Growing pains 

AT the time of writing it is the last day of the Lib Dem conference in Brighton.

Between the briney gusts and the distant rumble of potential electoral annihilation Nick Clegg has just delivered his big speech.

I like Mr Clegg and I thought he made a very good job of it. Not because of the bits that were more obviously about party advantage — be prepared for plenty more of 'it wasn't us, guv, it was them rotten Tories; we only did the nice bits' — but because of something he had to say about how his party should see itself: that it should behave like it has serious aspirations to govern after the next election.

This means, of course, that the party has to let go of the safety blanket of perpetual opposition — a position that allows the luxury of promises without implementation and criticism devoid of alternative.

I would, though, add one further item to Mr Clegg's quest for the Lib Dems to become a natural party of government — that of resisting the urge to demonise as a means of pitching for support — something that I accept that politicians from all parties engage in from time to time.

The rhetoric of soaking the better off. If you live in an expensive house you are referred to as an Oligarch. If you have saved hard for your retirement then Lib Dem Lord Oakeshott sees you as 'sipping sangria in the sun in Seville'.

All this is as ugly in my book as when some unpleasant folks on the right start suggesting that everyone on benefits must be a scrounger.

So, Nick, keep going on the 'grown-up politics' — it is fertile and honourable territory. But ensure that the party's politics are positive.

Tell me what you think [email protected]">[email protected]