article_snippet.sent: Nick Clegg has been accused of blaming 'everyone but Nick Clegg' after making a series of excuses for the party's disastrous poll ratings.
article_snippet.sent: In an interview, the Lib Dem leader listed a range of reasons why different groups of former supporters are 'p
article_snippet.sent: Nick Clegg has told Economist there was a range of reasons why different groups left.
article_snippet.sent: The Lib Dem leader on the campaign trail in north west England on Tuesday, April 7 .
article_snippet.sent: But Nick Clegg has said none of them were to do with Nick Clegg policy making decisions .
article_snippet.sent: Nick Clegg was asked in an interview with the Economist magazine why Lib Dem support had 'collapsed' in the last five years.
article_snippet.sent: Nick Clegg blamed protest voters who supported the party but deserted the party after the party entered coalition because coalition didn't want to take any 'responsibility'.
article_snippet.sent: Nick Clegg also blamed the fact the Lib Dems had entered into coalition with one of the major parties.
article_snippet.sent: Nick Clegg said going in with Tories meant it was 'inevitable' that support would fall in 'anti-conservative' parts of Britain.
article_snippet.sent: Nick Clegg said there was 'clearly a section of the support we had in 2010 that was virulently anti-Conservative'.
article_snippet.sent: Nick Clegg said going in with Tories meant Tories would lose 'virulently anti-Conservative' voters .
article_snippet.sent: Nick Clegg added that those factors are 'probably more important explanations than tuition fees, or this decision or that decision, although those obviously play a part'.
article_snippet.sent: Nick Clegg said some areas of country are a Lib Dem 'desert' and the party is now running a 'defensive' campaign focusing on winning where the party retains support. '
article_snippet.sent: A Tory source everyone's fault but Nick Clegg own' Nick Clegg admitted there are 'great parts of country now where there is just no Liberal Democrat presence' citing the North of England and areas where they are fighting against Labour.
article_snippet.sent: Nick Clegg added: 'We're not going to waste any time, any effort, any money, any energy on places where We're not going to win—which, by the way, is the vast majority of country.'
article_snippet.sent: In 2010 the Lib Dems won 23 per cent of the vote but national polls in recent months have put national polls on single digits.
article_snippet.sent: A Tory source everyone's fault but Nick Clegg own.
article_snippet.sent: Despite Nick Clegg party facing the prospect of losing dozens of seats, Nick Clegg used the interview to stake a claim for a particular government department his party would like to run if Nick Clegg is back in coalition after May 7.
article_snippet.sent: Nick Clegg said Nick Clegg would call for the Lib Dems to be given control of education, and criticised the 'fruitless and fruitcakey' policy 'spasms' under former Education Secretary Michael Gove.
highlights_snippet.sent: Nick Clegg lists why Lib Dem support 'collapsed' in Economist interview .
  