Clegg facing challenge to deliver

If he fails to show progress, the party's grassroots – some of whom he has had to drag quite forcefully to the right – may begin wondering whether the Sheffield Hallam MP really can really bust open the two-party domination of British politics.

If, on the other hand, the party fares well then maybe Labour and the Conservatives are in for a huge wake-up call.

To try to make sure it is the latter, Mr Clegg has been breaking out of the Westminster bubble. Like David Cameron, his Tory counterpart and fellow 43-year-old, he has travelled the country since becoming leader taking questions from thousands of people in dozens of town hall meetings.

So taking on a roomful of Yorkshire Post readers will have held few qualms. From education to immigration, nuclear to high speed rail he gave accomplished answers in a generally polished performance.

It is the sort of style which may well impress viewers not familiar with Mr Clegg when they see him on televised debates during the election campaign, although his tendency to offer extensive answers – and at times revert to recitals of policy rather than answering the specifics of a question – will need to change to meet the tougher time limits broadcasters will impose.

Like Mr Cameron last week, Mr Clegg refused to be drawn on what he would do in the event of a hung parliament, but offered a passionate defence of his stance.

In saying that irrespective of the make-up of parliament they would fight for four principles – making the tax system fairer, prioritising funding for schooling, cleaning up politics and reforming the City – the Lib Dems have moved towards creating a simple message that may chime with voters.

On those four issues his passion is clear. Speaking about education and the importance of giving children a good start in life is an obvious strength, and he makes a compelling case for taking millions of low earners and part-time workers out of paying income tax at all by increasing the threshold to 10,000.

Having talked previously of the need for "savage" cuts – although he has since tempered his languagen – voters will want more detail of what that will mean over the coming weeks. He suggested some of that could come as soon as Monday, when he speaks at the London Stock Exchange.

On other policy areas he revealed a willingness to stand by his principles despite acknowledging that his concerns over a new generation of nuclear power stations will not curry him an awful lot of favour locally given Sheffield Forgemasters' major role in manufacturing them. This dilemma has the potential to cause him political discomfort in Yorkshire, given the symbolic importance of the company.

During the 55-minute session he showed that the party has lost none of its green zeal, signalled his lack of patience with many quangos and gave a hint of belief in localism by saying towns and cities should be allowed to decide on whether to impose congestion charging.

When the campaign proper gets under way in the next few weeks, Mr Clegg will benefit from increased exposure – and find himself under greater scrutiny. One of his biggest challenges will be to burst through the Tory-Labour narrative that this is a straight fight between the two of them and he will hope his experience in front of audiences like this has been good preparation for the gruelling weeks ahead.