Nick Clegg holds austerity conference at hotel which charges up to £19,000 per night

Nick Clegg announced plans today to end austerity, promising to make sure that the wealthy pay a larger contribution. However, the venue for this sincere declaration from the Lib Dems was one of London’s most expensive hotels.

Mr S is curious as to why they picked the Shangri-La in the Shard to unveil their economic plan. It’s a venue that only the wealthy they hope to tax would be able to splash out on. The hotel bills itself as ‘a new level of luxury’, and rooms start from £350, with the most expensive suites reportedly costing up to £19,000 per night.

Whether Clegg stayed on after for drinks in the bar is unknown though he has been enjoying the high life recently, attending a secret Prince gig with his celebrity friends.

Update: Quentin Letts says that Lib Dem donor D.K.Matai paid for the lavish venue. ‘Our host was a busy little puffball in a plum-coloured velvet jacket, flourishing a top-pocket silk hankie,’ he writes in the Daily Mail.