There was a touch of the Alan Partridge about the introduction to Nick Clegg's conference speech.

The LibDem leader appeared on a giant television screen in front of the party faithful as part of a little promotional video about, er, him.

In the film he clearly had been tasked with carrying off that most difficult of tasks for any politician - or member of the public for that matter - looking human when you have a camera stuck in your face.

In recent days the Deputy Prime Minister had given a number of interviews in which he has revealed something about his hinterland.

The subtext was, of course - I will be OK after politics.

It seemed a necessary move for a politician who, after all, sparked an internet craze called 'Nick Clegg looking sad.'

But yesterday his answers appeared just a little bit wooden. Real life had intruded, he told the camera. His local bike shop had rung him.

When a woman thanked him in a shop for one of his party's policies he appeared perhaps a little too keen to describe it as the best moment of his week "by a long way."

There were also shots of the Prime Minister in action.

Of course, a politician's life can be very exciting at times.

Also one middle-aged man in a suit travelling on a train does look quite like any other, it turns out. Mr Clegg continued, fulfilling his task, in the jargon of modern-day politics of "speaking human."

But then, after this and other clips, because of the events of recent weeks and the problems in the world, when the Deputy Prime Minister did come on stage he rightly and properly had to open his speech by addressing the most difficult subject matter.

Wearing a pink tie, because Lib Dem yellow would clash terribly with the huge canary coloured background behind him, he immediately and with a statesman-like bearing had to address the jihadi terrorist threat of Islamic State and their appalling recent actions.

There used to be a saying: it should not happen to a radio dj.

But never let it be said that a politicians's lot is always an easy one either.