Not Beyond The Bounds

How ruthless is Nick Clegg prepared to be? No, bear with me. His party is facing oblivion at the next General Election. He is unlikely to hold his own seat, which is why he is unlikely to contest it. David Cameron wants him to let Lords reform, potentially another Maastricht, go by the by. What might he demand in return?

I am not necessarily advocating what I am about to set out. I may or may not have been told a little something by someone who had read my cover piece in today's edition of The Week/The First Post. I may have been in various degrees of touch with all sorts of interesting political characters for half my lifetime and counting, or even longer in one or two cases.

Anyway, here it is: an amendment to the Bill redrawing the Commons boundaries, providing for each of the 12 European constituencies to elect an addition five MPs, with each of us voting for one candidate, and with the top five elected at the end. 60 in all, giving 660 MPs in total. 

11 Conservatives, 11 Labour, 10 Greens (Scotland and each of the nine English regions), 10 UKIP (Wales and each of the nine English regions), and one each from the SNP, Plaid Cymru, the DUP, the SDLP, the UUP (effectively saved by this device) and the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland, together with a Sinn Féiner who wouldn't turn up.

Plus, which is the crucial point, 11 Lib Dems, probably doubling their number in the next Parliament, and certainly increasing it very substantially. One of those 11 would be Nick Clegg.

I do not know if this will come to anything. But I do know that it is being said. And, although I sincerely cannot tell you for the sake of the old friend who is my source, I know where and by whom it is being said.