His speech and, so far, the conference has been a hollow attempt of defining the Lib Dems and staving off an identity crisis.

He began with a list of Lib Dem achievements: ‘We’ve guaranteed older people a decent increase in their pension.’ The pensions guarantee will only increase with inflation for the time being, as inflation is the greater of the triple guarantee, while the increase in VAT negates the increase in pension payments – possibly even reducing relative income for pensioners.

The repeal of ID cards, the bank levy, the increase in the personal allowance threshold, the AV referendum, and the pupil premium are among potential achievements of the Lib Dems in the coalition. While the pupil premium and the personal allowance threshold are undoubtedly Lib Dem in conception, the others could be found in the Conservative manifesto, or the Labour manifesto, or both before the general election.

However, what appeared to be a difference between the Lib Dems and the Conservatives is the belief that the Iraq war was illegal, commitments to the developing world, and campaigning for political reform. While the political position of the Lib Dems has changed, at the core they are still the same party.

In an attempt to establish himself as the heir to David Lloyd George, he said: ‘We’re giving people the chance to change our voting system… a century after it should have happened, we are going to establish an elected House of Lords.’ While the sentiments behind the passage are correct, Nick Clegg is not the heir to Lloyd George, as Lloyd George in his heyday would have rejected a coalition with the Tories.

Again Clegg reiterated his commitments to the coalition and reinforcing the idea that Lib Dems stand by the Conservatives and take ownership of the cuts and regressive budget, while reassuring Lib Dems, yet again, that they are distinct. It would be telling for the future of the coalition, and the Lib Dems in particular, if David Cameron does not reciprocate Nick Clegg’s sentiments at the Conservative party conference in a few weeks time.

He justified the spending cuts through a simple analogy of a family earning £26,000 but spending £32,000 per year with debts of £40,000. He justified government spending cuts because that is what a family would do. Unfortunately many families already find themselves in that situation with things set to get worse as the government tightens its belt – it is a vicious cycle of decline.

Clegg also announced a new policy: ‘I can announce today that we will be giving local authorities the freedom to borrow against those extra business rates to help pay for additional new developments.’ Clegg is not alone in being ignorant that councils have been able to do this since the eighteenth century through the Debt Management Office and the Public Works Loan Board and the issuance of municipal bonds, though as deputy prime minister he has less excuse for this than the majority of people.

Clegg also issued a valuable piece of advice to the leadership candidates: ‘a decent opposition has to provide a decent alternative.’ The next Labour leader has to offer a decent alternative, as that will be the mandate which Labour will be elected upon.

Clegg then finished on a desperate plea to the Lib Dem faithful to ‘stick with us’ through the identity crisis that Nick Clegg and the party leadership will be desperate to avoid.

Photo: screenshot