Liberal Democrats made 'unrealistic promises' to voters, admits Jeremy Browne We'd been in opposition prior to 2010 for 70 or 80 years, so it's not surprising the way that you become used to the lack of rigour that opposition entails. We came into government in 2010 I think with some policy proposals that weren't going to survive the rigour of being in government. But it is, I acknowledge, and Nick Clegg has acknowledged, it's a learning process, it's a growing-up process for the Lib Dems. Mr Browne insisted that the opinion polls, which have put the Lib Dems below 10 per cent of support, and sometimes behind Ukip, did not matter. "I actually much prefer us to be in Government doing what we need to do to get this country back on its feet again, to winning superficial popularity on the sidelines carping about the people who are trying to do the right thing for our country," he said. I think we're in the right place and I hope in time people will recognise and reward the political party which seeks to do the right thing. "When we came to office we had a bigger deficit than Greece," he told the programme. We have no God given right in this country to have a decent prosperous standard of living. We have to earn it. This is a real moment of reckoning for, not just our country, but countries right across Europe especially as countries in Asia rise in importance. Some countries will make that transition successfully and will be viable strong economies in society in the middle of this century and some won't. The question for politicians in this era is what did you do about it in 2012 and 2013 to get our country back on its feet again and to make us fit for the generations ahead and I think we are making a huge contribution. Peter Kellner, president of the YouGov polling firm, said party leader Nick Clegg was a "toxic brand" and predicted the party would lose "quite a lot of seats." "I find it hard to see how the Liberal Democrats could recover with him leading the party into next election," he told the programme.