George Bridges has unfortunate timing.  The former Senior Conservative staffer writes in The Telegraph today criticising the Lib Dem leader for failing to make an impression on the press in his piece 'Nick Clegg is about to get squeezed out'.

Unfortunately, that piece has appeared on the same day that Clegg has managed to get a raft of stories across a range of papers.

Firstly, The Guardian, Telegraph and Sun cover his Afghanistan visit - mostly because of the rocket fire that came his way whilst there.

Secondly, there's a poll in The Guardian that puts the gap separating Labour and the Lib Dems at just 5% (Con 41% [+2], Lab 27% [-7], Lib Dem 22% [+3], Other 9%[+/-0]).

Thirdly, Clegg has a long article in The Independent about modernising the political system ('Democracy, what a great idea!')

Fourthly, The Telegraph picked up a story yesterday about the Lib Dems being prepared to see a minority Conservative Government if that's what the electoral arithmetic produces ('Nick Clegg will back Tories in hung parliament').

Finally, a speech Clegg is due to make later today is already attracting attention. Not least notable praise from The Guardian leader:

"Both opposition parties would rightly scrap ID cards, but unlike the Conservatives - who would squander the savings on building more jails - the Lib Dems would distribute the money through carefully targeted tax cuts. Other Clegg economies are more controversial, such as cuts to tax credits for those on middling incomes and the scrapping of Labour's popular baby bonds scheme, which gives every child a nest egg. But delivering tax cuts inevitably involves making tough choices. Mr Clegg is showing commendable courage in making plain where the axe would fall."

That piece is certainly worth reading in full. It notes that Clegg's current call for tax cuts on low and middle income earners mirrors the message of the Lib Dems in the 1990s for more spending on public services.  In both cases the Lib Dems out-flanked the main opposition parties: and in both cases the opposition leaders were happy to be out-flanked.

That's not to say that that George Bridges can be ignored. His central point still holds:

"With every poll that shows the Conservatives heading for a possible working majority, the Lib Dems risk becoming irrelevant. Mr Clegg, praying for a hung parliament, is still trying to play footsie with Mr Cameron, saying at the weekend that he would support a minority Conservative administration so long as he could "vet" the Queen's Speech. He can expect to be ignored."

Lots of Londoners liked Brian Paddick and were prepared to support his with their second vote - but in a tight race that was perceived to be a clash of two titans, they wanted to express their view on that clash with their first.

Many people have said that Labour will be looking at its performance in Crewe this week to see if their "Tory Toff" message will play to a wider audience. But surely the Lib Dems will also be looking to see how their Crewe messages have helped them resist the squeeze to put them ahead of Labour.