From the Sunday Times Shippers Forecast (£)

The Forecast’s favourite ginger spin doctor, James McGrory of the Lib Dems, looked even more dishevelled than usual after a night bunked up at Nick Clegg’s constituency home. “I was stuck in a tiny child’s bed and Nick was ages in the shower,” he explained.

Clegg, who has quit smoking, has an incentive for McGrory — who still puffs away like a chimney — not to wash. “I just have to sit next to him,” Clegg told me. “It’s nicotine consumption by osmosis.

In a separate interview in the same paper, Nick talks about the impact on his children of his career:

Clegg insists rumours that his wife, Miriam, would like him to resign for a life at the European Commission or the United Nations are untrue: “We’re a mum and dad of three lovely little boys. Our greatest concern always is our children.

“So far at least — I hope they don’t tell me otherwise in 20 years’ time — they appear to be strong, happy, well-adjusted children.”

Clegg’s eldest is 13 and the Lib Dem leader hints that he might step down if their teenage years are disrupted by another political firestorm such as tuition fees.

“There’s a hidden merit to having children so small that they don’t really know what political controversy is swirling around,” he said.

“The teenage years are quite vulnerable years for children at the best of times. You do need to be very mindful if you’re in any public walk of life about the impact your vocation has on your children.”

He’s also described as a “bouncy vicar” by Shipman who interviewed him on his visit to Gordon on Friday.

On a day spent touring the Gordon constituency in Scotland, where the Lib Dems are trying to prevent Alex Salmond from creating his new political base, Clegg is like a bouncy vicar.

“I know all politicians tell you this, some mean it and some don’t, but I genuinely love campaigning. It’s much, much more fun than arguing with George Osborne in an office in Whitehall.”

Clegg wants a return to government to mitigate “this genuine threat now of a lurch to the right or the left — we are the guarantee of stability and continuity for this country”.

Despite growing public confidence in the economic recovery, Clegg said: “It is still very fragile, it’s much more fragile than people think. The great danger is complacency that somehow the economic recovery is now on autopilot. It is not. It can be thrown into reverse in a millisecond.”

After our chat I am told that this form of words, with its allusions to Ed Miliband, the Labour leader, is not a coincidence. It should be spelt “Mili-second”.

* Newshound in training. I'm sweet and full of mischief, just like my stories.