KNIVES OUT FOR CLEGG.

It seems that Nick Clegg now has a bit of a fight on his hands if he's to remain leader of the Liberal Democrats and Deputy Prime Minister.

After their catastrophic showing in both the Local and European elections, a few voices have been raised suggesting that it's time for Clegg to depart. Yesterday, one of the more significant Lib Dems, Lord Oakeshott, published polling data which indicates that the meltdown in Liberal support is such that even Clegg is likely to lose his parliamentary seat at next year's general election. That this polling was conducted without the support of the party hierarchy and certainly published without it seems obvious, though Oakeshott has claimed differently. He states that his big buddy, Vince Cable, not only knew but supported his actions wholeheartedly; unsurprisingly, Cable, caught somewhat on the hop, has denied this with some vehemence.

Regardless of the rights and wrongs, truths, lies, half-truths and general dissembling, Oakeshott's intervention has caused a pretty big headache for Clegg. There can be no doubt that he's in trouble within his party and that the likes of Cable would love to replace him. As a former Labour party member, as was Oakeshott, Cable can have little love for many of the policies of the coalition government; he'd surely be much happier in a Lib-Lab coalition. The man behind all the trouble, Oakeshott, is now being painted as a rather irritating figure who has been causing problems for the party for years; he has, of course, resigned his membership and will, presumably, resurface elsewhere before long. He is another who seems unhappy with the marginal rightward movement of the Liberal Democrats in recent years and would almost certainly prefer to return to his more socialist starting point.

In the midst of all of this turmoil, Clegg has carried on apparently oblivious to the storm raging around him. Cable has felt obliged to offer seemingly firm support for his boss and several other leading LibDems have done likewise. However, there can be no doubt that this is a very unhappy party and there's still a long summer and a party conference to get through before the election in May 2015.

Harold Wilson famously said that "a week is a long time in politics"; for Nick Clegg and his party, the next year is going to seem like an eternity.