UNITED KINGDOM – Nick Clegg has called for next month’s General Election debate to be rescheduled to April 2010, when he had a chance of being Prime Minister.
The Liberal Democrat leader said he was “more than ready” to take on rival party leaders ahead of the 2015 election, as long as the seven-way debate took place five years in the past.
“If we are to engage in a debate they should not only be held at a neutral location, but at a neutral point in time…the present is just too unworkable for me.”
Do over
Since forming the coalition government, Nick Clegg has seen many of his promises fade away faster than hype over Lady Gaga’s wardrobe choices and believes the current plan for a debate in the present day would put him at a significant disadvantage given that people now know him.
“Yes a debate must take place but they must be fair and must be held on a level playing field for all,” reminded Mr Clegg. “and after the five years I’ve had that’s simply not possible.”
The 48-year-old then made an impassioned plea for his rivals to engage him in political discourse at a time when the voting public still listened to what he had to say.
So far, the only instance of a political debate held in a bygone era was the 2012 Republican presidential candidate debate on women’s rights – a debate that took place in the 18th century.
Nick Clegg acknowledged that while the chances of discovering a wormhole needed to travel back in time, surviving the threat of sudden worm hole collapse and high levels of radiation were extremely low, they were still much higher than the chances of him winning an election campaign in 2015.
Back to the future
The Conservative Party rejected Nick Clegg’s debate plans, labelling them “unworkable outside of a Dr Who episode” and reiterated their desire to see any debate take place in the present day.
A Downing Street spokesman said David Cameron would veto the plan as he “was not interested in travelling back in time for any purpose other than killing Hitler” and would “seriously question the practicality of rescheduling a debate five years in the past.”
However, 27-year-old Marie Stewart who voted Liberal Democrat in 2010 backed Nick Clegg, but believed they did not go far enough: “I think he should go so far back into in the past that we forget he was ever here.”
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