The media are having fun. This morning Sir Michael White quipped that Ming’s ‘toilet bowl’ photo must have been behind the poll surge reported by his august organ and friend of Lib Dem Voice, The Grauniad. But their main sport is speculating on who will be the next Lib Dem leader – even though, as most of the mooted contenders point out, there is no vacancy.

At the afternoon press briefing, hacks were keen to veer off the topic of Sir Ming’s speech, and onto the question. Ed Davey was asked for the second time in the day whether he’d stand. He was invited to pick an answer between the approaches of Nick Clegg and Chris Huhne. Nick, of course, has drawn some flack for deviating from the “no vacancy, I’m doing my job” formula used by leading MPs (and Nick himself when he spoke to Lib Dem Voice a few hours earlier). It’s still a storm in a teacup, given he used a form of words that was barely any different in their meaning. But it will be interesting to see how members come to judge his choice. I’ve heard some saying he’s being unfairly hounded, while others are furious at him feeding meat to the media grinder, just as polls were going up. It’s a sad indictment of the media that a week-long conference discussing the pressing issues of the day hinges on whether a man says “there’s no vacancy” or “I probably would”.

What’s odd is the fact that Nick and Chris have been barely any more energetic in accepting fringe invitations than previous conferences. Other than the fact that they appeared on their own together for the first time, it’s hard to work what has changed. But it certainly has caught the media’s imagination.

Ed Davey’s answer? He insisted Nick had been quoted out of context, before adding that there was “no vacancy”.

What would Charles Kennedy say to the same question? You can find out later, when Stephen uploads our interview with Charles earlier today.