WATCHING Nick Clegg launch the Liberal Democrat manifesto, the fascinating aspect was not what he said – but that he launched it at all.

Who would have bet – given five years of abuse, including having dog poo shoved through his letter box – that the Lib Dem leader would still be standing?

Incredibly, Mr Clegg still looks as fresh-faced and wrinkle-free as the happy days he was basking in ‘Cleggmania’ and marching into No.10 with his arm around David Cameron.

Just as incredibly – given his collapsed vote - he could still be the Kingmaker, able to urge voters not to let the cruel Tories (no heart) or stupid Labour (no brain) govern without him.

But, inevitably, neither the manifesto, nor Mr Clegg’s answers, told us which of the Big Two the Lib Dems will choose – the question that voters really want answered, presumably?

There is little doubt the policies are closer to Labour’s, not least because the Lib Dems oppose Conservative plans for a whopping £12bn of further welfare cuts.

However, Mr Clegg would find it easier to keep working with David Cameron – and has been careful to leave the door open to the Tories’ cherished referendum on EU membership.

In the absence of any clarity, there was more interest in events in Essex – where Nigel Farage was trying to convince us that UKIP are not merely a party obsessed with Europe and immigration.

In that, he succeeded. The manifesto – unlike the 2010 version, famously dismissed as “drivel” by Mr Farage himself – boasts detailed plans for other policy areas, which UKIP can claim have been costed.

And it was striking how much the party is now reaching out to disillusioned Labour voters, far from the image of appealing to former Tory blazer-wearing colonels.

Consider the package on benefits, which calls for a tougher cap – but would also scrap ‘bedroom tax’ and those much-criticised work capability assessments for the long-term sick.

UKIP is also the only party ready to scrap the ridiculous Barnett Formula, which – as I’ve spent years pointing out – unfairly penalises the North-East and rewards much-richer Scotland.

But it wouldn’t be UKIP without some lingering eccentricities, such as scrapping road tax for classic cars and bringing back smoking rooms in pubs.

And the event was notable for supporters’ ugly heckling of a journalist who questioned the lack of non-white faces in the manifesto….which suggested a party that has changed less than it thinks.