Clegg and Hague do Europe
At the foreign ministry in Berlin on Thursday, UK Foreign Secretary William Hague said no-one in the room would have seen such a thing in their lifetime. He was talking about two ministers from a British coalition on an official visit.
Nick Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister, and William Hague went to Berlin to "demonstrate that the new coalition doesn't just operate at home, but abroad as well". This was all about displaying what Nick Clegg called our "unity of purpose".
They stood next to each other at podiums. Nick Clegg as Deputy Prime Minister got to speak first.
I asked the foreign secretary whether we would see more of this. "There will be other occasions, I very much hope so," he said. So a "double act" will be a feature of British diplomacy.
I asked whether the joint appearance was intended to paper over their differences towards Europe. No, they both said. Rather it was about showing the coalition extended beyond the domestic agenda. In Europe, when the inevitable arguments break out with other EU countries, it is easy to see Nick Clegg being deployed.
He quickly reminded everyone of his European credentials when he spoke to the German foreign minister in German. As a former MEP, he is steeped in European politics and that could be very useful for UK Prime Minister David Cameron.
I raised the issue with both of them about EU officials having sight of some of the budget assumptions before they were presented to Parliament. William Hague reiterated his position: "Our budget will be presented first to our national Parliament." I wondered if Nick Clegg would take such a robust view. "We are completely united on this," he said.
Earlier this week, German Chancellor Angela Merkel had said: "We can only spend what we bring in." Germany has launched an austerity package and the UK will shortly do the same. Nick Clegg agreed with the German view. European countries had to learn to live within their means. We were living "on borrowed time", he said. If the debt was not reduced, it would be "generational theft", because it would lead to high interest rates in the future. He said the days of "living in denial" like the previous government were "over".
I raised with him the difficulty of countries slashing spending at the same time, and the danger this would choke a still fragile recovery. He stressed the importance of opening up trade, expanding the single market, while making cuts.
Nick Clegg made this case for the coalition. It enabled the UK, he said, to take very difficult decisions over the budget "not because we relish it, but because we have to do it". He spoke of putting the national interest before the party interest.
On financial regulation which could put the UK in conflict with other European governments, Nick Clegg accepted the case for further regulation, but he said he wanted to "avoid a regulatory over-reaction which may penalise parts of the financial services system which was not responsible for recent problems".
The Germans were impressed with the British double-act. The two politicians seemed genuinely relaxed with each other. One German reporter said he could see no signs of friction. So far the British coalition is going down well in Europe.
The tests, of course, lie ahead. There are European officials determined to use the crisis in the eurozone to integrate further and extend the reach of Brussels. That could put the coalition under pressure. Nick Clegg on Friday will deliver a speech in Spain on the economy, while William Hague goes to Warsaw. This is a diplomatic offensive with the purpose of building allies.
Where it can, the new government is trying to be positive towards Europe. When William Hague on Thursday spoke of the EU taking further steps against Iran, he said: "I think it is very important that the European Union does take further measures to show that the European Union is prepared on this subject and others to use its weight in the world."
I'm 
Comments
or to comment.