Next month’s issue of Prospect presents Nick Clegg as an island of calm in the otherwise chaotic coalition. But one intriguing detail in Edward Docx’s in-depth interview stood out: “Either [Clegg] is going grey interestingly late,” writes Docx, “or he uses one of those shampoos that ‘targets’ grey.”
The Londoner’s interest was immediately piqued; after all, who can forget the “gingergate” scandal of 2011, when Clegg, 47, had to deny accusations of dyeing his hair red in a bid to refresh his appeal?
Is this fresh evidence of a colouring conspiracy? “I can’t comment about that,” Docx told us. So we turned to one of Clegg’s senior aides to demand the truth. “He’d be very flattered to have his hair described as black — it’s mousey brown at best,” laughed his spokesman. “He doesn’t dye his hair, never has done. As evidenced by the fact that he is going grey around the temples.”
Admirably frank. Mysterious, though, that Docx failed to notice the speckles on his subject’s crown. Let’s hope he wasn’t blind to any other blemishes in his glowing pen-portrait of our Deputy PM.
