The claim
“I’m not advocating entry into the euro. I’d only ever advocate it, by the way, if ever, if the economic conditions were right, it was good for your jobs, good for pensions, good for savings, and of course it always has to be only decided, if we [were] ever to do that as a country, on a referendum where you can vote on it.”
Nick Clegg, Leaders’ debate, 29 April 2010

Cathy Newman checks it out
The right-wing press has run a campaign against Nick Clegg that has, at times, bordered on the xenophobic.

The Mail on Sunday has drawn attention to his Dutch mother and half-Russian father. And his enthusiasm for the euro is, as far as the Daily Mail’s concerned, another black mark.

So as he looks to pick up Conservative votes, it wasn’t a surprise to hear Clegg frantically rowing back on his europhilia in last night’s debate.

But given his past statements on the subject, it’s rather confusing. So where do the Lib Dems now stand on joining the euro?

The background
Nick Clegg was responding to David Cameron who said that the Lib Dem manifesto shows that they “are still in favour of joining the euro”.

Their manifesto states: “We believe that it is in Britain’s long-term interest to be part of the euro. But Britain should only join when the economic conditions are right, and in the present economic situation, they are not.

“Britain should join the euro only if that decision were supported by the people of Britain in a referendum.”

The Liberal Democrats’ Treasury spokesman, Vince Cable, sought to clear up the matter on the BBC Today programme this morning:

“We’ve never argued in recent years that this was an appropriate time to join the euro, particularly in the middle of a financial upheaval of the kind we’ve got at the moment.”

So the manifesto says it’s in the UK’s “long-term interest” to join the euro but only with the approval of the British people. Nick Clegg says he isn’t advocating entry in the euro but might if economic conditions are right. And Vince Cable was firm that they had never believed “in recent years” that euro entry was a good idea.

The analysis
As recently as January 2009 the Lib Dem leader told the Financial Times that:

“The strict rules attached to the euro could emerge as one of the best ways to persuade the markets that we will put Humpty Dumpty back together again, put the public finances in order”.

Clegg did say, at that point, that he was not suggesting immediate entry but made it clear he felt it was an option.

Going further back to January 2003, when the leader was an MEP, he wrote in the Independent:

“As long as EU leaders believed Tony Blair was merely biding his time before putting the issue [of the euro] to a referendum, there was sufficient goodwill to forgive Britain’s procrastination. But, as the Continent looks on with perplexity at the gridlock between the Prime Minister and the Chancellor, fears have deepened that Mr Blair has missed his chance…

“He cannot afford to dither much longer. It’s time to decide.”

And the party’s pro-euro stance long precedes Clegg’s appointment as leader.

In January 1999, Vince Cable wrote: “The formation of economic and monetary union without British participation leaves sterling exposed to a period of uncertainty and instability.”

However, in the articles cited here by FactCheck, the Lib Dems do repeatedly commit to putting it to the British public in a vote before any monetary union. In addition, they have always recommended any entry be predicated on economic conditions.

Tonight, regarding Nick Clegg’s statement on the final tv debate, a Liberal Democrat spokesman said: “This is the position which is also set out in our manifesto – in brief, that we’d advocate joining the euro if it were in Britain’s economic interests and approved by the British people.

“It is worth noting that our manifesto also states that in the present economic situation, conditions are not right for Britain to join the euro.”

Cathy Newman’s verdict
Nick Clegg’s newfound euro-scepticism in last night’s debate is clearly at odds with a host of recent pronouncements on the subject – not least the promise in this month’s manifesto that we “should” join the euro when the time’s right.

If that ain’t advocating joining the euro I don’t know what is.