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Nigel Farage's mask is slipping, revealing his nasty views, says Clegg Nigel Farage's mask is slipping, revealing his nasty views, says Clegg
(35 minutes later)
Nick Clegg has said Nigel Farage's mask is beginning to slip, and "behind the beer-swilling bonhomie is a really nasty view of the world" and of modern Britain.Nick Clegg has said Nigel Farage's mask is beginning to slip, and "behind the beer-swilling bonhomie is a really nasty view of the world" and of modern Britain.
The deputy prime minister appealed to those opposed to such divisive politics to come out and vote against Ukip next week.The deputy prime minister appealed to those opposed to such divisive politics to come out and vote against Ukip next week.
Clegg's remarks were prompted by Farage's claim last week that he would not want Romanians to be his neighbours in London, but that Germans would be different.Clegg's remarks were prompted by Farage's claim last week that he would not want Romanians to be his neighbours in London, but that Germans would be different.
Clegg said the Ukip leader was offering the politics of division, and it should not have any place in modern Britain.Clegg said the Ukip leader was offering the politics of division, and it should not have any place in modern Britain.
The Labour leader, Ed Miliband, who has stepped up his campaigning on the issue of immigration, accused Farage of a "racial slur" against Romanians, but said he did not believe the Ukip leader was a racist.
On BBC1's Andrew Marr programme, Clegg was asked whether Farage was a racist and said: "I think the mask is starting to slip and what has been revealed behind that beer-swilling bonhomie is a really nasty view of the world. Anyone who singles out one community or nationality and says 'I don't want to live next to them' – I think that is the politics of division, and I don't think it has any place in modern Britain."On BBC1's Andrew Marr programme, Clegg was asked whether Farage was a racist and said: "I think the mask is starting to slip and what has been revealed behind that beer-swilling bonhomie is a really nasty view of the world. Anyone who singles out one community or nationality and says 'I don't want to live next to them' – I think that is the politics of division, and I don't think it has any place in modern Britain."
Clegg also predicted that his own party would hold its nerve after the European elections, dismissing suggestions that there would be a challenge to his leadership or calls for the party to quit the coalition.Clegg also predicted that his own party would hold its nerve after the European elections, dismissing suggestions that there would be a challenge to his leadership or calls for the party to quit the coalition.
He said it would be self-defeating for the party to lose its nerve just when its policies were being vindicated.He said it would be self-defeating for the party to lose its nerve just when its policies were being vindicated.
He said: "Of course it has been tough, going into a coalition with either the Conservatives or Labour in a system not used to coalition. It was always going to be difficult and added to that we had to take all those difficult decisions to fulfil what has been the central mission of this government, which was to repair and reform the deeply damaged British economy.He said: "Of course it has been tough, going into a coalition with either the Conservatives or Labour in a system not used to coalition. It was always going to be difficult and added to that we had to take all those difficult decisions to fulfil what has been the central mission of this government, which was to repair and reform the deeply damaged British economy.
"Most Liberal Democrats are immensely proud of our resilience and our unity, and that despite the endless breathless predictions that we are seeing again right now we have delivered." He said he had lost count of the number of predictions of the government falling apart."Most Liberal Democrats are immensely proud of our resilience and our unity, and that despite the endless breathless predictions that we are seeing again right now we have delivered." He said he had lost count of the number of predictions of the government falling apart.
Clegg added: "In those areas where we were able to get our message across, knocking on doors, explaining what we have done, we will do better than people predict." Elsewhere he said the results would be "very, very challenging", but he disputed that this would have implications for the general election.Clegg added: "In those areas where we were able to get our message across, knocking on doors, explaining what we have done, we will do better than people predict." Elsewhere he said the results would be "very, very challenging", but he disputed that this would have implications for the general election.
He said he was not a pollster or soothsayer, but claimed: "One of the things that the Westminster-based media has not picked up at all is the huge blow to traditional Labour support in the traditional Labour heartlands in the north at the hands of Ukip."He said he was not a pollster or soothsayer, but claimed: "One of the things that the Westminster-based media has not picked up at all is the huge blow to traditional Labour support in the traditional Labour heartlands in the north at the hands of Ukip."
He backtracked on suggestions that he would make demands about a European Union referendum as a price of a coalition after the election. He said the Conservatives were playing hokey cokey with the electorate over the European Union, saying one minute that they only wanted minor tweaks to the relationship with the EU, but then that they would leave the European Union if they did not get those minor changes. He said it was "silly to stamp your little feet on the sidelines and if you don't get your way, throw your teddy out of the pram". In an interview on Murnaghan on Sky News on Sunday the Labour leader condemned Farage's comments, saying: "I think his remarks were deeply offensive … I think they were a racial slur but I don't think of Nigel Farage as a racist himself. They were inappropriate, and wrong, and he should not have made them."
He predicted it would be harder than Cameron predicted to get the treaty changes he needed after the election, but refused to say if he would allow Cameron to have his referendum if it was a condition of a Liberal-Democrat-Tory referendum. Miliband has stepped up his campaigning on immigration. Some senior Labour figures, both in the shadow cabinet and in the so-called Blue Labour movement, are frustrated that the party has not done more to confront the Ukip threat earlier in the campaign.
The issue is likely to be at the centre of any inquest in the Labour party if it does not do well when polls close on Thursday. Some shadow cabinet figures privately would not object to Ukip polling 6% or 7% at the general election since the bulk of the Ukip vote comes from the Conservatives, but others fear Ukip poses as much of a threat to Labour as the Tories.
Miliband's aides point out that he wrote a lengthy article attacking the Thatcherite Ukip in the Daily Mirror at the start of the campaign, and made a speech on the subject on Friday in which he admitted Labour had in the past told the British people to change its attitudes about immigration when in reality it was Labour that had needed to change its attitudes.
He added it was not prejudiced to be worried about the issue, but again said he would not back the false promise of a target of cutting net immigration to the tens of thousands.
He also said he could bear down on immigration by training more British people with the right skills.
His aides say the aim has been to address voters' concerns through addressing specific policy issues such as access to GPs in 48 hours, social care visits, the minimum wage and tighter regulation of private sector rents.
He was challenged on Sunday on whether he was becoming the political wing of Which? the consumer affairs magazine, but rejected a suggestion that he would set a maximum price for petrol.
Miliband argued there was a deep, long-term discontent with the way the party was run, and this disaffection was being mined by Ukip.
In a speech on Saturday he tried to shift the cause of that discontent from immigration, arguing that people wondered whether the problems weren't just too big and politics too small.