LIBERAL Democrat grandee Paddy Ashdown lashed out yesterday at the party’s former president Tim Farron after he admitted that the past five years had been a disaster.

Mr Farron had confessed that he only rated the Lib Dems’ performance in the coalition government at “two out of 10.”
“Just think what going into coalition with the Tories will do to our brand over the next generation,” he told the Mail on Sunday.

He criticised Mr Clegg’s U-turn on tuition fees, belatedly realising that “integrity is important.”

But Baron Ashdown, chair of the party’s general election campaign, chastised Mr Farron’s “untimely and unwise” comments, saying that he should show a “little more patience and a little more judgement.”

Trying to put on a brave face, Lib Dem Energy Secretary Ed Davey said: “By being in government Liberal Democrats have ensured not only an economic recovery but we have also made sure that people on lower incomes are looked after.”

But Labour leader Ed Miliband made clear that voters wouldn’t be duped by ministers’ claims.

“We will never put up with a country where people find themselves working all the hours God sends and still can’t afford to pay the bills,” he told activists in Birmingham on Saturday.

“We will never put up with a country built on insecurity, where the text message at 6am is when you find out if you have work that day.

“We will never put up with a country where public services disintegrate on a failed ideology that says we should cut government back to the bone.”

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