Nick Clegg Could Yet Be Proved Right

Most people seem to think that the Liberal Democrats are gathering in Liverpool this weekend to provide the next few frames in the party's slow-motion car crash. It is taken for granted that Lloyd George's old charabanc, with its bolted-on 1980s-style SDP aerofoil, is heading for a brick wall. The party has slumped in the opinion polls, including in our ComRes survey today, as 40 per cent of those who voted Lib Dem regret their choice, with no influx of new supporters to make up the loss. It is widely believed that Nick Clegg and Vince Cable sold their souls, conveniently reversing their view of the need to cut public spending in order to reverse their rear ends on to the Treasury bench. Of people who voted for them, 52 per cent agree that "the Lib Dems appear to have sold out on their principles".