THE OBSERVER: The leader of the Liberal Democrats is playing high-stakes poker as both Tories and Labour try to woo him with offers of electoral reform and cabinet seats
As he was bundled through a baying press pack into a car waiting to speed him to yesterday's VE Day celebrations at the Cenotaph, Nick Clegg effected a physical transformation.
He was still the smart, political tyro who had shaken up the two-party system. He still looked like a man who had broken the mould: a pristine suit clashing with the jeans and anoraks of the camera crews huddled in the rain reinforced the image of a political big hitter.
But gone was the boyish, affable face of the centre left. Instead, here was someone different: steelier, tight-lipped, stern. Clegg is a man playing high-stakes Texas Hold 'Em. He knows he can win, but inside he is desperately trying to calculate the strength of his hand.
His authority has certainly been diminished by Thursday's disappointing performance at the polls that only a week earlier had promised so much.
But he can still be kingmaker – for either side. >>> Jamie Doward and Cal Flyn | Saturday, May 08, 2010
