"I am not a Tory because I am a small 'l' liberal. Which means liberal economically – which I think most Conservatives are – but also liberal in terms of personal life … most importantly, a social as well as economic liberal, believing that the state has to intervene to ensure not only protection for people in the bottom of society, but that there are strong ladders for those people to do better and improve themselves."

"We are in danger, in Western nations, of getting a sort of caste-like society where it's actually more difficult than it was a number of decades ago for people who are born into disadvantaged backgrounds and households to do well in life. We have got to challenge [that] even in these tough economic times."

Today's scandal could be "dangerous" for Ed Miliband and Ed Balls because "it reminds people that the origins of a lot of our problems were in the period when Labour was in office".

He is "certain" Clegg will lead the party into the next election, describing him as a "man of integrity" and a "massive asset" for the 2015 election.

As the Cabinet Office revealed yesterday, Nick Clegg now employs 14 special advisers at a cost of nearly £900,000 a year. (George Osborne, conversely, gets by with just four). The list below names them and their salaries, where they exceed £58,200.

There are good arguments for increasing the number of spads, as the coalition has done. In a misguided attempt to display its thriftiness, the government initially employed just 69. It now employs a far more sensible 81. Clegg, in particular, had a strong case for more support. As the Institute for Government noted back in September 2010, his office was under-resourced compared with those of other cabinet ministers and threatened to be overwhelmed by government business.

But it would be remiss not to note that Clegg's spads, employed to give political advice on policies and media, have failed to halt the slide in his approval ratings. The most recent YouGov/Sunday Times poll found that approval with Clegg had reached a new low of -59, down from a heady +53 in the halcyon days of May 2010.

Michael Gove is proving to be one of the best education secretaries of the past 50 years – his programme of higher aspirations, rigorous standards, more school autonomy and effective accountability must continue.

That Clegg graph doesn't exactly scream "massive asset" at me.

Nick Clegg's declaration this weekend that he would be prepared to form a coalition with Labour after the next election was significant because it was at odds with much of what he's previously said on the subject. In a speech in May 2011, for instance, Clegg rebuked those in party, most notably Vince Cable and Chris Huhne, who talk up the possibility of a future alliance with Labour. He said:



But asked by the People if he could do business with Ed Miliband, Clegg replied: "Yes. If the British people said that the only combination which could work would be those two parties, in the same way as after the last election the only combination which could work was Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, it would be obvious that Liberal Democrats would need to do their duty."

Invited to return the compliment, Miliband, however, has declined. It was in an interview with the New Statesman in August 2010 that the Labour leader first indicated that Clegg's resignation would be a precondition of any deal with the Lib Dems, and nothing since has changed his mind. He told today's Independent that he would find it "difficult to work with" Clegg, an "accomplice" to the Tories. Though his language is more ambiguous than on other occasions, the message remains that Clegg's head is the price of any deal.

Desperate stuff from Clegg. Does he really think he's going to survive past the next election?