What is real about the Lib Dems?

Tea with Pickles.

Doesn’t really matter how many times Mrs Pickles or I come to Scotland, it never fails to stir the senses and revive the fondest of memories.

But this time it’s different – it’s just got a lot more serious.  There’s a real urgency in the air.  An urgency to see ‘real’ change, an urgency to get rid of this redundant force called Labour.

“It’s time to turn the borders blue” was my rallying cry on my tour of border seats, not a message that fell on deaf ears it would seem.

It’s been a long time since I’ve enjoyed the kind of reception I got today in Galashiels, where in a walkabout with our candidate John Lamont, people were approaching me and telling me we just ‘had’ to win.

Peter Duncan, our candidate in Dumfries and Galloway was brimming with excitement and nothing quite prepared me for the reception we had with David Mundell in Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale, with posters everywhere.  What a sight.

Almost everywhere I go I’m asked why people should believe us this time, because its ‘real’ is my reply, because David is very very serious indeed.

Which is more than can be said for the Lib Dems.

Earlier it was revealed that it was a Lib Dem researcher who was pretending to be a nurse for their campaign literature.

Police Officers in photographs weren’t actually Police Officers, just Lib Dem stand-ins and quotes praising Lib Dem candidate Mark Hunter were attributed to an 86 year old grandmother who had never made them.

It even turns out that Lib Dem activists working under false pretences were trying to infiltrate Zac Goldsmith’s campaign in Richmond Park.

It all adds up to the weirdest campaign so far in this election.

Of course it also begs the question – what is real about the Lib Dems?

Their policy on Trident?  Their plan to release 60,000 prisoners early, or give 600,000 illegal immigrants amnesty?

Perhaps their fantasy photos and their phoney quotes are more believable than some of their policies.

Eric Pickles