Liberal Democrats and the budget ‘elephant’

The Liberal Democrat manifesto launch at Bloomberg’s HQ in the City showed Nick Clegg in fairly good pre-TV debate form. In fact, the party could have relaxed and allowed more than eight questions.

The message here was that the Liberal Democrats want the mantle of honesty (over the deficit) and fairness (over taxes).

Vince Cable kicked things off talking about the deficit being “the elephant in the room” and then dubbing himself the “elephant man.” Nick Clegg even thanked him as “elephant man” before kicking off his presentation.

Does it all add up to honesty? It’s true they are talking about bad times ahead a bit more than the other two, but when I asked Nick Clegg if we get “less from less” not “more from less” as David Cameron promised yesterday, the Liberal Democrat leader wouldn’t go there.

And do their efficiencies and cuts really get you enough to raise allowances to £10,000 and pay off huge chunks of the debt? Do the poorest really get that much from the new £10,000 allowance when lower earners lose so much in benefits?
 
Elsewhere in the election jungle a couple of things strike you today:
 
Much is made of Gordon Brown admitting he got it wrong letting the City run unregulated riot (my phrase not his) in an interview for ITV being transmitted tonight … is it a gaffe? It was clearly intended and the thinking is that a moment of connection comes with contrition. I suspect it does GB no harm at all.
 
Peter Mandelson at Labour’s presser this morning referred to David Cameron looking “down his rather long toffee nose” at the regional development … or was that “toffy?”
 
 And here’s something from over the Irish Sea … the Tories reformed links with the Ulster Unionists to get a bigger profile in Northern Ireland politics and now they have it: