The missing bits

The press has understandably picked up on the references in Nick Clegg’s New Years message to members on being part of a “rescue mission”.

Clegg to the rescue

The analogy is not an encouraging one for potential survivors. In some respects his account of achievements to date is about as laudable as the actions of a man who reports a missing manhole cover after he has sold it off for scrap.

Unsurprisingly, the selective review makes no mention of how his electoral reforms were rejected by voters in May with only seven areas out of 379 backing AV proposals. Nor is there any mention of how the party lost almost 700 seats in a near-meltdown at local elections the same day.

Lib Dems reading their leader’s message may also be puzzled by a missing allusion to the rather large issue of how the coalition agreement has become skewed by tory Europhobic squabbles and the possible consequences.

They will doubtlessly be hoping to be among those whom Clegg says the government has been “helping get through difficult times”. But since he also claims to be “rebalancing our economy away from the City of London towards stronger, more sustainable growth” then a letter to Santa might prove more effective in the long run.