Nick Clegg & 'The Birthday Party'

The Birthday Party by Harold Pinter is, in my opinion at least, a symbolic drama. The place & time it is situated in are apparently concrete - its setting is a parody of the kitchen sink dramas which were so fashionable when it was written - but still seem remarkably contemporary as a description of English life. The exchange between Meg & Petey at the opening of Act 1 has been had innumerable times I would suggest in real English life in the 50 years or so since it was written, though in the less crafted form actual conversation takes. Although what people do during the play, what happens in front of our eyes, is clear, the characters' motives & reasons for why they are doing what they are doing are left deliberately obscure. One important effect of this is that what happens applies & alludes to a much larger range of potential situations than if it was more specific. This is what I mean by saying it is a symbolic drama.


One situation The Birthday Party fits surprisingly well is Nick Clegg's recent difficulties over House of Lords reform. Nick Clegg works beautifully as Stanley Webber. I see Steve Richards & Andrew Rawnsley as Goldberg & McCann respectively, or David Cameron & George Osborne.


Consider the following exchange between Goldberg & Stanley at the start of the interrogation scene in Act 2:



GOLDBERG. Clegg, what were you doing yesterday ?

NICK. Yesterday ?

GOLDBERG. And the day before. What did you do the day before that ?

NICK. What do you mean ?

GOLDBERG. Why are you wasting everybody's time, Clegg ? Why are you getting in everybody's way ?

NICK. Me ? What are you -

GOLDBERG. I'm telling you, Clegg. You're a washout. Why are you getting on everybody's wick ?



That last question is surely the operative one for the Tories in relation to (not 'in respect of' !) Nick Clegg at the moment, & perhaps for the whole of the electorate as well, or large parts of it.


Consider also Stanley's long speech to Meg in Act 1 about the concert he once played. A few alterations, & it fits Nick Clegg to a T:



NICK. Politics ? I've done politics all over the world. All over the country. (Pause.) I once formed a Coalition.

MEG: A Coalition ?

NICK (reflectively). Yes. It was a good one, too. They were all there that night. Every single one of them. It was a great success. Yes. A Coalition. At Westminster.

MEG. What did you wear ?

NICK (to himself ). I had unique negotiating powers. Absolutely unique. They came up to me. They came up to me & said they were grateful. Champagne we had that night, the lot. (Pause.) Yes. Westminster. Then after that, you know what they did ? They carved me up. Carved me up. It was all arranged, it was all worked out. Lords reform. I introduced proposals for Lords reform. Good ones too. But the Tories voted them down. A fast one. They pulled a fast one. I'd like to know who was responsible for that. (Bitterly.) All right, Jack, I can take a tip. They want me to crawl down on my bended knees. Well I can take a tip ... any day of the week.

Prospects for the LibDems

"Macbeth: They have tied me to a stake: I cannot fly,
But, bear-like, I must fight the course ..."

- 'Macbeth' 5.7.1-2

(The difference between Macbeth and the LibDems at the moment though being that the latter have tied themselves to the stake; otherwise the logic is the same.)

The LibDems have nowhere to go, they have to stick with the Coalition. Their calculation - one born of despair, really - is that if the economy comes good by 2015, the planned time of the next General Election, that will justify their entering the Coalition (their narrative of acting in The National Interest), and they will benefit electorally from it.

At the moment their support has at least halved from what it was at the last General Election, from 26% then to in the range 11-13% now.

I think their calculation is wrong. If the economy does come right, or at least improve, by 2015, then the Tories will benefit and win outright. If it does not, Labour will win outright.

I make this prediction barring unforeseen political earthquakes (which is of course a complete get-out clause for me !)

I also present this with a caveat about my record as a political forecaster. I didn't foresee the Coalition. What I was expecting & predicting would happen at the last Election was as follows: I thought that the Tories would get more votes than anyone else, but not enough for an outright majority (I got that right at least). What I expected to happen next though was that they would form a minority Government which would last 6 months, be unable to enact its Budget, and fall on a no-confidence vote in the Autumn. In the meantime, Gordon Brown would have resigned and David Miliband would have become Labour leader. There would be another General Election in November, after which the LibDems would go into coalition with Labour.

So that shows how much my predictions are to be relied on. It should be noted that what I anticipated would happen was also what I wanted to happen.

One final thought, prompted by watching the LibDem Conference and thinking about their future: Politics is a blood sport.