The second horse that fell at the first fence

The LibDems won praise for the stupidest leaflet of the campaign with their "either Labour or Simon Richardson can win here" effort. This was the first LibDem leaflet in 12 months and told voters how only a vote for them could defeat Labour. When I spoke to Simon he stuck to the line that only he could win. Yet everyone in Bowthorpe knows that it is a Labour-Tory marginal. OK, so the LibDems look a bit foolish ... so what?

Well, firstly their vote halved and they came fourth behind the Green Party. So we should note never to believe one of their election predictions ever again. We should have known better from the party that claimed only Hughes could beat Livingstone (he came a dramatic third), but hey-ho.

More worryingly, secondly it reflects on all of us. The public feeling is that if the LibDems lie (and that leaflet was a fib) then all politicians lie. Blair take note - where you lead, the Bowthorpe LibDems (or should I say, LibDem) follows...