Deputy prime minister admits many on left loathe coalition but says critics fail to acknowledge coalition's help for poor
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Nick Clegg, pictured as he greeted his parliamentary aide Jo Swinson at the Liberal spring conference in Gateshead, appears more relaxed on the campaign trail. Photograph: Anna Gowthorpe/PA
A new Nick Clegg appears to have been born.
A year ago the deputy prime minister often appeared tetchy as he struggled to show what the Liberal Democrats were gaining from the coalition beyond doing the decent thing in the national interest.
Out on the campaign trail for this year's local elections Clegg appears noticeably more relaxed as he reels off a list of Lib Dem achievements in government. Clegg clearly believes that this year marks a milestone for the Lib Dems in government:
It is very gratifying this month to see uplifts in the state pension, uplifts in the pupil premium, uplifts in the allowance – most of those were on the front page of our manifesto.
The deputy prime minister's strong language, as he said the Tories sometimes adopt a "blunderbuss" approach to legislation and made clear his commitment to civil liberties, shows he believes he has successfully differentiated the Lib Dems from the Tories. He had in mind the Health and Social Care Act, the brainchild of Andrew Lansley, when he spoke of "blunderbuss" legislation.
But I detected another thought in Clegg's mind. He appears to have adopted a philosophical attitude towards those on the left who have not reconciled themselves to the Lib Dem participation in the coalition. If he were to resort to one of his many languages Clegg would probably describe this in French as a "tant pis" approach.
That is a more diplomatic version of what supporters of Tony Blair once described as their "flying fuck" strategy towards the Treasury under Gordon Brown. This phrase, first disclosed by my colleague Patrick Wintour in 2003, described what Blairites thought of Brown's attempts to restrict their reforms of public services.
Clegg appears to have decided that there is nothing he can do during the local election campaign to win over voters on the left who believe he betrayed his party by going into coalition with the Tories. But his language indicates he thinks they are foolish not to spot what the Lib Dems have delivered:
My own view is that people who dislike the Liberal Democrats because we are in coalition – we are not going to win them over over the next four weeks, but we are hopefully going to get through to people on the doorsteps that we are doing concrete things that will make a concrete difference to them. We just have to be very disciplined in drawing their attention to that.
The Lib Dems know they face a long haul to overturn a widespread and devastating judgment about Clegg – that he abandoned one of his main election pledges, on university tuition fees, to form a coalition. But the Lib Dems now appear to have a new asset: a confident leader, completely at ease in government and ready to laugh at his tormentors.