Ten years is a veritable lifetime in politics. In that time (and in the couple of year preceding,) Tony Blair oversaw changes in his party and politics in general that we may only fully appreciate with the proper passing of time.

Blair and his leading allies must watch on in horror as those from the Brownite bunker who now run the party try to dismantle everything they built. Never mind conference delegates booing their party's most successful leader, the true short sightedness of Labour was revealed last week at prime minister's questions, when some of their backbench MPs wolf-whistled and mocked a Conservative MP when she referred to her time working in the private sector. Ignore, if you possibly can, the pathetic sentiment of such actions, and try to imagine them doing that when Blair, Mandelson, Campbell et al were at the height of their powers. No, I can't either.

Not that I should really be surprised . All five Labour leadership candidates couldn't wait to trash the New Labour legacy, because cashing in on a useless opposition, modernising your party, and identifying with mainstream opinion is a bad thing, don't you know. Brown's henchmen would rather be the useless opposition, are beholden to the most unmodernernised element of their party - the unions, and wouldn't know mainstream opinion if introduced itself and bought them a beer at the bar (bandwagon jumping is a different skill entirely....)

That though, is their problem.

I'm worried that my party will do the same with Nick Clegg. With many grassroots members still deeply shaken by the backlash against our entry into government with the Conservatives generally and our error over tuition fees specifically, it would be all too easy for the next set of Lib Dem leaders to trash the centrist liberal legacy Nick Clegg is building. A succeeding Lib Dem leader (and I hope we don't see one for a good few years yet) could well be tempted to follow Red Ed's lurch to the left. It might make the sandal wearers feel better, but like Blair with Labour, Nick Clegg has made the party electable, and his template should not be so easily dismissed, despite the mainstream media's warm embrace of 'Cleggophobia'.

It takes years to build a leader, but mere months to break them down. Perhaps Clegg, like Blair, was built up for too much. Perhaps both parties just don't realise quite how lucky they are. Either way, for at least three and half more years Nick Clegg is still there, in government, helping to unravel the illiberal policies Blair brought about, and making sure that only the more liberal, centrist elements of the Conservatives can come to the fore. The Lib Dems could do worse than look at Labour, and make sure we don't make the same mistakes in the future that they have.

Tags: Conservative Party, Gordon Brown, Liberal Democrats, Nick Clegg, Tony Blair, Tuition fees