg aired his unhappiness at the political point-scoring of both sides of the alternative vote referendum campaign as he appealed for unity over House of Lords reform . Giving evidence to the Commons political and constitutional reform committee on Thursday morning, Clegg said he was determined to press ahead with moves towards electing the upper chamber despite the resounding public rejection of a change to the voting system. Clegg said he hoped for less argument over the Lords than those witnessed by both camps in the referendum. “The referendum campaign was characterised, some would say disfigured, by party politics and point-scoring. It was not a particularly uplifting argument by either side of the debate. “What lessons does one learn? It reinforces my view that where we can develop ideas together rather than everyone shouting at each other across the barricades, clearly it is best.” He said he had gone to “very considerable effort” to find agreement by talking to all parties in the committee drawing up the proposals for the reforms. “I hope that desire to try to move forward as consensually as possible on something as constitutionally significant as that will be reflected and recognised in the draft bill we will be publishing shortly,” he told the Commons political and constitutional reform committee. Asked about criticisms from within his own party that he should not concentrate on issues that were more important to the party than the public, he said: “Things that are important are not always resonant. The fact that we as a country, as a national community, have been talking about this one way or another for a century or more suggests that it is not a preoccupation or an obsession for one party or one politician. “I do not think that as a government we should apologise, not only in this area, for proceeding with things that are important but might not be things that your constituents and mine will raise in our weekly surgeries.” David Cameron Nick Clegg Liberal-Conservative coalition Conservatives Liberal Democrats Hélène Mulholland guardian.co.uk

Posted by on May 12, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.