Nick Clegg Speech: Verdict

Today was Nick Clegg's speech to the Lib Dem conference.

The task at conference was to look ahead to the next election and prepare some policies for negotiation at a possible hung parliament. It was probably the best conference for Nick Clegg, the muttering about his leadership has gone and there doesn't look like there will be a challenge. Vince Cable made an arse of himself as usual, if I was Nick Clegg I would sack him as soon as possible.

The style of the speech was nothing extraordinary and you could tell where he wanted his applause by how loud his voice would go.

The speech itself was fine, again nothing extraordinary, the usual platitudes and plagues on both your houses. He delivered it well but there were no surprises. The much trailed free school meals for infants was applauded, but no explanation about the inconsistency with the removal of universal benefits for others.

It irked that he was saying that recovery wouldn't have happened without the Lib Dems, and that he set the purpose of Government to be social mobility. I think the Tories have a greater stand out claim for these. The Lib Dem's purpose has been to stop certain policies.

It was notable that many times he mentioned Liberal purposes and traditions, I don't think he mentioned the Social Democrat element once. It shows where he's coming from. Definitely from the Orange book wing. It's this that's making the Cable morose. Although he's saying that he's equi-distant, I do think there is going to be difficulties working with Ed Miliband.

So, the verdict was: ok, nothing special.

Squiffy.