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Nick Clegg: We have a base upon which to build

01/05/2008

Nick Clegg has claimed the Liberal Democrats are in their strongest position in years.

With Gordon Brown referring to Mr Clegg's nickname of 'Calamity Clegg' during prime minister's questions on Wednesday, the Liberal Democrat leader's position could be under threat should the party perform poorly in today's local elections.

But according to Mr Clegg, his tenure as party leader has been a success and he intends to remain in the job for the foreseeable future.

Speaking on BBC2's Newsnight, he said: "I've been in the job for four or five months. Our party poll rating as an average is a good three points higher now than when I took over.

"There is no other time in the last four or five parliaments that the Liberal Democrats have been around 20 per cent as we are at the moment at this point."

He described the party's current approval ratings as a "base upon which to build" but stressed he needed "time" to convey his message to the electorate.

"My whole party understands that we're now embarked upon a strategy of seeking to more than double the number of MPs in Westminster over two election cycles," the MP for Sheffield Hallam added.

"What will be crucial over the next 18 to 24 months before the next general election will be that I talk about the things that people care about – fairness, an environmental policy that has got substance, not just the talk of David Cameron."

Mr Clegg also professing to regretting an interview he gave to Piers Morgan for GQ magazine last month, in which he admitted to sleeping with "no more than 30" women.

The article had since distracted popular attention "from the things that have brought me to politics that I care about", he explained.