Clegg: man who sided with Tories

[1]

Nick Clegg

Britain’s new deputy prime minister Nich-olas “Nick” William Peter Clegg has only been a member of Parliament for Sheff-ield since 2005. Forty-three-year-old Clegg, who was elected leader of the Liberal Democrats in December 2007, is close to PM David Cameron’s age and shares his privileged background too. Mr Clegg, who was virtually an unknown in Britain, dominated the election campaign with the boost to his popularity from the three television debates.
However, he could not translate that popularity into votes for his party and ended with 57 seats. Nevertheless, he managed to wrest the maximum concessions from the Conservatives and ended up as deputy prime minister and four more Cabinet posts for his party. A huge achievement for a party that has not been in power since the 1930s. To top that, Mr Clegg managed to sell the deal to his party’s MPs and peers and the party’s executive committee. Mr Clegg won grudging respect of his supporters and detractors both by using the threat of talks with the Labour Party to wrest more concessions from the Tories.
Born in January 1967, Mr Clegg is the third of four children and his banker father is half-Russian and mother is Dutch. His family’s European background has found reflection in Mr Clegg’s multilingualism — he is fluent in English, Dutch, French, German, and Spanish. He is married to international trade lawyer Miriam Gonzalez Durantez, a Spanish national, since 2000 and they have three young sons.

***
Obama for special ties with UK
London : US President Barack Obama was the first foreign leader to congratulate newly-elected British Prime Minister David Cameron on Tuesday night, reports our correspondent. “The United States has no closer friend and ally than the United Kingdom, and I reiterated my deep and personal commitment to the special relationship betwe-en our two countries — a bond that has endured for generations and across party lines, and that is essential to the security and prosperity of our two countries, and the world,” after the call Mr Obama said in a statement, which was released by Downing Street.