Matthew Oakeshott managed to surprise a grand total of zero people with his pre-conference call for Nick Clegg to be ousted in House magazine:

“It’s nothing personal. We need to face facts. There’s quite a lot of complacency and self-delusion going on. It’s very important to maximise our national share of the vote to give our MPs the best chance. We have to accept that Nick’s ratings have been poor and have been for a long time.”

Something Paddy Ashdown hasn’t taken too well:

“I saw a wonderful tweet today on the subject, which says ‘in autumn the leaves fall, the swallows leave and Matthew Oakeshott flaps in squawking from cloud-cuckoo land’. He must have been the only party member who didn’t man the phones over Eastleigh. Matthew will say these things; it’s his way of getting a bit of attention to himself from time to time. He’s a formidable debater and a very smart guy in a one liner, but the best one liner I heard is the tweet.”

Good luck deciding who to back in that one…