Nick Clegg, Deputy Prime Minister of the U.K. from 2010 to 2015, is joining Facebook Inc. as vice president of global affairs and communications. He succeeds Elliot Schrage, who announced his departure from Facebook in June.
Clegg served as a member of Parliament from 2005 until 2017 and led the Liberal Democrats party from 2007 to 2015. Before that, he was a member of the European Parliament from 1999 to 2004.
As deputy prime minister, Clegg criticized crony capitalism as a “failure of politicians and regulators, the authorities too often cowed by corporate power.” More recently, in a harbinger of his new role, Clegg defended Facebook and Silicon Valley tech companies in a column, arguing that “Governments, old-fashioned media, and the public at large need to avoid a knee-jerk condemnation of the disruption and potency of new technologies.”
Clegg will initially work out of Facebook’s London office until the beginning of next year when he plans to relocate to California with his wife Miriam González Durantez, a partner at Dechert LLP. González will be stepping down as co-chair of the law firm’s international trade and government regulation practice.
