Nick Clegg - supremely relaxed about life

Yesterday, Nick Clegg declared himself 'supremely relaxed' about the independence of the Lib Dems. Certainly that is the image that he is portraying around the conference.

He is appearing without a tie on more occasions than with and is spending a lot of time laughing and joking.

At his Q & A session yesterday he batted away critical questions with aplomb, whilst also managing to drop some nuggets of welcome news in the laps of his audience. Would the Lib Dems be getting into bed with the Tories in a more formal way at the next election? Not a chance said Clegg. We will stand in every single seat. Cue roar of applause.

Back on Sunday he was happy to joke about his Cabinet colleagues and to drop snippets of gossip into his speech. Nothing to scare the horses, of course, but a far change from the stilted civil service language he used when talking to councillors just after the coalition was formed.

After his session on the stage yesterday, Nick was having another chat - this time with young members and with wife Miriam in tow. Miriam is, famously, her own woman and (rightly) wasn't about to muck about her work schedule during the general election to spend the whole time on the stump. But she too was in supremely relaxed mode yesterday, laughing and joking with her husband for the snappers.

The big speech is this afternoon - much earlier in the week than is usual because of a government trip to the UN. No doubt relaxation will continue.