Nick Clegg special adviser to quit within weeks

One of Nick Clegg’s most trusted special advisers is to quit after the Budget on March 20.

Neil Sherlock will step down as the Deputy Prime Minister’s director of external relations and is expected to take up a senior PR role in the private sector.

He focused on business policy and constitutional reform during the Lib-Dems’ clash with the Tories over the Lords and constituency boundary reforms, and is married to Lib-Dem Baroness Parminter.

Party sources said Mr Sherlock agreed when he took up his post in January last year that it would last a year but was persuaded to stay on until after the Budget.