Clegg won't join forces with 'third place' PM
Updated on 25 April 2010
Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg says he will not help Gordon Brown to "carry on squatting in Number 10" if the Labour party finishes third in terms of votes in the General Election.
Clegg said such a result would mean Labour had lost the election and could not continue to provide the country's prime minister.
Brown today was concentrating his attacks on the Conservatives, while the Tory leader, David Cameron, promoted his party's flagship policy of creating a new generation of state schools run by parents and local communities.
Talking to the BBC this morning, Clegg ruled out working with Brown if the Labour party comes third in the election.
He said: "I think a party who has come third cannot then lay claim to providing the prime minister of this country".
The Lib Dem leader's comments are his clearest indication yet of how he will position his party in the likely event of a hung parliament.
Most current analysis of the polls points to the main parties having to try and form a coalition government after 6 May.
Brown today seem to ignore Clegg's remarks, instead saying only a Labour victory could protect the recovery.
He said: "We are fighting an election on the recovery - and not putting it at risk. We are fighting an election for our schools, hospitals and police – for not putting them at risk."
Clegg's comments – seen by many as a hint that he might even work with the Tories rather than Labour in the event of a hung parliament – came as the Conservatives outlined their flagship education policy.
Cameron showcased plans to help create a new generation of state schools run by parents and local communities, were the Tories to win power.
However, the Tory leader's colleague, shadow secretary of state for children, schools and families Michael Gove, tacitly suggested there might be room for negotiation between with the Lib Dems, on education at least.
He described his Lib Dem counterpart David Laws as "an intelligent and flexible guy". But there was not such harmony between Labour and the Tories.
Ed Balls, Labour's education secretary, rejected Conservative plans for parent-run schools. He told this programme: "To say you can have a new school and then cut the spending for other schools in that area - it's not a free lunch.
"Most parents don't have time to run a school – they have got full time jobs."
On Clegg's swipe at brown, Balls was equally as scathing, he said: "Nick Clegg likes to talk about hung parliaments because he doesn’t want to talk about policy as the Lib Deems doesn’t have any".
