Stephen Tall

Nick Clegg has just delivered his seventh conference speech – you can read it here. Five quick thoughts from me:

1. It’s rare to remember party leaders’ speeches. However, I’ve a feeling this one will be remembered. Not necessarily stylistically — its rhetoric or his delivery — but for a government policy announcement: the emphasis on mental health-care which Nick made a centre-piece and which he has said will be on the front page of the party’s manifesto. Yes, there were plenty of positioning soundbites. But, more importantly, this announcement demonstrated, better than any finely crafted words, the point of Lib Dems being in government: to put liberal values (tolerance, respect, fairness) into action.

2. That Nick Clegg gave this speech at all – and that it was well-received within the hall — deserves a mention. After all, just four months ago Nick Clegg was under fire from many within his party (yes, including me) following the party’s dire results in the local and European elections. Yet here he was today, closing a conference that everyone has commented upon was strikingly upbeat, and rewarded with a genuine standing ovation. That doesn’t mean everything within the party is suddenly rosy, far from it, but Nick’s buoyant performance this week is some contrast to the red-eyed, exhausted Nick of a matter of weeks ago.

3. Clegg has, undoubtedly, been helped by the Lib Dem conference following Labour and the Tories. Labour’s week was flat, Miliband’s speech a disaster for him. The Tories’ was jubilant, Cameron’s speech a triumph for him. In their different ways, they’ve helped remind Lib Dems why our party exists. For all the policy overlap we have with Labour, they just do not look like a government-in-waiting. The opposite is true of the Tories: little remaining policy overlap and all too obviously waiting to be a government free of the Lib Dems.

4. Yet there is a paradox about the Lib Dems position, or at least Nick Clegg’s. The nakedly anti-Tory positioning of senior ministers, from Clegg down, has not been faked. There is genuine scorn for the Tories’ rightward tilt – banging on about Europe, immigration and benefits again — but still there is a clear sense that Clegg would rather spend another five years disagreeing vigorously with Cameron than five years broadly agreeing with Miliband.

5. At its heart, this was a plea in favour of Lib Dems not turning their backs on being in government. Clegg made his pitch in a way cannily designed to appeal to Lib Dems’ anti-establishment instincts: “what the [Establishment] vested interests would relish most is to eject us from office before our time is up”. He feels he has grown-up through being in government; and that it’s only through being in government that parties learn how to deliver for their voters. Even if this was his last major conference speech as leader, he wants that message to resonate.

That’s what I thought – here’s what some of you thought…

Fantastic speech from Nick Clegg at conference. Freedom, fairness and opportunity for all. #ldconf pic.twitter.com/ApXyd7TUGH

— hannah fraser (@HannahFAbbey) October 8, 2014

I've watched all three-Cameron was ok but not in charge, Miliband was flawed by omission-Clegg had the best speech and conference #ldconf

— Mark Brown (@Markliamb) October 8, 2014

All I have to say is #IagreewithNick. Fantastic speech by @nick_clegg, really inspiring stuff! #ldconf

— Mathew McCarthy (@MathewMcCarthy) October 8, 2014

Cameron spoke to the cameras. Clegg spoke to the people in the room. (Not sure Miliband spoke to anyone.) #ldconf @LibDems

— Jessica Metheringham (@PoliticalQuaker) October 8, 2014

Really very emotional to see a party leader prioritise #mentalhealth in his party conf speech. And to huge applause! #ldconf

— Louise Rubin (@louisekirsh) October 8, 2014

Probably Clegg's strongest speech in 3 years, under pressure in polls, he's come out fighting #ldconf

— Giles Goodall (@GoodallGiles) October 8, 2014

For civil liberties, environment, constitutional reform, equality, internationalism – potent summary of what it is to be @LibDems #ldconf

— Joshua Tebbutt (@jmtebbutt) October 8, 2014

Not a fan of much of what he has done but that was a pretty impressive defensive of pluralism from Nick Clegg #ldconf

— Mark Brown (@Markliamb) October 8, 2014

#clegg Stonking speech, clear differention, positive policies, mental health at its core, and a plea for a LIBERAL Britain! #ldconf

— Andrew Brown (@oneexwidow) October 8, 2014

And here’s what the pundits had to say…

Good closing stuff from Clegg. And a pretty decent speech all round. Hall seems happy. Let's see if it dents the outside world. #ldconf

— Sam Macrory (@sammacrory) October 8, 2014

Pretty decent peroration from Clegg. "the party of the head and the heart" is a good line. But do voters want to listen to him?

— Tim Shipman (@ShippersUnbound) October 8, 2014

That wasn't a bad, speech, actually. Probly the clearest answer I've heard Clegg give to the old 'what's the point of the LDems?' question.

— Gaby Hinsliff (@gabyhinsliff) October 8, 2014

Clegg speech verdict: plodding, audience-pleasing, a bit "Blue Peter" but some decent policy points. Ie a classic Lib Dem conference speech.

— Jeremy Cliffe (@JeremyCliffe) October 8, 2014

Tough sell but right message under the circs – we're the anti-Ukip. Problem remains getting anyone outside the hall to hear it.

— Rafael Behr (@rafaelbehr) October 8, 2014

My verdict on Clegg speech: an I Did It My Way defence of governing, with some important mea culpa. But spoke more to his party than country

— Tom Newton Dunn (@tnewtondunn) October 8, 2014

* Stephen Tall is Co-Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice, and editor of the 2013 publication, The Coalition and Beyond: Liberal Reforms for the Decade Ahead. He is also a Research Associate for the liberal think-tank CentreForum and writes at his own site, The Collected Stephen Tall.