Nick Clegg: ‘Michael Gove went from charm personified to hiding in the toilet'
In this exclusive extract from his new book, the former deputy prime minister talks about how difficult it is to get things done in Whitehall. Especially when you're up against an ideologue education secretary with a team of 'unhinged' advisers Part one: 'No wonder there was a Nick Clegg looking sad website' Making change is not easy: it is an art, not a science. As junior partners in a coalition and having been out of power for decades, the Liberal Democrats had to learn quickly how to get things done in a system that can resist change at every turn. The coalition government was, of course, a unique experiment in British politics with some unusual features, not least the need to secure agreement across the leadership of two parties. Unsurprisingly much of the significant change that came about during the coalition involved trade-offs and compromises.