Nick Clegg gets painted.

I was reading in todays Metro that yesterday at a meet the party event two gentlemen forced their way in and threw blue paint over Nick Clegg and William Rennie, head of the Scottish Lib Dem party.

Mr Rennie laughed it off with;

I've always wanted a blue streak in my hair but my mother wouldn't let me.

Nick merely said;

These things happen in the job. It's no big deal.

There are several things that could be read into this however.

One of these is security. The way the country is at the moment and especially in the light of what has happened in Noway, we could be looking at a dead party leader and members.
It is also interesting that considering the amount of security questions and information required for the national conference to guard against such things yet on the streets of Glasgow...

The other thing is; what does this say about our (the Party's) politics?
Mr Rogers, the man who threw the paint is a former LibDem who had become angry with the direction and left. I know a few Libdems who have become disillusioned with the party and its role in the Coalition. There are even mutters in the local party about it and Nick isn't that popular with some of the grass roots.

A group of us do understand the hard work that Nick puts in and that the Coalition do representing the party and the hardships of working in with the Conservatives. However the one thing the AV campaign taught me is that being on Twitter and agreeing with each other doesn't mean the nation agrees.

Many people view us with disdain, traitors, vile lapdogs of the hated Tory oppressor... Of course this isn't my view, nor even my wife's.

The problem is we need to convince the rest of the country that we are still separate and representing their concerns on a local and national level. We have to continue to champion the people and their concerns, publicise our achievements a lot more and make our disagreements more visible.

Some sort of sustained media campaign will be needed as well as clear Policy decisions and reviews before 2015. On the ground we are telling people what the party are doing both nationally and locally but the message is hard to get across.
People in the middle want the party who; Govern from the middle for the middle. to help them. We who honestly go to work but find money not going as far, who are fed up with paying overpriced train fares, high utility bills and taxes - We need help and no one seems to be helping. The party needs to help us and to appeal to us more and get the support it seems to be losing.

I fear something must be done before the paint dries and we are turned permanently blue.