‘Calamity Clegg’ reveals number of lovers

Nick Clegg, the Lib Dem leader dubbed 'Calamity Clegg' by his rival Chris Huhne in last year's leadership contest, has raised more questions about his political savvy after being persuaded to discuss how many women he slept with before meeting his wife. In a candid interview published in GQ magazine, Clegg - now inevitably dubbed by the popular press the 'Lib-Dem Lothario' – was asked by Piers Morgan: "How many are we talking: 10, 20, 30?"

Clegg, 41, replied: "No more than 30 ... it's a lot less than that." But he also admitted to Morgan that some of these former lovers may not have been overly impressed. Asked  whether he was "good or bad in bed", Clegg replied: "I don't think I am particularly brilliant or particularly bad."

Clegg revealed that he had been "pretty gobsmacked" when he met his wife Miriam, when both were studying in Belgium, and declared her "definitely" the love of his life. He also reminisced about being "fairly inebriated" when, aged 16, he and a friend set fire to a collection of rare cacti on a school trip to Munich, for which the pair were give community service.

On the subject of the alcoholism of his predecessor, Charles Kennedy, Clegg said it had been "very difficult and unpleasant, for [Kennedy] and the party", and that it would be "pretty hard" to run the country as an alcoholic. He clamped up at the mention of illegal drugs, however, saying only that: "What I got up to as a teenager is not relevant to my job now." ·