General Election 2015: Nick Clegg blasts “Blukip” coalition as Lib Dems reveal 20 danger zone seats
A coalition between the Tories, Ukip and the DUP might sound good to some British voters, but Nick Clegg has today coined the term “Blukip” to describe what he sees a nightmarish dystopian future.
The Liberal Democrat leader – who polls suggest could lose his seat in Sheffield Hallam – is warning that a minority Conservative government could “lurch to the right” if it is “forced to pander to Nigel Farage and his friends”.
Farage is planning to open “back channels” to discuss a pact with the Tories a week before the General Election on May 7, reports have suggested.
Although the Lib Dems have lost much support during its coalition with the Tories, with many claiming the centre-left party has pandered too much to its dominant bedfellow, Clegg claimed he and his colleagues had reined those rightwing tendancies in.
Ukip would do the opposite, he said:
Instead of Liberal Democrats holding the balance of power and using it to keep the Government in the liberal centre ground, Nigel Farage and his friends in the Conservatives and the DUP would drag Britain further and further to the right.
These people seek to have the death penalty returned; reject gay rights and don't believe in climate change, he noted, naming a string of MPs who have spoken on the record about these issues, blasting their “backwards-looking agenda”.
Clegg added:
There is a right wing threat to Britain. Who holds the balance of power in Britain the morning after polling day matters. The only people standing between Blukip and real power are a small number of Liberal Democrat candidates.
He has identified 20 seats that could create a Blukip coalition if won by the Tories, and helpfully included the Lib Dem candidate should you feel so moved as to block vote.
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The Lib Dems are clearly going all-out on this as an election strategy. They have created an “official” Blukip site, with mocked up images of Farage entering Number 10 with David Cameron and sitting on the front bench with George Osborne.
Farage through the front door (Source: Blukip.org)
Farage on the front bench (Source: blukip.org)