Mr Rathbone – or Quentin Letts as he sometimes likes to be called – seems to have it in for Clegg, presumably as Nick has been blocking the more right-wing, homophobic, misogynistic and generally oppressive policies that Quentin and his fans would like to see. He’s criticizing Clegg in his Daily Mail column (Istyosty link) for managing to fit in “doing the school run” alongside his job as Deputy Prime Minister.

Personally, I’m not seeing the issue. I’d rather have someone in charge who has managed whatever semblance of a work-life one can achieve in such a post instead of a slave to politics. Living the job twenty-four seven might seem like a good idea in the short term, but in the long run the only things such a politician will be in touch with will be a caffeine addiction and a constant nagging worry about a growing waistline.

There’s no chance whatsoever that Quentin might feel some general animosity towards the tabloid-clique-shunning Liberal Democrats, given that he’s an ex News International hack. Or that he’s on the defensive, worried about the future of his fine, upstanding and inscrutably honest profession.

Quit your sniggering at the back. What do you think this is, Prime Ministers Questions?

Not that simple LibDem-bashing is enough for Quentin Rathbone. (nee Letts, although he refused to take his wife’s name when he married her in 1996) He has to throw in some male chauvinism too, for consumption by the Daily Mail readership.

He throws in a bit of misogyny by referring to Nick’s wife Miriam as “Mrs. Clegg — or Ms González Durántez, as we are sometimes instructed to call her”. We’re told Miriam is somehow failing in her wifely duty by not being at home the whole time doing Nick’s laundry, never mind the fact that she is partner in a major law firm. Oh, and she co-wrote a book… and has written a few articles on lawyerly topics to boot.

Still, Quentin thinks “It would be absurd to argue that political wives should return to some caricature of Fifties domesticity and be waiting at the door, pinny round the waist and with dinner on the table, when the hubby returns late at night.”

So that’s OK then – pinnys must be out. Perhaps he’s not a fan of that particular piece of clothing.

Miriam sounds like my kind of woman. I do home Mr Quentin “Letts” Rathbone ends up stuck in a lift with Miriam for a bit. It could be fun… but not for him.