Positivity at last from Lib Dem campaign

Last evening, BBC1 showed a major interview of Nick Clegg by Evan Davis. It's available on BBC iPlayer. Apart from occasional signs of prickliness, he surmounted rather more probing questions than he has been used to since the early days of the government.

He was in Maidstone earler, as Great George Street reported, "campaigning with Jasper Gerard as he targets the seat of the unpopular sitting Conservative MP Helen Grant. Asked by a local newspaper if he believed the Liberal Democrats could gain the seat on May 7, Nick replied, 'You bet.' He said Lib Dem candidate Jasper Gerard was 'one of the most energetic, most dynamic campaigners I have ever come across in any party'."

This is the first time in this campaign that I have seen the central organisation proclaim our aim not just to hold on to core seats but actually to gain some. The campaigners I know in marginal seats have always been optimistic; it's good to see HQ echo that at last. I acknowledge that Scottish and some English metropolitan seats are under severe threat. On the other hand, we could not only regain some constituencies which we lost in 2010 but also some from 2005.