![\"Nick](\"http:\/\/static.businessinsider.com\/image\/4bcbad327f8b9a173b9e0700\/nick-clegg.jpg\")
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Nick Clegg is changing the equation of UK politics, and making the threat of a hung parliament even more real.<\/p>\n
The Liberal Democrat leader, whose party hasn’t mattered in UK politics since the end of the First World War, stood out<\/a> in this week’s first ever party leaders debate. The country woke up to his quality, or at least his underdog charms. Clegg’s Liberal Democrats now lead the polls<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n What Clegg offers is a real political alternative in a country fed-up with its politics. Since the MP expenses scandal<\/a> rocked Parliament, the British electorate has become increasingly cynical about their leadership.<\/p>\n That leadership is perceived to be Brown and Cameron, not Clegg. The outsider-change narrative is fully on the side of the Liberal Democrats and their leader.<\/p>\n This does not mean Clegg has a chance at winning the election. The way the UK works, with gerrymandered districts and first-past-the-post voting, the Liberal Democrats aren’t likely to even come close to winning<\/a>.<\/p>\n But it now seems likely their ascension will prevent Labour or the Conservatives from gaining a majority capable of forming a government, with a hung parliament the result. A coalition will need to be formed.<\/p>\n Clegg isn’t likely to buddy up to the Conservatives, whose right wing views on issues like immigration and Europe don’t jibe with his party, let alone his person<\/a> (Clegg previously worked in Brussels, comes from an immigrant family, and has a Spanish wife).<\/p>\n So his partnership would be with Labour, a party who have made clear its desire to muddle through the UK’s fiscal crisis, rather than attack it.<\/p>\n The pound’s wobble on Sunday<\/a> might be sign of further poll driven instability, as it seems the May 6 elections could produce the UK’s first hung parliament since 1974<\/a>.<\/p>\n