IT is a prospect to strike fear into the heart of anyone bored-to-the-back-teeth by the campaign….a second one, just months down the line?

Nick Clegg made the eye-catching warning today, arguing a second general election is inevitable if either the Conservatives or Labour are forced to “buy off smaller parties”.

Daily Echo:

Now, you may think the Liberal Democrats are on the way to being a “smaller party” – but, no, it turns out that only Mr Clegg’s party can save us from this terrible fate.

On this analysis, a Labour-SNP arrangement will collapse because of the SNP vow to “end austerity” – while Conservative-UKIP tie-up would fall because Nigel Farage wants an EU referendum immediately.

Mr Clegg said: “The last thing Britain needs is a second election before Christmas, but that is exactly what will happen….”

So, is the deputy prime minister correct? Will we get just a brief respite before – after a weak minority administration collapses – the leaflets start thudding through our letterboxes all over again?

The reassuring answer is almost certainly not.

A two-thirds majority of MPs is required to override the Fixed Terms Parliament Act and trigger another election before 2020. That would require both Tory and Labour support, which is almost impossible to imagine.

It is true there could be another election if a minority Government loses a vote of confidence and no alternative administration wins one.

However, the SNP have said they would do everything to keep the Tories out of power, so they would not vote down a Labour government – or not without paying a heavy price in Scotland.

And the only party capable of putting the Tories in power in the first place, and therefore removing them, is…the Lib Dems.

Daily Echo:

Martin Freeman, David Tennant, Paul Greengrass, Eddie Izzard (pictured above with Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy), Steve Coogan, Russell Brand, Ronnie O’Sullivan, Delia Smith….there’s no reason to think that Labour list of celebrity backers wins any votes.

But it does cast a harsh light on the Conservative list….which appears to begin and end with footballer Sol Campbell (below).

Daily Echo:

Gaffe of the Day

  1. Ed Miliband campaign vice-chief Lucy Powell, who said the carving of his pledges into stone did not “mean he will absolutely, you know, not going to break them or anything like that”. So why carve them?
  2. Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith on those £12bn of welfare cuts: “As soon as we’ve done the work and had it modelled we’ll let everybody know what that is.” So you haven’t a clue what they will be, Iain?