The Liberal Democrat surge in the opinion poll ratings has created a “people’s election” which has captured the nation’s imagination, leader Nick Clegg said today.
There was a “mood of change and hope” in the country, Mr Clegg said, with thousands of first-time voters desperate to make their voice heard.
But Mr Clegg refused to rule out working with Gordon Brown in the event of a hung parliament despite earlier condemning as “desperate” his attempt to portray Labour as a party committed to political reform.
Speaking to reporters on the campaign trail in Redruth, Cornwall, he said: “It’s so exciting that people seem to be actually wanting to engage.
“At the beginning of this election there was a real worry that it was going to collapse into yet another tired, old boring election campaign with the two old parties scoring points at breakfast, lunch and dinner off each other and it’s now turned into something a lot more exciting.
“It’s turned into a proper people’s election and I think that’s an exciting thing. It’s also a very unpredictable thing.” Asked whether he would rule out working with Mr Brown, forcing the Labour Party to select a candidate Mr Clegg would be prepared to deal with, the Lib Dem leader said: “I rule in working, in the national interest, in response to what people say on May 6th.
“For any politician to start short circuiting now a choice which could be made by up to 45 million people is just wrong, I’m not going to do it.” Responding to Tory claims a hung parliament could result in an economic crisis
Mr Clegg said: “David Cameron likes to frighten and tell people how they should vote, I want to give people the opportunity to make up their own minds in the next couple of weeks.” Mr Clegg said the Lib Dems had emerged with the “strongest message of hope” in the campaign.
However, according to a secret dossier left in a London taxi and obtained by the Sun, Mr Clegg had “no convincing answers” to questions on what would happen if no party had an overall majority.
The “black cab dossier” contained notes for his TV debate strategy which showed Mr Clegg had been coached to copy Tory leader Mr Cameron’s style. But in a press briefing in Westminster Mr Clegg laughed off the suggestion, saying: “I’m glad to see my top
team preparing for government by developing a habit of leaving secret dossiers in the back of cabs.
“Look, I’ve always been advised just to be myself in the TV debates and that’s exactly what I was and what I will continue to be.” Mr Clegg’s past came under scrutiny during the day, with his record as a lobbyist and his expense claims both the subject of questioning.
At his election campaign press conference he defended his time working for European lobbying firm GPlus saying: “I’ve always been very open about that and have got no problem at all with what I did there.” Later Mr Clegg was given a rough ride by BBC Radio 1 listeners over his expenses claims for gardening work and a £2.49 cake tin.
He said MPs including himself were living in a “parallel universe” when they claimed thousands of pounds of expenses from the taxpayer.
Mr Clegg was speaking in an interview on Radio 1’s Newsbeat programme which saw him quizzed by the station’s listeners. He was repeatedly challenged and interrupted during the encounter, which he later said was “tougher than Jeremy Paxman”.
PA