I am one of those people who go around saying ‘You know what, if that Ken Clarke was Shadow Chancellor my decision to not be a Tory would be much more difficult.

Which makes it all the sadder to see how he has gone a bit doolally about the IMF and a need to support the UK if there is a hung Parliament.

According to David Cameron, the ‘truth’ is “the Conservative Party now accepts wholeheartedly the equality agenda for people, whether you’re black or white or straight or gay, man or woman, is really important.”

In reality, one of the old prejudices is still there – you just have to know which rock to turn over and what to look for.

contribution by Tim Fenton

As the fallout from the first Leaders’ Debate continues, the Tory cheerleaders within the blogosphere have been reduced to a state of desperation.

The prospect of a hung parliament, is clearly causing distress, so much so that creative retelling of history to frighten voters back to the Tories has begun.

How do we start to make sense of this moment? Some may blame it on the ash-cloud, others on reality television. But the truth is that the history of the present is being written today: not by the politicians on our television screens, nor yet by shadowy forces, but by us, the British people.

As Hobhouse for the next few weeks, I can call it as I see it. So let’s ditch the baggage, and connect a few dots.

Put away the Universal Swing Calculator; it’s become useless especially when you count marginal seats.

At this point the key question isn’t how big the Libdem surge is, but at whose expense Clegg is gaining.

Labour, facing their worst result in almost 20 years, have a lot to worry about. Their share is dropping and for the first time in a long while they have become the third party…however fleetingly.

Natually they will want to target the Libdems to regain back some voters. But looking at the constituency map – this is a futile exercise. They would be better off focusing on the Tories.

contribution by Adam Ramsay

I have spent the last 2 weekends canvassing council estates. As you find in lots of places, many people, when asked to list their main worries, include “immigration”.

But why how can left-wingers turn this narrative around and confront the issue?

There’s something not quite right with the ‘push-polling’ story that I wrote about yesterday, highlighted first by Craig Murray and then Stephen Tall.

Here is the alleged question asked in a poll…

Win or lose, the Thatcherite right will want to ditch the compromises of Cameron’s ‘progressive Conservatism’ after the election.

Only if the modernisers take them on could the party seriously claim to have changed. But will they? It seems unlikely.

The Daily Mail is back on the trail of what it means to be authentically British, if only in the cause of mounting an ill-conceived attack on Nick Clegg. But why bother, when the very idea of being British at all is, in the grand scheme of things, no more than a relatively recent invention.

contribution by Adrian Ramsay

If the Greens win Norwich South it would not only send a message to New Labour.

It would also be the opportunity to vote positively for policies we believe in, rather than settling for less with parties that have let us down again and again.

There are two problems when Labour ministers talk about entering into a coalition with the Libdems.

The first is their unwillingness to take Libdems seriously. Secondly, they might end up helping Cameron by doing so.

At first glance it might seem a mistake for the Tories to be nasty about the Lib Dems. After all in a few weeks they might be trying to broker a power-sharing deal with Clegg, Cable and Co.

In that eventuality, it may look publicly and privately stupid to have been calling the Lib Dems nasty names.

WEDNESDAY 21st APRIL

YouGov at 10pm: Conservative 33%; Liberal Democrat 31%; Labour 27%; Others 9%

Ipsos Mori: Libdem jump represents highest score we’ve recorded since it formed.

Watch: Cameron gets egged

Paul Waugh: Osborne’s bad hair day

Evening Standard: Labour and Libdems surge in London!

LC Westminster: Want to know Clegg’s Achilles heel? Here it is

LC Media: Guess the newspaper editor most annoyed with Libdem surge?

LC Westminster: Watch: Do people really have a clue about politics?

Sunder Katwala: Let everyone watch the debate! 10 reasons to #showitlivebbc

LC Media: Support blogger Dave Osler at libel courts on Friday

Indymedia: Save Bita Ghaedi from Deportation!

Nicola Smith: Dole queues today nearly half the size of the 80s and 90s