THERE was a curious mood at this week's gathering of the Liberal Democrats; a contented Zen-like resignation to their fate.
One senior figure confided there had been a feeling within the ranks for so long that the party was going to get "whacked" at the election, that psychologically members had become accustomed to it. "The question now is: how big will the whacking be?" he added.
When the party leader starts talking, as he did, about life beyond politics, it might suggest within its own collective mind the Lib Dem leadership is preparing for public punishment if not exit after May 7.
With the party polling little above seven per cent, Nick Clegg attracting a record low personal rating of minus 42 and the prospect of another lost deposit in today's Clacton by-election, when the Deputy Prime Minister told activists they were facing the "fight of our lives", he wasn't kidding.
The main message of the past five days has been clear: majority government next spring bad - as it would simply deliver into power either an economically incompetent Labour Party or a socially unjust Conservative Party - coalition government good - as it would include the civilising force of the Liberal Democrats.
Only they, Mr Clegg repeatedly insisted could be trusted to deliver a fair agenda rooted in the centre ground.
He contrasted the Liberal tradition of pursuing the great British values of compassion and fairness with the politics of blame, grievance and fear pursued, he claimed, by the likes of Alex Salmond and Nigel Farage.
In the relieved wake of the referendum, the DPM again insisted more Scottish powers would be delivered no ifs, no buts.
Yet he derided the Tories for seeking political advantage on English devolution, saying he would block any political land-grab by introducing a proportionate element into Commons debates and votes. Good luck.
The conference had the usual ingredients, including Tory-bashing with Basher-in-Chief Vince Cable branding the Conservatives "Ukip without the beer", and a defeat for the leadership; this time on airport expansion
After Chancellor George Osborne, as expected, stole Lib Dem clothes on the tax-free personal allowance, it was the DPM's main task of conference to lasso it back into yellow territory, insisting that increasing it was in fact a Lib Dem not a Tory idea and would happen in a quicker, fairer way with his party again in power.
Interestingly, Mr Clegg had a message for those Opposition-minded doubters in the audience who thought the Coalition had been a bad idea, saying no Lib Dem could deny the party had been in bed with the Tories and, in fact, they should be proud of the Coalition's children; most notably economic recovery.
But one can't help feeling that after May 7, Mr Clegg will be whacking balls on the fairway rather than cracking jokes in the No 10 rose garden.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article