Private Eye story on moves to oust Tim Farron

A story from the new Private Eye:

As the other two parties went into meltdown, senior Lib Dems took to the phones to sound out members on whether the time was ripe to ditch Tim Farron and replace him with, er, Nick Clegg.

The organ goes on:

In last July's leadership contest, Clegg allies came out firmly for former minister Norman Lamb, the standard-bearer for the party's libertarian right. When Lamb lost by a wide margin, one former Clegg special adviser told colleagues the Cleggies should wait 18 months for Farron to fail, then depose him and "Bring  back Nick".

I hope there is nothing in this. Certainly, a senior Liberal Democrat and a former special adviser are two different animals.

It may be that the belligerent youths who surrounded Clegg in government have never come across someone who did not go to private school and Oxbridge. No wonder they are struggling to cope.

Yet, as I found during the leadership election, that different background is part of Tim's appeal.

What would be welcome, as I blogged just after the election, would be Nick Clegg taking on the Europe and foreign affairs for the Liberal Democrats,

His party needs him and his country does too.