Clegg's Tory past
CentreRight contributor Greg Hands MP has unearthed some very interesting records from his university days, The Telegraph's Three Line Whip column reveals today.
Hands was Chairman of Cambridge University Conservative Association (CUCA) in 1988 and yesterday he stumbled across his copy of the 1986-87 membership list. The list includes one "N Clegg, Robinson College". who joined that year as a fresher.
Hands in fact went to the same college, they are the only two MPs to have come from it. According to all the College records from this time there only ever was one N Clegg - the man listed as "Clegg, N.W.P. - Westminster School, London".
Rather naively Clegg strongly denied this revelation - as he denied similar claims in the leadership contest - without asking for the evidence. This story may therefore become about his denial instead of his past membership of the Conservatives.
9.30am: READ GREG HANDS' ACCOUNT OF ALL OF THIS OVER AT CENTRERIGHT.COM
Nick Clegg lieing? Surely not.
Posted by:Michael Rutherford | April 15, 2008 at 09:19
Shouldn't membership lists be confidential information? A lot of us would not want it to be known what organisations we have belonged to. This breech of confidentialty could be dangerous for the Conservative Party.
Posted by:David Bullingdon | April 15, 2008 at 09:37
What utter rubbish, David. Are you saying that no journalists should ever have access to any student memberships lists of anything? And you believe in a free press, right? It just sounds as though your guy has made a pig's ear of this and it is no good trying to pin the blame elsewhere.
Posted by:John Ionides | April 15, 2008 at 09:46
Why did he want to make a bigger thing out of it than it was?
Interestingly large numbers of today's politicians belonged to far left groups,that glorified violence(even if they didn't partake). Somehow that is not embarrassing but membership of the student wing of a mainstream party is.
Posted by:Serf | April 15, 2008 at 12:52
I was a member of SocSoc when I was at the LSE.
For about 2 days.
Not sure if I ever signed anything though.
I went along to a couple of their meetings.
And then the light dawned!
Posted by:Jake | April 15, 2008 at 20:25