Lib Dem conference: Clegg’s confident Q&A

Nick Clegg was in a jolly good mood this afternoon when he strode into the conference hall for his question-and-answer session. His success (which may be halted shortly when conference votes on tax) in three votes over the last two days n nuclear power, tuition fees and the economy meant that he could be confident when taking questions from activists that they were largely for, not against, his vision. He took the opportunity to remind activists that the Lib Dems hardly campaigned on an anti-austerity platform in 2010, saying:

‘It’s not a thing that’s been imposed on us by the Conservatives, we went in with our eyes wide open to the last general election that whoever was in power next would have to deal with this huge black hole that had opened up in our public finances. It’s really important not to somehow almost portray it as if we’re hapless, passive recipients of this.’