Nick Clegg responds to criticism of his alcoholics analogy

The deputy prime minister said: “I have a great deal of sympathy – and I have known alcoholics in my time – and I understand the battles individuals have to wage.

I’m not seeking to cause wilful offence, I am seeking to illustrate that the claims that someone who drinks a lot might make, that they are not going to drink any extra, are not dissimilar to a Labour Party that wants to borrow billions and billions and billions of pounds and is now trying to claim it is not going to borrow any extra.

Clearly I’m not intending to cast aspersions on people who are grappling with alcoholism.