IF LIB Dem leader Nick Clegg was worried last night about polls that suggest his party’s momentum has slowed in recent days, he didn’t show it. Bounding up the steps of Sheffield’s neo-classical city hall, Clegg had all the appearance of a man who believes the wind is at his back.
Standing before several hundred well-wishers and curious bystanders, the Lib Dem leader reiterated his message of change as he wound down an electrifying campaign that has given his party a profile of which they once only dreamed.
“This election,” Clegg told the gathering, “is a choice between the old politics of the past and the new, different politics of the future.”
As well as addressing party faithful and recent converts, Clegg used his last opportunity before voting opened to appeal to those still torn by long-standing loyalties to Labour or the Conservatives to grasp what he called a “once in a generation” opportunity.
“I make a personal guarantee to you,” he said.
“If you lend us your support, if you lend us your vote, we will deliver the real change that people want. Aim high, don’t settle for second best. This is your future.”
Halfway through his speech, hecklers began loudly to taunt the Lib Dem leader, but he smiled and said: “Don’t listen to them.”
Clegg drew cheers when he railed against Britain’s “grotesquely unfair” tax system, and vowed to “clean up” Westminster and set in motion political reforms.
“If Gordon Brown or David Cameron are in No 10, nothing will really change at all,” he told the predominantly young crowd, many of whom wore T-shirts emblazoned with the words “I agree with Nick” – a line culled from the televised leaders’ debates which has become something of a catchphrase for Clegg true believers.
“Whether it is hecklers at the back or ministers talking about tactical voting, don’t let them tell you that yours is a wasted vote,” he added.
In an attempt to distract from Clegg’s speech, several Labour activists held aloft two large party banners that read “Vote Labour”, despite the best efforts of Lib Dem supporters to block them from view of the bank of TV cameras facing their leader.
Amid the sea of official Lib Dem posters, one homemade effort stood out. It read, in clumsily drawn blue letters: “Clegg u gorgeous bastard”.
Standing in the crowd, Robert Cameron, a retired university professor who has been a member of the Liberal Democrats since 1979, was keeping his expectations in check.
“This is the first time we’ve had fair exposure in an election and we should have some gains as a result, but we’re not expecting miracles,” he said.
“When you’ve been a member as long as I have, anything is an improvement.”
Jill White, a longtime Labour supporter, admitted that with only hours to go before polling day dawned, she was still undecided.
“There’s a strong possibility I will go Lib Dem,” she said. “They have really engaged people and I think this year it might be time for change.”