[Malcolm Armsteen]

So he had his first radio show today. By all accounts he was given a hard time for the first half-hour, and then came a really sympathetic, easy question.

"Are you a man of the people?" asked Harry of Sheffield. "Do you wear a onesie?" Cue laffs all round as Clegg proves himself to be a Good Chap taking it all like a Good Sport.

Except it turns out said Harry is a Lib Dem activist, intern in Clegg's office, who gave him a onesie (there's no way of writing that without invoking Eunice).

To quote the pile of printed ordure that is the Daily Telegraph

Nick Clegg onesie question posed by Old Etonian Lib Dem intern
It was billed as an opportunity for Nick Clegg to hear the views of 'real voters'. But the only flattering question asked of the Deputy Prime Minister during his appearance on LBC radio this morning was asked by a leading party activist who has worked in Clegg's office, it can be revealed.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politic ... ntern.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It's amateur night at the Roxy again.

[smod]

How embarrassingly amateurish. It worked though, most of the headlines were about his "onesie". I guess it goes to show just how unpopular Clegg is to need a planted question to switch the narrative.

[Daley Mayle]

Reminds me of when La Brooks mentioned the LOL thing at Leveson. For days afterwards in the broadcast media this occupied the first section of the precious minutes available to talk about her involvement, even now it comes up when Brooke at Leveson is mentioned. Even more annoying it's also included when Cameron at Leveson is discussed.

Ol' Bekky obviously knows how her industry works, or doesn't work in the case of the lazy journos.

[Tubby Isaacs]

I don't think that worked too well. Like the horse, it's a memorable example of Cameron being too close to her.

If she gets banged up, it'll look even worse for him.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Clegg at an old PMQ.

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Makes you feel the speaker should be able to call him back to answer the question properly. Or indeed at all.

[The Weeping Angel]

Utter crap from Clegg there

[Tubby Isaacs]

I'm developing a grim fascination with his performances at PMQs.

[youngian]

One of Clegg's main problems in government is he doesn't have a real job.

Most junior coalition leaders get to be foreign secretary but this would of sent Cameron's swivel eyed Eurosceptic backbenchers into a state of apoplexy.

[Tubby Isaacs]

You mean his social mobility crusade isn't a real job?

[new puritan]

Quite enjoyed this piece from Richard Seymour. A welcome antidote to the Graun's recent desperate attempts to present the Lib Dems as being halfway credible.

You write off the Lib Dems at your peril, warned Tim Farron MP. And the nation, in a collective gesture, said "ooh, I'm so scared". But it isn't just the Liberal Democrat president who thinks the party is onto a winner. Nick Clegg, in his conference speech last September, reassured the faithful that there was a future for the party, not "as the third party, but as one of three parties of government".

Is it really plausible that the Liberals will ever be in government again? At present, they are on a par with Ukip in terms of popular support. Since they didn't win the fight on proportional representation – partly because they signed up to a policy that wasn't proportional representation – this will work out badly for them in terms of seats. They may be left with no more seats in the next parliament than the wedge of Northern Irish parties that failing governments turn to when they need to win key votes.

So where is the peril in writing off the Liberals? Farron reminds us of the unique selling point of the Liberals, their being the historic party of vacillation. The Liberals, he says, "are the only party able to deliver both a strong economy and a fair society." In practice, what this means is delivering welfare cuts, while opposing the Tories demonology about "shirkers" that goes with it. Or, if you like, solving the crisis of old age care by cutting the winter fuel allowance. Above all, promising to abolish tuition fees, then tripling them while arrogantly telling students to "grow up", then apologising for having made the promise to abolish them in the first place. But even if there was a whisper of substance in the Liberal commitment to a "fair society", their complicity in austerity is destroying the niche they have attempted to occupy as "honest brokers" between two unpalatable alternatives. The middle ground is being destroyed.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree ... t-election" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Tubby Isaacs]

Sounds like Clegg had a car crash interview re the EU. The "time for a real referendum on Europe" was mentioned.

It gets worse. From 2008:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politic ... uling.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The authority of the Commons Speaker Michael Martin has been further undermined when the Liberal Democrats staged an unruly walkout after he blocked calls for a referendum on Britain's EU membership.
Amid extraordinary scenes, Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat leader, stormed out of the chamber with his colleagues, calling the Speaker's decision a constitutional "outrage".
The breakdown of parliamentary discipline occurred seconds after the party's foreign affairs spokesman, Ed Davey, had been unceremoniously expelled from the chamber by Mr Martin's deputy, Sir Michael Lord, for angrily criticising the Speaker's ruling.

This should go under "gesture politics" in the dictionary.

[new puritan]

A total lightweight. I do wonder what people will say about all that Cleggmania shit in 20 years' time. It's embarrassing enough looking back at it now, and it's only been two-and-a-half years.

[Tubby Isaacs]

You can just imagine them "hey, we'll never be the government, and people don't like the Speaker, come on lads!"


Chris Mullin:

April 16.

Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg is widely reckoned to have been the clear winner of last night's debate. Ironic considering that, for all his fluency and utter self-confidence, he is easily the biggest charlatan of the lot.
Who would guess, listening to him prattling piously about MPs' expenses, that he was a maximum claimer? Or that six months ago, when it seemed to be the flavour of the hour, he was demanding 'bold and savage cuts' in public spending, a subject on which he is now silent.
Or that this is a man who is capable of arguing with equal passion for or against retaining Trident nuclear missiles?

April 18.

Clegg mania grows steadily more ludicrous. Today a poll suggesting he is the most popular party leader since Winston Churchill.
I have been acquainted with each of the past five Liberal or Lib Dem leaders and he is by far the shallowest.

[The Weeping Angel]

I think Cleggmania came about because in early 2010 both Gordon Brown and David Cameron where unpopular, people were sick and tired of the Labour government but didn't trust Cameron, Clegg was able to present his party as a credible alternative and was able to get the Guardian and Independent on his side

[Malcolm Armsteen]

A total lightweight. I do wonder what people will say about all that Cleggmania shit in 20 years' time. It's embarrassing enough looking back at it now, and it's only been two-and-a-half years.

Media led frenzies are always embarrassing. Usually they're a rubbish TV programme, or manufactured band, in this case it was a poor politician hyped way beyond his capabilities. Imagine if the press had treated him forensicaly, rather than as a chance to provide popular copy.