Clegg to take first Deputy PM's questions

Nick Clegg will today make his inaugural appearance at the Commons Despatch Box as he takes MPs' questions for the first time.

The opening Deputy Prime Minister's question time of the new Parliament will give the Liberal Democrat leader a chance to step into the political spotlight.

It will be an opportunity for MPs to quiz him about his ministerial responsibilities, including the coalition Government's agenda for political and electoral reform.

He faces a potentially tricky task of establishing himself as a distinctive voice within the Conservative-Lib Dem alliance without provoking accusations of a split with his Tory partners.

In a message last night to Lib Dem supporters, he rejected accusations that he had "sold out" to the Tories, insisting that today's Budget would bear "the stamp of our Liberal Democrat values".