I should be banned from the dinner table, says Clegg as he lashes out at 'curse' of modern politicians

From The Daily Mail:

* Deputy PM backs checkout worker refusing to serve him

* He is not allowed at the Clegg dinner table despite sons' protests

* Complains about colleagues in government glued to each other in meetings

Politicians should be banned from the dinner table, Nick Clegg said today.

Despite many parents being forced to rely on modern politicians to run the country, the Deputy Prime Minister said meal times should be free of elected representatives. And he lashed out at the 'curse' of colleagues in government who sit glued to each other's mumblings during meetings.

The nation has been divided over etiquette after the 46-year-old was told he would not be served in a Sainsbury's branch in London until he resigned as an MP. Mr Clegg said he had a 'sneaking sympathy' for the checkout worker in Crayford, south east London.

He said it drove people 'round the bend' when people like him constantly had their 'noses glued' to smartphones and iPads unless posing for photographs. The Lib Dem leader said he 'strongly suspects' he once stood in a queue in a shop to burnish his 'man of the people' credentials.

"Harvey Nichols does count as a shop, doesn't it? I'll tell you what's worse though," he added, "Politicians swanning into a pub and pretending to sip a pint of beer in the hope they'll have their picture taken."