Clegg and Cameron decouple

Cameron and Clegg are putting on a show for the in-laws. After mounting disquiet from the fringes of their respective parties, the two leaders are journeying to Oldham East to quash rumours of a merger and reaffirm that theirs is a marriage of necessity.

David Cameron will travel north in due course. God knows what he will say? Presumably that he no longer wishes his partners well – get out there and biff ‘em, or words to that effect. On the other hand, Nick Clegg will declaim his lines today. His script is hyperbolic, replete with wishful fantasy about a ‘two-horse race between Labour and the Liberal Democrats’. Oldham is a three way marginal, with less than 2,500 votes between the three parties; even deliberately tepid Tory campaigning cannot alter fundamental demographics, especially as Liberal Democrat support will have withered – the party’s rating stands at 11 percent in an Independent poll of polls this morning.