Recent coverage of Nick Clegg in the Telegraph is trying to have its cake and eat it too.

Political Editor Patrick Hennessy thinks Clegg is lurching to the right

Private companies and charities should play a bigger role in running schools and hospitals, Nick Clegg, the new Liberal Democrat leader, said yesterday.

In his first big speech as leader, Mr Clegg placed his party firmly behind reform of public services – a stance many Left-leaning activists will be uncomfortable with.

In another pitch for Tory votes, he also made clear he would not demand higher taxes. He called for schools to be freed from excessive interference by government, while demanding guaranteed hospital treatment for patients, who should be treated free in the private sector if the NHS could not provide treatment within a defined period.

And yet, on the same day, Portcullis saw Nick Clegg’s red tie at PMQs as proof positive he was lurching leftwards.

Why did Nick Clegg sport a red tie at his first Prime Minister’s Questions as Lib Dem leader last week? It seemed provocative. Paddy Ashdown and Charles Kennedy usually stuck to party colours – gold or orange. Insiders claim Clegg’s sartorial choice was a subtle rebuff for David Cameron’s offer of a “progressive consensus” with the Lib Dems, while coyly offering co-operation with Labour in the event of a hung Parliament.

If the same paper on the same day can accuse you of lurching in two directions at once, then you’re probably getting the balance right.

And what of Cameron? John Curtice believes he should be out wooing Lib Dem voters.

The Tory leader […] trails badly among those who presently back the Lib Dems or one of the smaller parties. This could be important.

Without making more inroads into Lib Dem support, the Tories are unlikely to start securing the kind of double-digit poll leads that would suggest they really were well-set to win the next election.

Strangely this doesn’t count as a lurch to the Centre for the Tories.