The gloves are definitely off for the Liberal Democrats. Vince Cable's first proper outing since his party's stunning poll bounce gave a taste today of what Nick Clegg can expect in the second leaders' debate tomorrow. And if this afternoon's chancellors' debate on BBC 2 was anything to go by, the self-styled elephant man of politics needs to grow a thicker hide - fast.
It wasn't just George Osborne and Alistair Darling who were ganging up unusually on Vince. Host Andrew Neil left the normally self-assured treasury spokesman reeling when he asked: "Isn't the biggest myth of this election your reputation?" Rising to the theme, Darling ended the debate by calling Cable "flakey". For once, it was warranted.
Individually, the charges levelled at the Lib Dems on the economy ought to be defendable. Yes, the attack advert they aimed at the Tories accusing them of planning secret VAT rises was crude and glossed over their own ambivalence on the subject, but it's what the other two parties do every election. Overall, the Lib Dems still did a better job than Labour in pointing out this vital contradiction in Tory plans to simultaneously cut tax and cut the deficit.
Cable has also been caught flip-flopping on the issue of whether running a deficit during the recession was a good thing or not. Co-host Stephanie Flanders reminded him that he compared Britain to Zimbabwe when the public finances worsened, only to back the plan now that the economy is improving. In theory, this is a minor charge compared to George Osborne's misguided opposition to almost all of the economic recovery plan, but Cable's retort that he was simply being ironic sounded out of character and glib.
And on the crucial issue of whether his own sums add up, Cable failed to explain his complicated tax redistribution scheme in the clear way he needs to. With so many moving parts, the Lib Dem tax plan needs to sound like clockwork. Instead, a nervous Cable was made to regret his lofty dismisal of his opponents' schoolboy economics.
As I've said before, I think the Lib Dem tax proposals make more sense than they are given credit for. Criticism from the Institute of Fiscal Studies (who are no more saintly than Vince used to appear, by the way) ignores the huge potential for curbing corporate tax avoidance. But Cable is no longer given the benefit of the doubt on such matters. Quite rightly, he is now treated just like any other politician and he needs to start acting like one.
