History UsefulNotes / NickClegg

For obvious reasons, he lost a lot of credibility among British leftists following the formation of the Conservative–Liberal coalition, especially considering one of his campaign's "marketing tools" was encouraging people to vote Liberal to keep the Tories out. This was mainly because, although British politics had gotten to the point where while, on some issues (notably civil liberties) Labour had moved to the right of the Tories and so they were not necessarily closer in principle to the Lib Dems, many Lib Dem seats had Tories as the principal opposition, especially in rural parts of UsefulNotes/TheWestCountry, where Labour's support was and still is practically non-existent. And with Gordon Brown deemed impossible to support as Prime Minister, the Labour Party had no clear leader or strategy for negotiations, as their negotiating team later admitted. Clegg had also stressed before election day that the Lib Dems would be obligated to 'talk first' with whichever party had won the most seats as they had the most right to form a government; many grassroots Lib Dems were angry this led to the talks being followed through with a deal. The general perception, fair or not, that the Lib Dems were acting largely as lapdogs for the Conservatives while in government did not particularly help this impression, and the Conservatives appeared to have successfully transferred the fallout for some of their less-popular policies onto [[strike:Old]] Nick and the Lib Dems since taking office. Correspondingly, Clegg's popularity and that of his party sank to new lows. The most damaging was the Lib Dems allowing a rise in tuition fees, which broke a key manifesto commitment and alienated their young activist base; the fallout was so bad that Clegg had to release a public apology for violating his pledge, which was quickly turned into a StupidStatementDanceMix which [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUDjRZ30SNo went viral and attracted many more views]] than [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjOa1bWYMs8 his official apology video]].

Former leader of the Liberal Democrats and former Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom as part of a coalition deal with the Conservative Party.

Sir Nicholas William Peter Clegg (born 7 January 1967) was the man who led the Liberal Democratic Party to unimagined heights in 2010 ... and to unprecedented lows in 2015.

He was propelled into the limelight of British politics leading up to the 2010 general election thanks to a strong performance in the three prime ministerial debates against Labour Prime Minister UsefulNotes/GordonBrown and Conservative Opposition Leader UsefulNotes/DavidCameron, becoming something of an EnsembleDarkHorse thanks to his previous relative obscurity; in [[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7567513.stm a 2008 interview]], Cameron had actually said Clegg was his favourite political joke, which became retroactively HilariousInHindsight. Media often refer to Clegg's popularity following the first debate of 2010 as 'Cleggmania'. Although the Liberal Democrats failed to break through as many predicted -- they actually lost a net five seats in the election despite a 1% increase in their share of the popular vote overall -- the resulting hung parliament, the first one since February 1974, put Nick Clegg in a nevertheless-unprecedented KingmakerScenario. In a coalition with the Tories, the two parties made up a majority of seats -- however neither Labour nor the Lib Dems secured enough seats for a Lib/Lab coalition that held a majority without involving the Welsh and Scottish nationalist and Northern Irish parties.

For obvious reasons, he lost a lot of credibility among British leftists following the formation of the Conservative-Liberal coalition, especially considering one of his campaign's "marketing tools" was encouraging people to vote Liberal to keep the Tories out. This was mainly because, although British politics had gotten to the point where while, on some issues (notably civil liberties) Labour had moved to the right of the Tories and so they were not necessarily closer in principle to the Lib Dems, many Lib Dem seats had Tories as the principal opposition, especially in rural parts of UsefulNotes/TheWestCountry, where Labour's support was and still is practically non-existent. And with Gordon Brown deemed impossible to support as Prime Minister, the Labour Party had no clear leader or strategy for negotiations, as their negotiating team later admitted. Clegg had also stressed before election day that the Lib Dems would be obligated to 'talk first' with whichever party had won the most seats as they had the most right to form a government; many grassroots Lib Dems were angry this led to the talks being followed through with a deal. The general perception, fair or not, that the Lib Dems were acting largely as lapdogs for the Conservatives while in government did not particularly help this impression, and the Conservatives appeared to have successfully transferred the fallout for some of their less-popular policies onto [[strike:Old]] Nick and the Lib Dems since taking office. Correspondingly, Clegg's popularity and that of his party sank to new lows. The most damaging was the Lib Dems allowing a rise in tuition fees, which broke a key manifesto commitment and alienated their young activist base; the fallout was so bad that Clegg had to release a public apology for violating his pledge, which was quickly turned into a StupidStatementDanceMix which [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUDjRZ30SNo went viral and attracted many more views]] than [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjOa1bWYMs8 his official apology video]].

In 2022, Clegg was promoted to President of Global Affairs for the newly-renamed Meta Platforms, presumably as a reward for taking the fall on Facebook's behalf after the Facebook Files leak in late 2021. This means that throughout the course of his career he has served as the NumberTwo twice: first for the British Prime Minister and then for the CEO of Facebook/Meta.

Clegg was a member of the European Parliament for the East Midlands from 1999 to 2004. He served as the MP for Sheffield Hallam from 2005 to 2017 when he transitioned to national politics, and is not to be confused with the ''other'' [[Series/LastOfTheSummerWine Mr. N. Clegg from Yorkshire]] (yes, jokes have been made).

* ''Magazine/PrivateEye'' portrayed various people as viewing Clegg as a Messiah-like figure after his success in the debates. After the formation of the coalition, Clegg is presented as the Deputy Head of the New Coalition Academy, the Eye's school-themed politics parody.

In 2022, Clegg was promoted to President of Global Affairs for the newly-renamed Meta Corporation, presumably as a reward for taking the fall on Facebook's behalf after the Facebook Files leak in late 2021. This means that throughout the course of his career he has served as the NumberTwo twice: first for the British Prime Minister and then for the CEO of Facebook/Meta.

On [[UsefulNotes/UnitedKingdomGeneralElection2015 7 May 2015]], the Liberal Democrats fell to shocking lows, winning only eight seats in the House of Commons, down 49 from five years earlier when they ended up with the most power they've had in their modern history (starting from 1988, when the Liberal and Social Democratic Parties merged). Defying the polls, the Conservatives won an overall majority (albeit a very small one), so the coalition came to an end. On 8 May, Clegg simultaneously resigned as party leader, Deputy Prime Minister, and Lord President of the Council. The Lib Dems elected Tim Farron as their new leader.

After the UK voted to leave UsefulNotes/TheEuropeanUnion in the referendum of June 2016, Clegg, a staunch Europhile, was appointed the party's spokesman for international trade and exiting the EU, but this comeback (if such it can be called) was curtailed by the surprise general election of 2017, in which he lost his seat to Labour's Jared O'Mara.[[note]]His fall from the highs of "Cleggmania" just seven years earlier was so complete that Creator/TheBBC cut away from his concession speech.[[/note]] For some time he continued to advocate for a reversal of the referendum result, usually (in accordance with official Lib Dem policy) by means of a second referendum on the terms of the withdrawal deal, with "remain in the European Union" one of the options on the ballot paper. He even implied that a Britain which remains after all could get a "new deal" which better suits British interests, despite nobody on the Continent suggesting this -- quite the contrary, in fact. He largely retreated from front-line politics in early 2018, however, when he accepted a position as a senior executive at Website/{{Facebook}}, a role for which the jokes really write themselves at this point. Apart from a single tweet congratulating the Lib Dems on their best-ever performance at the European Parliamentary elections of 2019 (a victory which was rendered meaningless by the UK officially leaving the EU less than a year later), he has made no further public comment on British politics to date.

He was propelled into the limelight of British politics leading up to the 2010 general election thanks to a strong performance in the three prime ministerial debates against Labour Prime Minister UsefulNotes/GordonBrown and Conservative Opposition Leader UsefulNotes/DavidCameron, becoming something of an EnsembleDarkHorse thanks to his previous relative obscurity. Although the Liberal Democrats failed to break through as many predicted -- they actually lost a net five seats in the election despite a 1% increase in their share of the popular vote overall -- the resulting hung parliament put Nick Clegg in a nevertheless-unprecedented KingmakerScenario. In a coalition with the Tories, the two parties made up a majority of seats -- however neither Labour nor the Lib Dems secured enough seats for a Lib/Lab coalition that held a majority without involving the nationalist and Northern Irish parties.

Understandably, he has lost a lot of credibility among British leftists following the formation of the Conservative-Liberal coalition, especially considering one of his campaign's "marketing tools" was encouraging people to vote Liberal to keep the Tories out. This was mainly because, although British politics has moved on to the point whereby on some issues (notably civil liberties) Labour were to the Tories' right and so they are not necessarily closer in principle to the Lib Dems, many Lib Dem seats have Tories as the principal opposition, especially in UsefulNotes/TheWestCountry, where Labour's support is practically non-existent. And with Gordon Brown deemed impossible to support as Prime Minister, the Labour Party had no clear leader or strategy for negotiations, as the negotiating team later admitted. Clegg had also stressed beforehand that the Lib Dems would be obligated to 'talk first' with whichever party had won the most seats as they had the most right to form a government; many grassroots Lib Dems were angry this led to the talks being followed through with a deal. The general perception, fair or not, that the Lib Dems were acting largely as lapdogs for the Conservatives while in government did not particularly help this impression, and the Conservatives appeared to have successfully transferred the fallout for some of their less-popular policies onto [[strike:Old]] Nick and the Lib Dems since taking office; correspondingly, Clegg's popularity and that of his party sank to new lows. The most damaging was the Lib Dems allowing a rise in tuition fees, which broke a key manifesto commitment and alienated their young activist base; the fallout was so bad that Clegg had to release a public apology for violating his pledge, which was quickly turned into a StupidStatementDanceMix which [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUDjRZ30SNo went viral and attracted many more views]] than [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjOa1bWYMs8 his official apology video]].

On [[UsefulNotes/UnitedKingdomGeneralElection2015 7 May 2015]], the Liberal Democrats fell to shocking lows, winning only eight seats in the House of Commons. The Conservatives won an overall majority (albeit a very small one), so the coalition came to an end. On 8 May, Clegg simultaneously resigned as party leader, Deputy Prime Minister, and Lord President of the Council. The Lib Dems elected Tim Farron as their new leader.

After the UK voted to leave UsefulNotes/TheEuropeanUnion in the referendum of June 2016, Clegg, a staunch Europhile, was appointed the party's spokesman for international trade and exiting the EU, but this comeback (if such it can be called) was curtailed by the surprise general election of 2017, in which he lost his seat to Labour's Jared O'Mara.[[note]]His fall from the highs of "Cleggmania" just seven years earlier was so complete that Creator/TheBBC cut away from his concession speech.[[/note]] For a time he continued to advocate for a reversal of the referendum result, usually (in accordance with official Lib Dem policy) by means of a second referendum on the terms of the withdrawal deal, with "remain in the European Union" one of the options on the ballot paper. He even implied that a Britain which remains after all could get a "new deal" which better suits British interests, despite nobody on the Continent suggesting this -- quite the contrary, in fact. However he largely retreated from front-line politics when he accepted a position as a senior executive at Website/{{Facebook}}, a role for which the jokes really write themselves at this point. Apart from a single tweet congratulating the Lib Dems on their best-ever performance at the European Parliamentary elections of 2019 (a victory which was rendered meaningless by the UK leaving the EU less than a year later), he has made no further public comment on British politics to date.

Media often refer to Clegg's popularity following the first debate of 2010 as 'Cleggmania'. Clegg was also MP for Sheffield Hallam, and is not to be confused with the ''other'' [[Series/LastOfTheSummerWine Mr. N. Clegg from Yorkshire]] (yes, jokes have been made).

* Ruthlessly mocked on the satirical programme ''Series/RussellHowardsGoodNews''. The fact that the show's second series coincided with the live debates helped. After Clegg's popularity soared as a result of the debates, Howard was good enough to eat humble pie on air. Although after the Tuition Fees issue (telling young people to get more involved in politics then rescinding on the promise to oppose tuition fees once in power), Russell Howard portrayed his soul as peaceful woodlands before, and burning wastelands after.

After the UK voted to leave UsefulNotes/TheEuropeanUnion in the referendum of June 2016, Clegg, a staunch Europhile, was appointed the party's spokesman for international trade and exiting the EU, but this comeback (if such it can be called) was curtailed by the surprise general election of 2017, in which he lost his seat to Labour's Jared O'Mara.[[note]]His fall from the highs of "Cleggmania" just seven years earlier was so complete that Creator/TheBBC cut away from his concession speech.[[/note]] For a time he continued to advocate for a reversal of the referendum result, usually (in accordance with official Lib Dem policy) by means of a second referendum on the terms of the withdrawal deal, with "remain in the European Union" one of the options on the ballot paper. He even implied that a Britain which remains after all could get a "new deal" which better suits British interests, despite nobody on the Continent suggesting this -- quite the contrary, in fact. However he largely retreated from front-line politics when he accepted a position as a senior executive at Website/{{Facebook}}, a role for which the jokes really write themselves at this point.

Understandably, he has lost a lot of credibility among British leftists following the formation of the Conservative-Liberal coalition, especially considering one of his campaign's "marketing tools" was encouraging people to vote Liberal to keep the Tories out. This was mainly because, although British politics has moved on to the point whereby on some issues (notably civil liberties) Labour were to the Tories' right and so they are not necessarily closer in principle to the Lib Dems, many Lib Dem seats have Tories as the principal opposition, especially in UsefulNotes/TheWestCountry, where Labour's support is practically non-existent. And with Gordon Brown deemed impossible to support as Prime Minister, the Labour Party had no clear leader or strategy for negotiations, as the negotiating team later admitted. Clegg had also stressed beforehand that the Lib Dems would be obligated to 'talk first' with whichever party had won the most seats as they had the most right to form a government; many grassroots Lib Dems were angry this led to the talks being followed through with a deal. The general perception, fair or not, that the Lib Dems were acting largely as lapdogs for the Conservatives while in government did not particularly help this impression, and the Conservatives appeared to have successfully transferred the fallout for some of their less-popular policies onto [[strike:Old]] Nick and the Lib Dems since taking office; correspondingly, Clegg's popularity and that of his party sank to new lows. The most damaging was the Lib Dems allowing a rise in tuition fees, which broke a key manifesto commitment (although the Lib Dems had abandoned it already, as part of the Coalition Agreement) and alienated their young activist base (who may not have understood how coalitions work, or the idea of ''Cabinet collective responsibility''); the fallout was so bad that Clegg had to release a public apology for violating his pledge, which was quickly turned into a StupidStatementDanceMix which [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUDjRZ30SNo went viral and attracted many more views]] than [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjOa1bWYMs8 his official apology video]].

After the UK voted to leave UsefulNotes/TheEuropeanUnion in the referendum of June 2016, Clegg, a staunch Europhile, was appointed the party's spokesman for international trade and exiting the EU, but this comeback (if such it can be called) was curtailed by the surprise general election of 2017, in which he lost his seat to Labour's Jared O'Mara.[[note]]His fall from the highs of "Cleggmania" just seven years earlier was so complete that Creator/TheBBC cut away from his concession speech.[[/note]] He continues to advocate for a reversal of the referendum result, usually (in accordance with official Lib Dem policy) by means of a second referendum on the terms of the withdrawal deal, with "remain in the European Union" one of the options on the ballot paper. He has implied that a Britain which remains after all could get a "new deal" which better suits British interests, despite nobody on the Continent suggesting this -- quite the contrary, in fact.[[note]]Several European politicians, both in Brussels and amongst the member states, including European Council President Donald Tusk, have openly suggested that Britain can revoke their Article 50 notification of withdrawal and stay after all, but the most they'll be able to hold onto is the ''status quo ante'' arrangement -- even the terms of Cameron's renegotiation (which were voided with the vote to leave) are no longer on offer. Some, including MEP Guy Verhofstadt (a member of the same ALDE bloc as Clegg and a close ally of his) have suggested that the UK might be forced to give up its remaining opt-outs -- including on the Euro and the budget rebate -- in exchange for being allowed to stay in if it changes its mind about leaving.[[/note]]

Sir Nicholas William Peter Clegg (born 7 January 1967) was the man who led the Liberal Democratic Party to unimagined heights in 2010... and to unprecedented lows in 2015.

He was propelled into the limelight of British politics leading up to the 2010 General Election thanks to a strong performance in the three prime ministerial debates, becoming something of a dark horse thanks to his previous relative obscurity. Although the Liberal Democrats failed to break through as many predicted - they actually lost 6 seats in the election despite a 1% increase in their share of the popular vote overall - the resulting hung parliament made Nick Clegg something of a kingmaker. In a coalition with the Tories, the two parties made up a majority of seats - however neither Labour nor the Lib Dems secured enough seats for a Lib/Lab coalition that held a majority without involving the nationalist and Northern Irish parties.

Understandably, he has lost a lot of credibility among British leftists following the formation of the Conservatives-Liberal coalition, especially considering one of his campaign's "marketing tools" was encouraging people to vote Liberal to keep the Tories out. This was mainly because, although British politics has moved on to the point whereby on some issues (notably civil liberties) Labour were more to the right than the Tories and so they are not necessarily closer in principle to the Lib Dems, a lot of Lib Dem seats have Tories as the principal opposition, especially in the UsefulNotes/TheWestCountry, where Labour's support is practically non-existent. And with Gordon Brown deemed impossible to support as Prime Minister, the Labour party had no clear leader or strategy for negotiations, as the negotiating team later admitted. Clegg had also stressed beforehand that the Lib Dems would be obligated to 'talk first' with whichever party had won the most seats as they had the most right to form a government; many grassroots Lib Dems were angry this led to the talks being followed through with a deal. The general perception, fair or not, that the Lib Dems were acting largely as lapdogs for the Conservatives while in government did not particularly help this impression, and the Conservatives appeared to have successfully transferred the fallout for some of their less-popular policies onto [[strike:Old]] Nick and the Lib Dems since taking office; correspondingly, Clegg's popularity and that of his party sank to new lows. The most damaging was the Lib Dems allowing a rise in tuition fees, which broke a key manifesto commitment (although the Lib Dems had abandoned it already, as part of the Coalition Agreement) and alienated their young activist base (who may not have understood how coalitions work, or the idea of ''Cabinet collective responsibility''); the fallout was so bad that Clegg had to release a public apology for violating his pledge, which was quickly turned into a StupidStatementDanceMix which [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUDjRZ30SNo went viral and attracted many more views]] than [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjOa1bWYMs8 his official apology video]].

On [[UsefulNotes/UnitedKingdomGeneralElection2015 May 7th 2015]], the Liberal Democrats fell to shocking lows, winning only eight seats in the House of Commons. The Conservatives won an overall majority (albeit a very small one), so the coalition came to an end. On May 8th, Clegg simultaneously resigned as party leader, Deputy Prime Minister and Lord President of the Council. The Lib Dems elected Tim Farron as their new leader.

After the UK voted to leave UsefulNotes/TheEuropeanUnion in the referendum of June 2016, Clegg, a staunch Europhile, was appointed the party's spokesman for international trade and exiting the EU, but this comeback (if such it can be called) was curtailed by the surprise general election of 2017, in which he lost his seat to the Labour candidate.[[note]]His fall from the highs of "Cleggmania" just seven years earlier was so complete that Creator/TheBBC cut away from his concession speech.[[/note]] He continues to advocate for a reversal of the referendum result, usually (in accordance with official Lib Dem policy) by means of a second referendum on the terms of the withdrawal deal, with "remain in the European Union" one of the options on the ballot paper. He has implied that a Britain which remains after all will be able to get a "new deal" which better suits British interests, despite nobody on the Continent suggesting this - quite the contrary, in fact[[note]]Several European politicians, both in Brussels and amongst the member states, including European Council President Donald Tusk, have openly suggested that Britain can revoke their Article 50 notification of withdrawal and stay after all, but the most they'll be able to hold onto is the ''status quo ante'' arrangement - even the terms of Cameron's renegotiation (which were voided with the vote to leave) are no longer on offer. Some, including MEP Guy Verhofstadt (a member of the same ALDE bloc as Clegg and a close ally of his) have suggested that the UK might be forced to give up its remaining opt-outs - including on the Euro and the budget rebate - in exchange for being allowed to stay in if it changes its mind about leaving[[/note]].

The popularity of Clegg following the first debate is often referred to by the media as 'Cleggmania'. Clegg was also MP for Sheffield Hallam, and is not to be confused with the ''other'' [[Series/LastOfTheSummerWine Mr. N. Clegg from Yorkshire]] (yes, jokes have been made).

--> "They call me Nick Clegg! Nick Clegg! [[GagPenis I got a third leg! Third leg!]]"

Understandably, he has lost a lot of credibility among British leftists following the formation of the Conservatives-Liberal coalition, especially considering one of his campaign's "marketing tools" was encouraging people to vote Liberal to keep the Tories out. This was mainly because, although British politics has moved on to the point whereby on some issues (notably civil liberties) Labour were more to the right than the Tories and so they are not necessarily closer in principle to the Lib Dems, a lot of Lib Dem seats have Tories as the principal opposition, especially in the UsefulNotes/TheWestCountry, where Labour's support is practically non-existent. And with Gordon Brown deemed impossible to support as Prime Minister, the Labour party had no clear leader or strategy for negotiations, as the negotiating team later admitted. Clegg had also stressed beforehand that the Lib Dems would be obligated to 'talk first' with whichever party had won the most seats as they had the most right to form a government; many grassroots Lib Dems were angry this led to the talks being followed through with a deal. The general perception, fair or not, that the Lib Dems were acting largely as lapdogs for the Conservatives while in government did not particularly help this impression, and the Conservatives appeared to have successfully transferred the fallout for some of their less-popular policies onto [[strike:Old]] Nick and the Lib Dems since taking office; correspondingly, Clegg's popularity and that of his party sank to new lows. The most damaging was the Lib Dems allowing a rise in tuition fees, which broke a key manifesto commitment and alienated their young activist base; the fallout was so bad that Clegg had to release a public apology for violating his pledge, which was quickly turned into a StupidStatementDanceMix which [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUDjRZ30SNo went viral and attracted many more views]] than [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjOa1bWYMs8 his official apology video]].

After the UK voted to leave UsefulNotes/TheEuropeanUnion in the referendum of June 2016, Clegg, a staunch Europhile, was appointed the party's spokesman for international trade and exiting the EU, but this comeback (if such it can be called) was curtailed by the surprise general election of 2017, in which he lost his seat to the Labour candidate. He continues to advocate for a reversal of the referendum result, usually (in accordance with official Lib Dem policy) by means of a second referendum on the terms of the withdrawal deal, with "remain in the European Union" one of the options on the ballot paper. He has implied that a Britain which remains after all will be able to get a "new deal" which better suits British interests, despite nobody on the Continent suggesting this - quite the contrary, in fact[[note]]Several European politicians, both in Brussels and amongst the member states, including European Council President Donald Tusk, have openly suggested that Britain can revoke their Article 50 notification of withdrawal and stay after all, but the most they'll be able to hold onto is the ''status quo ante'' arrangement - even the terms of Cameron's renegotiation (which were voided with the vote to leave) are no longer on offer. Some, including MEP Guy Verhofstadt (a member of the same ALDE bloc as Clegg and a close ally of his) have suggested that the UK might be forced to give up its remaining opt-outs - including on the Euro and the budget rebate - in exchange for being allowed to stay in if it changes its mind about leaving[[/note]].

Nicholas William Peter Clegg (born 7 January 1967) was the man who led the Liberal Democratic Party to unimagined heights in 2010... and to unprecedented lows in 2015.

Understandably, he has lost a lot of credibility among British leftists following the formation of the Conservatives-Liberal coalition, especially considering one of his campaign's "marketing tools" was encouraging people to vote Liberal to keep the Tories out. This was mainly because, although British politics has moved on to the point whereby on some issues (notably civil liberties) Labour were more to the right than the Tories and so they are not necessarily closer in principle to the Lib Dems, a lot of Lib Dem seats have Tories as the principal opposition, especially in the UsefulNotes/TheWestCountry, where Labour's support is practically non-existent. And with Gordon Brown deemed impossible to support as Prime Minister, the Labour party had no clear leader or strategy for negotiations, as the negotiating team later admitted. Clegg had also stressed beforehand that the Lib Dems would be obligated to 'talk first' with whichever party had won the most seats as they had the most right to form a government; many grassroots Lib Dems were angry this led to the talks being followed through with a deal. The general perception, fair or not, that the Lib Dems were acting largely as lapdogs for the Conservatives while in government did not particularly help this impression, and the Conservatives appeared to have successfully transferred the fallout for some of their less-popular policies onto [[strike:Old]] Nick and the Lib Dems since taking office; correspondingly, Clegg's popularity and that of his party sank to new lows.

After the UK voted to leave UsefulNotes/TheEuropeanUnion in the referendum of June 2016, Clegg, a staunch Europhile, was appointed the party's spokesman for international trade and exiting the EU, but this comeback (if such it can be called) was curtailed by the surprise general election of 2017, in which he lost his seat to the Labour candidate.

Nick Clegg was the man who led the Liberal Democratic Party to unimagined heights in 2010... and to unprecedented lows in 2015.

The popularity of Clegg following the first debate is often referred to by the media as 'Cleggmania'. Clegg was also MP for Sheffield Hallam, and is not to be confused with the ''other'' [[LastOfTheSummerWine Mr. N. Clegg from Yorkshire]] (yes, jokes have been made).