Like the whole of this Liberal Democrat conference, Nick Clegg’s speech to delegates did the job, but didn’t exactly lift the roof from the Brighton Centre. Those watching were happy: they applauded warmly and laughed at all the jokes (which hasn’t always been the case this week in Brighton), and they were utterly overjoyed when the Deputy Prime Minister announced that Paddy Ashdown will chair the party’s 2015 general election team.
He told members to ‘go for it’, and raised two laughs when he quoted Jo Grimond, saying that he could ‘see generations of Liberal marching towards the sound of gunfire. And yes, I see them going back to their constituencies to prepare for government.’ Behind these battle cries, running as a thread throughout the speech, was a concerted attack on Labour, and more specifically Ed Balls. The Olympians and Paralympians and Maurice Reeves, whose furniture shop was burnt down in the riots, did not survive as a theme throughout the speech beyond the introductory remarks.
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