There are some very irritated government officials in Mexico tonight. The reason for their undisguised ire is the perceived damage caused by Nick Clegg’s unauthorised briefing to journalists that UK energy policy requires a radical rethink following events at nuclear plants in Japan.
His insistence that there would be no extra government money to meet additional safety costs has caused uproar among government departments charged with coaxing the private sector into taking up options for a series of ‘energy franchise’ deals. The suggestion that anything has changed is being debunked by Treasury and energy department officials in selective briefings to potential investors.
Civil servants and business aides accompanying the deputy PM are reported to be severely embarrassed by his off-message and opportunistic statements but the fury awaiting him on his return will be something else.
A generally shared view is that the Lib Dem leader can expect to have the rug pulled from under him over several key platforms he was hoping to exploit before May’s elections. Pissing off the tories with populist soundbites in an attempt to be ‘distinctive’ is one thing, getting on the wrong side of the civil service could prove catastrophic for the junior coalition partner.
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