Nick Clegg was actually “keen” to treble student tuition fees and is “talking crap” by claiming he did not want to vote for the policy, a former coalition colleague has said.

Last night the Liberal Democrat leader told a Question Time audience that he was “between a rock and a hard place” on the broken pledge.

“In politics, as in life, sometimes you can’t do exactly what you want,” he argued. “I was absolutely between a rock and a hard place five years ago on that particular policy.”

But James O'Shaughnessy, David Cameron’s former director of policy, says he was in the room in 2010 when the policy was being discussed and that Mr Clegg was “keen” for it to go ahead.

“[Nick] Clegg [is] talking crap on tuition fees,” he tweeted. “He wasn't between 'rock and hard place'. I was in the room when he decided to vote for it. He was keen.”

The policy chief said Mr Clegg was in favour of trebling fees because the plan came from a department headed by a Liberal Democrat minister, Vince Cable, and because he simply “agreed with the policy”.

In pictures - Student protest in central London Show all 10 1 /10 In pictures - Student protest in central London In pictures - Student protest in central London Student protests Thousands of students march through central London calling for an end to tuition fees and student cuts during a national protest outside Parliament in London EPA/ANDY RAIN In pictures - Student protest in central London Student protests A protester holds a flare EPA/ANDY RAIN In pictures - Student protest in central London Student protests Students hold placards as part of an anti-austerityand tuition fee demonstration EPA/ANDY RAIN In pictures - Student protest in central London Student protests Police officers detain protesters on Victoria Street, central London Jonathan Brady/PA Wire In pictures - Student protest in central London Student protests A police officer clashes with protesters outside the Conservative Campaign Headquarters JUSTIN TALLIS/AFP/Getty Images In pictures - Student protest in central London Student protests Police officers clash with protesters near the Houses of Parliament Rob Stothard/Getty Images In pictures - Student protest in central London Student protests Police guard a Starbacks store in central London Carl Court/Getty Images In pictures - Student protest in central London Student protests Police officers shout at protesters during the demonstration Carl Court/Getty Images In pictures - Student protest in central London Student protests Students from across the country gather in Parliament Square Jonathan Brady/PA Wire In pictures - Student protest in central London Student protests Thousands of students storm Parliament Square in central London EPA/ANDY RAIN

The claim is likely to chime with the suspicions of some Liberal Democrat activists. In 2009, before the last election, the Liberal Democrat leadership launched a bid to remove the free education commitment from the party’s manifesto.

“We have got to treat people like grown-ups,” Mr Clegg said at the time. “It is a policy which has significant financial implications. None of us know precisely yet what we can afford. The issue is simply on the affordability.”

The attempt was defeated in a vote by party members and the policy was ultimately included in the manifesto.

Mr O'Shaughnessy was David Cameron's director of policy from 2007 to 2011; he co-authored the Coalition's programme for government and played a leading role in managing the Coalition's policy programme. He now works for Portland Communications.

In 2012 Mr Clegg apologised for breaking his pledge, telling voters in a video message: “It was a pledge made with the best of intentions – but we should not have made a promise we were not absolutely sure we could deliver.”

The Liberal Democrats went into the election with a manifesto commitment to abolish all tuition fees and restore free education.

All of the party’s MPs also signed a separate commitment, organised by the National Union of Students, to individually vote against any increase in the education charges whether they formed a government or not.

Most of the party’s MPs ultimately voted to treble tuition fees from £3,000 to £9,000 despite a provision in the 2010 coalition agreement allowing them to abstain on the vote.

The policy is estimated by the Institute for Fiscal Studies to have saved the Treasury no money and may have even cost the taxpayer more than the old fee level because of its upward pressure on inflation-linked spending.

A Liberal Democrat spokesperson told the Independent that the new tuition fees system was fairer than the old system, but did not comment directly on Mr O'Shaughnessy's claims.

“We did not win the election, so we could not deliver every policy that we wanted to, especially as we went into government with a party that was determined to raise fees at a time when there's no money," the spokesperson said.