Lib Dem conference: Politics live blog - The Guardian (blog)

Here we go again. It's a glorious day by the sea, but us drone workers of the political media class are encased in the Brighton centre waiting for the Lib Dem conference – and indeed, the entire three-week festival of politicking that makes up the British conference season – to get underway. I'm sure that that we are going to have some exciting and dramatic moments, but perhaps not this afternoon.

Senior Lib Dem figures have been giving interviews to mark the opening of the conference.

• Danny Alexander, the chief secretary to the Treasury, has told the Guardian that Tories in the government are waging a "constant war of attrition" on green issues.

• David Laws, the education minister, has told the Times (paywall) that the Lib Dems will not agree spending plans with the Tories beyond 2015-16 in the next spending review.

• Simon Hughes, the Lib Dem deputy leader, has told the Daily Telegraph that the Lib Dems will not agree to further welfare cuts unless new taxes are introduced for the wealthy.

There has also been an announcement from Laws that the pupil premium will go up, prompting the first Lib Dem complaint about the Guardian of the conference. There are bound to be more. It's a tradition.

But perhaps the most interesting read is in the Financial Times, where George Parker has written a long interview/profile about Clegg. He has written a story off the back of it about Clegg saying welfare cuts would have to be matched by extra taxes for the rich – "The idea that all savings are done through a £10bn slug from welfare is for the birds," says Clegg – but the bulk of the profile is about how Clegg has no intention of quitting and how he thinks he is maturing as a leader. Clegg says he is determined to fight the next election and Parker says Clegg's wife Miriam has decided she does not want to move back to Brussels because she now regards it as rather provincial. Clegg's friends tell Parker that Clegg may stand down as leader at some point in the next parliament (and after that Clegg's mother thinks Clegg may turn to writing, or work for Greenpeace or Amnesty, Parker reports).

Parker also quotes Clegg talking about how he has changed.

I have more energy and more clarity about what we need to do in the second half of the parliament than I did in the early stages of this government ...

Clearly something I have learned – like no other Liberal Democrat leader has done – is how to both fight and win bare-knuckle fights in government ...

I will be a different leader in 2015, I'm already a different leader. I have learned a lot of things.

So, the Lib Dems will have a different leader in 2015! George, you missed the scoop.

Back to the conference, here's the agenda for the afternoon.

2.20pm: Conference opens with party business.

2.50pm: David Laws, the education minister, speaks

3.10pm: Debate on a motion on early years.

3.55pm: Debate on a motion on schools.

4.40pm: Debate on a motion on Lords reform.

I'll be covering all the afternoon's events, and I'll post a summary after the conference ends.

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