Monday, March 14, 2011

Are you in the radical centre? | Open thread

Nick Clegg has told the Liberal Democrat conference that Britain needs a 'new radical centre' in modern politics

Nick Clegg was high on rhetorical catchphrases when closing the Liberal Democrat conference in Sheffield on Sunday. Deploring the "tribalism of left and right" in his campaign to reconnect with "alarm clock Britain", Clegg announced that the Lib Dems were now the party of the "radical centre".

The Lib Dem leader seemed to want to distance himself from the political philosophy of New Labour, saying: "We are not heirs to Thatcher. We are not heirs to Blair." Yet he perhaps missed the former Labour PM's 1996 address to the Anglo-American Chamber of Commerce, in which he also declared an affiliation with the so-called radical centre: "We need a new radical centre in modern politics that can answer the competitive challenge whilst enhancing social stability and cohesion. And today's Labour party, New Labour, is a party of the centre as well as the centre-left."

Do you consider yourself a member of the radical centre? And what do you understand the term to mean?


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Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/mar/14/radical-centre-nick-clegg-liberal-democrat

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