Nick Clegg

The Right Honourable Sir Nick Clegg
Clegg at the 2023 AI Safety Summit
Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
In office 12 May 2010 – 8 May 2015
Prime Minister	David Cameron
Preceded by	John Prescott[a]
Succeeded by	Dominic Raab[b]
Lord President of the Council
In office 12 May 2010 – 8 May 2015
Prime Minister	David Cameron
Preceded by	The Lord Mandelson
Succeeded by	Chris Grayling
Leader of the Liberal Democrats
In office 18 December 2007 – 16 July 2015
President	Simon Hughes The Baroness Scott of Needham Market Tim Farron The Baroness Brinton
Deputy	Vince Cable Simon Hughes Malcolm Bruce
Preceded by	Menzies Campbell
Succeeded by	Tim Farron
Member of Parliament for Sheffield Hallam
In office 5 May 2005 – 3 May 2017
Preceded by	Richard Allan
Succeeded by	Jared O'Mara
Member of the European Parliament for East Midlands
In office 10 June 1999 – 10 June 2004
Preceded by	Constituency established
Succeeded by	Robert Kilroy-Silk
Liberal Democrat portfolios
2006–2007	Home Affairs
2016–2017	Brexit
2016–2017	International Trade
Personal details
Born	Nicholas William Peter Clegg (1967-01-07) 7 January 1967 (age 57) Chalfont St Giles, Buckinghamshire, England
Political party	Liberal Democrats
Spouse	Miriam González Durántez ​ ​ (m. 2000)​
Children	3
Residence(s)	Atherton, California, US
Education	Westminster School
Alma mater	Robinson College, Cambridge (BA) University of Minnesota College of Europe (MA)
Signature
Website	Official website
Clegg's voice Desert Island Discs, 24 October 2010[1]

Sir Nicholas William Peter Clegg (born 7 January 1967) is a British retired politician and media executive who served as Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2015 and as Leader of the Liberal Democrats from 2007 to 2015. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for Sheffield Hallam from 2005 to 2017. An "Orange Book" liberal,^[2] he has been associated with both socially liberal and economically liberal policies.^[3][4]

Born in Buckinghamshire, Clegg was educated at Westminster School before going on to study at the University of Cambridge, University of Minnesota and College of Europe. He worked as a journalist for the Financial Times before becoming a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) in 1999.^[5] After his election to the House of Commons in 2005, Clegg served in a variety of leadership roles in the Liberal Democrats, most notably as spokesperson for Home Affairs, before being elected to succeed Menzies Campbell as party leader in 2007. During his tenure as leader, Clegg said that the Liberal Democrats had transcended left and right-wing politics and described the party as radical centrist. He supported reduced taxes, electoral reform, cuts on defence spending and an increased focus on environmental issues.

As a result of the 2010 general election, Clegg's Liberal Democrats found themselves with 57 seats in the House of Commons. The Conservative Party, which failed to receive a majority, formed a coalition with the Liberal Democrats, and Clegg was appointed by Conservative leader David Cameron to serve as his Deputy Prime Minister. In this capacity, he became the first leader of the Liberal Democrats to answer for the Prime Minister's Questions, and used his influence in the position to pass the Fixed-term Parliaments Act.^[6] Controversy arose during this time surrounding the Liberal Democrats' decision to abandon their pledge to oppose increases in tuition fees, which had previously been a key issue that won the party support from students.^[7] During the party's time in coalition, the Liberal Democrats saw a significant drop in support,^[8] and the 2015 general election left the party with just 8 seats, which resulted in Clegg's ousting as Deputy Prime Minister and his resignation as party leader.^[9][10]

In 2016, following a referendum in which a majority supported leaving the European Union, Clegg returned to the Liberal Democrat frontbench, concurrently serving as Spokesperson for Exiting the European Union and for International Trade from July 2016 to June 2017. In the 2017 general election, Clegg was defeated in his constituency of Sheffield Hallam by Jared O'Mara of the Labour Party.^[11] After losing his seat, Clegg moved to the United States and became vice‑president of global affairs and communications at Facebook, Inc. (renamed Meta Platforms in 2021), before being promoted in 2022 to president for global affairs. He was appointed a Knight Bachelor in the 2018 New Year Honours for political and public service.

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