Nick Clegg yesterday moved to highlight his disagreements with David Cameron over multiculturalism and how to tackle Islamic extremism in Britain. In a speech designed to appeal to his party's base ahead of next week's spring conference, and to differentiate the Liberal Democrats from their Conservative partners, Mr Clegg said he believed that multiculturalism should be the hallmark of "an open, confident, society". [independent.co.uk] Read more
Nick Clegg sets out vision of multiculturalism Deputy PM Nick Clegg has set out his vision of what multiculturalism means in a speech in Luton. He backed David Cameron over the need to end "segregation" of communities.
But, in contrast to the prime minister, Mr Clegg stressed in his speech the importance of multiculturalism to "an open, confident, society".
Mr Cameron grabbed headlines around the world with his call last month for an end to "state multiculturalism". Labour accused the government of showing a "lack of clarity" on the issue.
In a speech in Luton, Mr Clegg said the prime minister was "absolutely right to make his argument for 'muscular liberalism'", and "to assert confidently our liberal values". But he also attempted to strike a different tone to the prime minister on the issue of multiculturalism. [BBC] Read more
Nick Clegg distances himself from idiot Cameron on multiculturalism The Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, today delivered a very important speech in Luton entitled ‘An Open, Confident Society: The Application of Muscular Liberalism in a Multicultural Society’ in which he wisely distanced himself from some of the comments made by the idiot David Cameron last month in his Munich speech.
Clegg spoke up for the concept of multiculturalism which had been crudely caricatured by Cameron: .... Indeed, two years ago, Clegg publicly issued a stern rebuke to Policy Exchange for their sly role in trying to persuade senior politicians to boycott a key Muslim event in the UK.
The Israel lobby views any progress made by UK Muslims in this country’s political life as being against their interests. The only permissible Muslims are those who are prepared to remain silent about the crimes perpetrated by the apartheid state of Israel. [inayatscorner] Read more
Nick Clegg distances himself from David Cameron on violent extremism Nick Clegg has set out a rival government vision for combating violent extremism, striking a different tone from David Cameron's month-old doctrine to disengage from extremists .
In a speech in Luton, Clegg disagreed with Cameron's disavowal of multiculturalism, was hesitant about moves to ban extremist groups and said he did not share the prime minister's wish to rule out engaging with non-violent extremists. He pointed to his decision to allow one of his ministers to attend the Global Peace and Unity conference – which occasionally hosts controversial Islamic scholars – while Tory chairwoman Sayeeda Warsi was forced to pull out. [guardian.co.uk] Read more
