Sir Nicholas William Peter Clegg is a British former politician who served as Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2015 and as Leader of the Liberal Democrats from 2007 to 2015. An "Orange Book" liberal, Clegg served as a Member of Parliament for Sheffield Hallam from 2005 to 2017 and has been associated with both socially liberal and economically liberal policies. He is Vice-President for Global Affairs and Communications at Facebook.Born in Buckinghamshire, Clegg was educated at the University of Cambridge, the University of Minnesota, and the College of Europe. He served as a journalist for the Financial Times before becoming a Member of the European Parliament in 1999. After his election to the House of Commons in 2005, Clegg served in a variety of leadership roles in the Liberal Democrats, most notably as Spokesperson for Home Affairs, before being elected to succeed Menzies Campbell as party leader in 2007. During his tenure as leader, Clegg asserted that the Liberal Democrats transcended the tradition "left-right" axis and labelled the party as being radical centrist in orientation. He advocated for reduced taxes, electoral reform, cuts on defence spending, and an increased focus on environmental issues.
As a result of the 2010 general election, Clegg's Liberal Democrats found themselves with 57 seats in the House of Commons. The Conservative Party, which failed to receive a majority, formed a coalition with the Liberal Democrats, and Clegg was appointed by David Cameron to serve as his Deputy Prime Minister. In this capacity, he became the first leader of the Liberal Democrats to answer for the Prime Minister's Questions, and used his influence in the position to pass the Fixed-term Parliaments Act. Controversy arose during this time surrounding the Liberal Democrats' decision to abandon to their pledge to oppose increases in tuition fees, which had previously been a key issue that won the party support from students.During the party's time in coalition, the Liberal Democrats saw a significant drop in support, and the 2015 general election left the party with just 8 seats, which resulted in Clegg's ousting as Deputy Prime Minister and his resignation as party leader. In 2016, following a referendum in which a majority supported leaving the European Union, Clegg returned to the Liberal Democrat frontbench, concurrently serving as Spokesperson for Exiting the European Union and for International Trade from July 2016 to June 2017. In the 2017 general election, Clegg was defeated in his constituency of Sheffield Hallam by Jared O'Mara of the Labour Party. In October 2018, it was announced Clegg had been appointed Vice President of Global Affairs and Communications at Facebook, succeeding Elliot Schrage. Wikipedia
“In politics, you live by the sword, and you die by the sword.”
At the election count in 2017 at Sheffield Hallam, where he lost his seat in the House of Commons. https://news.sky.com/video/clegg-you-live-by-the-sword-you-die-by-the-sword-10909195 Sky News (9 June 2017) <br class="br">2017
Nick Clegg, BBC Today Programme http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7201881.stm (22 January, 2008) <br class="br">2008
Remarks on LBC 97.3 radio show on the Snooper Charters No revival of snooper's charter bill before election, says Nick Clegg http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/jun/26/nick-clegg-snoopers-charter-bill-election-theresa-may The Guardian (26 June 2014) <br class="br">2014
Clegg vows to defy ID cards law http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2007/oct/31/idcards.liberaldemocrats The Guardian (31 October 2007) <br class="br">2007
Remarks on LBC radio on the Snooper Charter Nick Clegg: No 'web snooping' bill while Lib Dems in government http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-22292474 BBC.co.uk (25 April 2013) <br class="br">2013
Resignation speech after losing the 2015 general election UK http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/generalelection/nick-clegg-resigns-the-liberal-democrat-leaders-resignation-speech-text-in-full-10235830.html The Independent (8 May 2015)
Remarks to Jack Straw at Prime Minister's Questions clarifying the government's position on the Iraq war after telling MPs the conflict had been "illegal" http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-10715629 (21 July 2010) <br class="br">2010
2011 speech to the Liberal Democrat conference in Birmingham http://www.britishpoliticalspeech.org/speech-archive.htm?speech=311 (2011) <br class="br">2011
