Nick Clegg: A home for progressives

Henley proved the New Labour mode of social democracy is dead. There is only one alternative Last week's byelection in Henley was predictable and surprising in equal measure: predictable because it showed that David Cameron, riding high in the polls as the government falls from grace, can win a safe seat on his home turf; but surprising because the Conservative vote didn't go up by much compared with the 2005 general election, even though the party is a full 14% higher in the national polls. Nor did the Liberal Democrat challenge in this, a quintessentially Conservative seat, wilt in the face of Cameron's sky-high ratings. Our vote even went up a little. Despite what some commentators have argued, the fact is that Conservatives will be able to take little comfort from Henley for their prospects of winning seats from the Lib... [read full story]