Clanger reveals deep divisions behind coalition's ideal of unity

He has been nicknamed ''the glove puppet'' and there is little doubt that his political honeymoon is over: Nick Clegg, Britain's Deputy Prime Minister, has dropped his first clangers and they will not easily be forgotten.With Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron in the US, it was the Liberal Democrat leader's first time standing in at what the English call PMQs, similar to the Australian Parliament's question time but with the prime minister alone in the firing line.The day began with some pomp and ceremony - Clegg is the first Lib Dem to stand in for a prime minister since the 1920s, when David Lloyd George took to the lectern. The session began relatively smoothly, with Clegg, in dark blue suit and red tie, speaking calmly and answering questions with his usual eloquent aplomb. But when a question was asked by the former foreign secretary, Jack Straw - a question that implied Clegg had sold his soul to his Conservative allies - Clegg lost the plot, indeed the whole script.''Maybe one day,'' he said, furiously, ''and perhaps we will have to wait for his memoirs . . . but maybe one day, he could account for his role in the most disastrous decision of all, the illegal invasion of Iraq.''The import of his words appeared not to be immediately understood by the Tory ministers seated behind him; the Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, simply grinned like a naughty schoolboy.But within minutes of Clegg's words, a titter flew across the House of Commons and the electronic version, Twitter, followed: statements made during PMQs are traditionally regarded as having the status of government policy, so did this mean that the Tory-Lib Dem coalition now regarded the Iraq war as illegal?And what of the Chilcot inquiry into Britain's role in the war, still hearing evidence after months of toil and its final report waiting in the wings?Lord Boyce, who was the chief of the defence staff in March 2003 and who had made public his request that the government of the time provide clearly worded legal protection for British troops, told The Times: ''It's very odd that a deputy prime minister could make such a statement. One has to ask what Mr Clegg's status is as an expert on international law.''Downing Street was forced to immediately backtrack from the comments, saying that the coalition had not ''expressed a view on the legality or otherwise of the Iraq conflict''.Bravely, the Prime Minister's spokesman added that this did not mean ''individual members of the government should not express their individual views''.Clegg later clarified his position, insisting he was speaking in a personal capacity.Clegg's clanger highlights just how deep - if well hidden - are the philosophical rifts between the coalition partners.Under the pressure of standing in for Cameron, who is in the US facing questions of his own over the release of the Lockerbie bomber, Clegg also slipped up when talking about another subject dear to his party's heart: child detention.He said an immigration detention centre, Yarl's Wood, was to close ''for good''. Yarl's Wood, a complex where the UK Border Agency also holds women and children awaiting deportation, is not scheduled to shut but will stay open only as an adult facility.A gaffe or wishful thinking? Clegg's original election manifesto would suggest the latter.Paola Totaro is Fairfax Europe correspondent.