Time was when the Liberal leader would have celebrated all this. “We do want to break up the NHS,” he said before the last election. At the time, he meant it: his lieutenant, Mr Laws, had written a fairly detailed proposal for doing just that. But in office, the Lib Dems have watered down the Coalition’s health reforms, keeping more power in the hands of the state. It is as if Mr Clegg is suffering altitude sickness from his three years of government, tiring of the need to defend difficult measures. It is far easier for him to pose as a saboteur, using his position to thwart the ambitions of those ministers who do have firm beliefs and a discernible agenda.