The surge in popularity by Nick Clegg and the Liberal Democrats ahead of Britain’s general election is the kind of story an American can get behind. Fresh face, clean values, no nukes, green as green, come out of nowhere — etc.

We love that stuff.

As brought home by recent statements on the part of his boarding school subordinate,  Louis Theroux (ask them, not me), Clegg is a fully-paid member of Britain’s ruling class. But the notion of a relative political outsider coming within shooting distance of power recalled to me the brilliant career of my favorite British prime minister.

Now, the fact that Harry Perkins never lived is no reason discount his achievements.

Perkins, hero of the Emmy-winning 1988 miniseries “A Very British Coup” (based on the 1982 novel by Chris Mullin), could not be more distant in origin from Clegg. A third-generation Sheffield steelworker turned socialist pol, Perkins sweeps out the Conservatives after a season of ruinous financial scandal (sound familiar?) and then struggles to govern against the combined forces of the Right, including a Murdoch-like press baron, corrupt labor leaders, the City, the Army, and a cheroot-smoking yuppette from CIA’s London station.

Perkins (the late but awesome Ray McAnally) is a streetfighter who wants American bases off British soil (“The people are sick of being an aircraft carrier for the United States.”). He wants to dismantle Britain’s nuclear arsenal. He favors a referendum on the monarchy. He calls his comrades Comrade. His ride is a thrilling one.

Despite the fact that “A Very British Coup” is set during the Cold War, at a time when no one could imagine the Soviet Union going belly up (the revolutions of 1989 were just a year away when the miniseries was first broadcast), I wonder if one can’t hear the faintest echoes of the Perkins program in the LibDems.

There is their opposition to renewing the Trident nuclear sub, their proud opposition to the Iraq (but not the Afghan) war, and their desire for an elected House of Lords. The LibDems seem more dedicated than the Conservatives and Labor are to political reform as an action as opposed to a slogan. They seem, from great distance, like the only game in town for progressives.

But what do I know?

Nick Clegg may be a mountebank and Britain’s newest “novelty charlatan,” as Simon Heffer has so wonderfully described him. If the LibDems lead the next government, I imagine they’ll be no more harmful than their opponents.

Unlike Harry Perkins, Nick Clegg’s career won’t end with the thrum of helicopters.