Nick Clegg MP, Norfolk, Jason Bye, 04/08/08

Nick Clegg is MP for Sheffield Hallam and Leader of the Liberal Democrats...He was born in 1967 and studied at three universities: Cambridge, Minnesota and College D’Europe...Nick worked as a trainee journalist at the US magazine The Nation and won a national prize for first time writers at the Financial Times. He then worked as a development aid and trade expert for the European Commission, including managing aid projects in some of the poorest parts of the former Soviet Union and leading the European Union side in negotiations for China and Russia to join the World Trade Organisation...He was elected as a member of the European Parliament in 1999, where as Trade and Industry spokesman for the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe he led the move to open up the domestic telecoms market, allowing consumers to pick their telephone provider for the first time and advocated trade measures against illegally logged timber. He was a co-founder of the Campaign for Parliamentary Reform, which argued for more transparency and accountability in the European Parliament...Throughout his time as an MEP, Nick wrote essays on public policy issues including greening the WTO, secondary education policy, and reform of the EU’s decision making procedures. For several years he was a columnist for Guardian Unlimited...Nick stood down from the European Parliament in 2004 and lectured part time at Sheffield and Cambridge Universities. He was elected as MP for Sheffield Hallam in 2005 with a majority of 8,682. Charles Kennedy appointed him as Europe spokesman, acting as deputy to Sir Menzies Campbell. When Campbell won the 2006 leadership election, he appointed Nick as Shadow Home Secretary...He spearheaded the Liberal Democrats’ defence of civil liberties, campaigned for prison reform, a liberal approach to immigration, and defended the Human Rights Act against ongoing attacks from across the political spectrum. In January 2007 he launched the Liberal Democrat’s We Can Cut Crime campaign, widely welcomed by local campaigners as a new and successful way for the party to campaign effectively on crime...Nick was elected leader of the Liberal Democrats on 18 December 2007, two months after the resignation of Menzies Campbell. Focusing on marrying the party’s twin traditions of economic and social liberalism to deliver social justice, he has pledged to double the Liberal Democrats’ representation in parliament...Nick is married to Miriam Gonzalez Durantez and has two young children...Photograph by Jason Bye.Credit Mandatory.t: 07966 173 930.e: mail@jasonbye.com.w: http://www.jasonbye.com.