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Last June, Parliament was rocked by one of its periodic lobbying scandals; Lord Laird resigned his Ulster Unionist Party whip, and the Tory Patrick Mercer eventually left his seat and triggered a by-election, after being caught up in a cash-for-questions row. Nick Clegg, wearing his serious face, told this newspaper that he wasn't surprised by the allegations, and it was time for a register of lobbyists to prevent it all happening again.

It wasn't a new idea: in the original Coalition agreement in 2010, Clegg's party had pledged such a register. But the Mercer/Laird business put a new fire into Lib Dem hearts, and Clegg pushed boldly forward.

That was 16 months ago. How's it coming along, Nick?

In the 2010 Coalition agreement, Clegg and the Lib Dems promised that they would support boundary reforms which would make the parliamentary constituency system less rigged in Labour's favour; Clegg said that the reforms were important for democracy. Then they threw a gigantic tantrum, refusing to support the boundary reforms, after the Conservatives themselves refused to support Lib Dem plans to refashion the House of Lords. "The Conservative Party is not honouring the commitment to Lords reform and, as a result, part of our contract has now been broken," said Nick, perhaps adding "and they started it, Mummy," under his breath.

This was the biggie, really. Nick Clegg, wearing his serious face, signed a pledge ahead of the 2010 election not to raise tuition fees. He really, really meant it, too. Then, in November 2010, barely six months after that election, he and his party signed up to Conservative plans to allow universities to charge up to 9,000 a year. Perhaps predictably, students rioted, with the pleasingly straightforward chant "Nick Clegg, we know you, you're a f***ing Tory too," to the tune of "This Old Man".

A small gathering of a few thousand of Nick Clegg's closest friends, in November 2010

And Nick, wearing his serious face again, apologised, doing that almost-tearful thing he does when he's been caught out. The apology got remixed in various forms, entered the charts, and made history as an internet meme. (Clegg is unusual among politicians in having two memes. The other is "Nick Clegg Looking Sad", which he does a lot, especially when he has to apologise for a broken promise, which he does a lot.)

For a man who breaks a lot of promises, you might think it would be unwise to promise "no more broken promises". But Nick did that, while wearing his serious face. We think it's reasonable to say that he has not been 100 per cent successful at keeping those promises. Labour noticed this, and made the above video earlier this year - which frankly we feel could be rather funnier than it is, but no one went into politics because they were good at comedy.

BONUS PROMISE and hopefully, this will be one he does keep: Nick insists he'd rather "go to bed" with Miriam - his wife - than Ed Miliband or David Cameron. Which you'd hope, really.

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Liberal Democrat conference: the many broken promises of Nick Clegg