British politician speaks a foreign language!

Nick Clegg, the UK’s Deputy Prime Minister is interviewed on Dutch TV, and can be heard speaking Dutch starting at about 2 minutes. Hat-tip, Tony Hatfield.

Clegg, a former employee of the European Commission and MEP, also speaks French, German and Spanish (which is his wife’s language). Tony Blair and Edward Heath both spoke French more or less well (Heath was mocked for his accent but as I remember the content and grammar were correct). There may well have been others who spoke French but to the best of my knowledge Clegg is the first senior British politician to speak a language other than French. I am certainly open to correction on this point; in fact, I would welcome it.

Comments

[trabizonspor]

Perhaps just as well that this wasn't widely distributed beforehand - he's perfectly bilingual.

I believe that politicians from west of the Rhine who didn't speak French used to be able to resort to Latin or in some cases Greek. I suppose conspiracy theorists could have fleeting fun wondering whether the phasing out of classical education was a Soviet plot to divide and rule.

[Leon Glover]

Paddy Ashdown, one of the previous Liberal Democrat leaders, speaks Mandarin Chinese.

[Peter Harvey]

Thank you. And of course, now you mention it, I did know that!