The Lib Dems face the public

The most brutal session the Lib Dems will see is the studio audience currently assembled by Victoria Derbyshire for her Five Live phone-in. It’s a rare event in conference time, where the general public are put into contact with the politicians. The result is normally a bit of a bear pit, and for that reason it’s become one of my favourite conference events – I’m in the audience, in the rather beautiful Liverpool Maritime Museum. And poor Danny Alexander is in the bearpit. “This is toughest job I’ve ever had,” he said at the offset. Erm, yes – the competition being his time as press officer of the Cairngorms National Park and a press officer for the ‘yes to the Euro’ campaign. Now he’s overseeing a £650bn government budget. So let the games begin.
 
“My question’s quite simple: how do you sleep at night?” This opener – from a trade unionist – set the tone.