Nick Clegg's fantasy cabinet

He is used to having members of his own team talent-spotted, but Nick Clegg has allowed himself to indulge in some fantasy cabinet assemblage. Asked who he would like to call up to serve in government alongside his current frontbench team, Clegg's choices suggest scant tribal politicking, but a little revenge. "I'd like to put Charles Kennedy back on the frontline, I'd love to have Paddy [Ashdown] there – particularly on Afghanistan," he said. When pushed to set his sights on other parties, he said: "I know what I'll do. Adonis keeps telling me he's a Lib Dem. Well, let's ask him. Vince; David Laws definitely; some of the pro-European Tories who have been marginalised. Bring back Patten maybe." (That's Lord Adonis, the transport secretary; Vince Cable, the Lib Dem Treasury spokesman, David Laws, the schools spokesman, and Lord Patten, the former Tory chairman.) Although Clegg leader made it clear his selections were in jest, the choices suggest he won't resile from his affection for the pro-European Tories, despite his time working for the former Tory European commissioner Leon Brittan. But Clegg would be unlikely to invite hoards of non-politicians into the government, as Gordon Brown did: "I'm a little bit sceptical about this idea that if you run a business then you should advise politicians."