Nick Clegg will deliver his keynote speech to the Liberal Democrat conference later this
afternoon. It has been substantially trailed this morning,
despite competing for airtime with Nick Robinson’s story about the injection of an extra £5 billion of capital spending into the economy. Similarly to Monday’s Q&A with activists, Clegg is expected to defend the government’s deficit
reduction plan and insist that Britain can resist dire global economic trends.
It remains to be seen whether Clegg will concentrate on the rest of the government’s programme, especially its radical public service reforms. There is some concern in pro-government circles that he will not. Clegg’s new £50 million summer school scheme to prevent youths from “falling through the cracks” is dominating news outlets this morning. But what of the government’s academies programme, which has already markedly improved standards in formerly failing schools? While Lib Dem education minister Sarah
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