Policy fails to ignite passion at lukewarm launch meet

IF EVER a political event needed a warm-up man to instil even a scintilla of animation in the audience it was at yesterday’s launch of the Liberal Democrat general election manifesto in central London.

This was not an occasion to set the pulse racing. If Liberal Democrats have any passion in their souls, they certainly kept it bottled up.

The speakers, even the saintly Vince Cable, were solemnly acknowledged by such desultory and reluctant hand-clapping that it did not even merit the description of “applause”.